How to Create a Sustainable Landscaping Design
Creating a Sustainable Landscaping Design
Have you ever wondered how your landscape maintenance methods can maximize your space as well as contribute to protecting the environment? Maybe you noticed you watered the lawn too long during a drought, or it crossed your mind that using chemical fertilizers doesn’t seem like the best option for your yard. Most property owners want to participate in sustainable practices, albeit often don’t quite know where to start. In this article, we’ll discuss how you can take part in creating a sustainable landscaping design, best practices for implementing eco landscapes, and how to reduce pollutants in your landscaping methods.
What Is an Eco Landscape?
Implementing eco landscapes on your property is a form of environmental landscaping. This form of landscaping refers to a specific method of designing, building, and sustaining landscapes. This method considers the property’s natural ecological system and designs gardens that enhance the beauty of your yard and support the natural ecosystem. Environmental landscaping creates a symbiotic ecosystem where both humans and natural plant life can thrive.
The Importance of Eco Landscaping
Eco landscapes use sustainable practices to protect natural resources deliberately. Protecting these resources includes using solar lights, native plants, recyclable materials, permeable pavers, and conserving water when possible. Adopting eco-friendly yards has significant benefits to both landowners and the environment.
For landowners, using natural materials in your landscape may lead to reduced maintenance, increased efficiency of your home’s energy, and a higher quality garden with thriving natural resources. For the land itself, environmental landscaping contributes to creating natural habitats, reduced water and energy consumption, and diminishes demands on natural drainage systems.
Overall, the numerous benefits you would receive from investing in eco landscapes far outweigh any cons (if there are any). While you can begin implementing eco-friendly landscaping methods yourself, we recommend partnering with experts like Apex Landscaping, who can customize an eco landscape design for your property.
Ideas for Living Green Landscapes
Are you ready to make a change and start living more sustainably? Environmental landscaping is one such way to start living a more sustainable lifestyle and reduce your impact on the planet. When you implement sustainable landscaping practices in your yard, you create living green landscapes.
Living green landscapes is just another name for eco-landscape, but this term helps us envision what your sustainable garden or property could become. Imagine a lush green space filled with dewy leaves and blossoming flowers. Not only are living green landscapes enjoyable to view and walk through, but they also nurture wildlife while reducing soil, water, and air pollution. To create your green scape, we suggest you incorporate the following:
Plants
Incorporating native plants in your eco landscape is one of the best ways to support the local environment. Native plants increase habitats available for native wildlife. Since native plants are well-suited to the environment, they often reduce soil erosion, water runoff, and rarely require chemical fertilization.
If you are considering integrating native plants into your sustainable landscaping design, contact your local plant nursery or sustainable landscaping company to review your options.
Watering Responsibly
There are many solutions to reduce water waste without over or underwatering your landscape. Some of the solutions include:
- Using organic mulch – Organic mulch will conserve the soil’s moisture content.
- Consider xeriscaping – Xeriscaping, or drought-tolerant landscaping, uses specific designs and native plants to conserve water usage.
- Collect rainwater runoff – Collect rainwater runoff in rain barrels to save on water usage.
Consider Permeable Pavers
Choosing permeable pavers in your residential landscaping is an easy economical choice with quick installation. These pavers also have many environmental benefits, such as minimizing soil erosion and providing excellent drainage. Permeable pavers are a great addition to any living green landscape as they are produced from eco-friendly materials like concrete and clay bricks.
Choose Solar Lighting
Solar lighting remains one of the most popular features of eco landscapes. Solar landscape lighting cuts your electricity bill, requires minimal evasive installation methods in your landscape, and enhances the safety of your property.
Limit Dangers to the Eco Landscape
Now that you have designed your living green landscape with natural resources in mind, consider ways to limit or entirely stop using pollutants. Many pollutants in the environment originate from fuel emissions, chemicals in the soil, and wasteful practices.
Limit or Stop Fuel Emissions
According to the EPA, fuel emissions from lawnmowers, chainsaws, snow blowers, and other outdoor equipment are one of the leading causes of pollution. Environmental landscaping encourages making a dedicated effort to decrease the use of these power tools, thus reducing fuel emissions. Here are some steps to lower your use of fuel emissions:
- Use manual tools like push reel mowers or hand tools with zero fuel emissions.
- Use tools with electrical engines instead of gas-powered engines.
- Create sustainable, smaller landscapes with native plants and self-sustaining shrubs that require little to no maintenance.
- Mow the lawn less to encourage healthy root structures and well-watered lawns.
Avoid Chemicals
Green landscapes are “green” because they avoid artificial materials like chemical pollutants and only use natural products. Avoid or reduce your use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides in your gardening.
To determine if your soil requires additional fertilization, test it first. In fact, nurturing healthy soil does not require chemical fertilization at all. Instead, add compost or other organic materials to nurture your soil. If possible, we recommend avoiding overfertilizing with chemical fertilizers, as those chemicals may run off into the groundwater. Additionally, grass clippings, if left on the streets, can also add to increased water pollution.
Reduce Waste
Many believe that creating eco landscapes involves changing your entire space and landscaping practices. However, you only need to start by changing one element at a time. Even changing one aspect of your landscape or choosing one new sustainable method can greatly impact the environment.
Environmental landscaping focuses on reducing waste. Consider the following ideas for how you can minimize waste daily in your yard:
- Create compost piles of leaves, then spread these decomposed leaves as fertilizer in your yard.
- Purchase bulk mulch orders to limit plastic bag use.
- Recycle plastic pots
- Let any lawn clippings decompose naturally in your lawn.
- Limit consumption and share larger, less-used gardening tools with neighbors.
Partner With Apex Landscaping
Transform your ordinary landscape into a living green landscape with Apex Landscaping! Our team has the knowledge and expertise to create a sustainable landscape that supports the natural environment and limits pollutants. Enjoy your backyard in the Chicagoland area even more knowing your eco landscape contributes to a healthy and waste-free planet.