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10 Common Gardening Mistakes that Hurt the Environment

Introduction

In the last decade, we have become increasingly aware of how our actions can affect the Earth. From the cars we drive to the type food we buy, these activities can have consequences.

Landscaping projects can also change the environment, so learning the best organic practices to help protect and preserve our natural world is essential.

We often look for quick and easy shortcuts that give us results as soon as possible. As effortless as this approach may seem in the short term, it can have negative consequences for the environment, your property, and your health.

We see this especially in the agricultural world, where genetically modified crops, herbicides, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers are regularly used to create produce as fast as possible. These actions are not healthy for the earth, and often end up getting adopted in residential landscaping practices.

The excessive use of pesticides has been linked to a decline in bees, bats, and frogs, which are all important for the ecosystem. Some chemicals used in pesticides have also been linked to cancer.

Making a conscious choice to avoid harmful landscaping practices in your yard might seem tough, but you can have gorgeous landscaping that also benefits the environment. If you avoid these ten mistakes and adopt organic methods instead, your garden will flourish without harming your local ecosystem.

1. Using Chemicals

Over the last 70 years, industrial agriculture evolved to produce as much food as possible at the lowest cost, in order to maximize profits. About 10 percent of land in the United States, and 93 percent of row crops, are treated with pesticides.

These practices have carried over into gardening: It is estimated that 90 million pounds of herbicides are used on lawns alone each year. You can easily find chemical fertilizers and pesticides that make gardening easier, but they are not good for your yard or the environment.

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Products like MiracleGro and Round-Up create attractive and easy to maintain landscaping quickly, by using chemicals to treat weeds and add nutrients to to the soil. While these chemicals efficiently introduce nutrients that help plants grow, they can also contaminate the soil and leach into the ground water.

Solution

Instead of using chemicals, look for natural alternatives. Planting native plants, and taking the time to weed are easy ways to keep your yard looking healthy and beautiful. Weeding takes a little extra time, but it can be a meditative practice and is much better for the environment.

You also can efficiently produce organic products at home like “compost tea,” a liquid fertilizer created by steeping compost in water. It is good for the environment, can treat diseases in plants, and adds nutrients to your soil.


 

Download your copy of the 10 Common Gardening Mistakes That Hurt The Environment

Common-Garening-Mistakes-that-Hurt-the-Environment-coverIn the last decade, we have become increasingly aware of how our actions can affect the Earth. From the cars we drive to the type food we buy, these activities can have consequences. Landscaping projects can also change the environment, so learning the best organic practices to help protect and preserve our natural world is essential.

Making a conscious choice to avoid harmful landscaping practices in your yard might seem tough, but you can have gorgeous landscaping that also benefits the environment. If you avoid these ten mistakes and adopt organic methods instead, your garden will flourish without harming your local ecosystem.

2. Not Understanding or Caring for Your Soil

The most significant mistake people make is not getting a soil test before starting their landscaping projects. You can purchase these tests through your local university’s agricultural extension or a private company.

Without one, you will not know what kind of soil you are working with or its balance of nutrients like nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and calcium.

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If the soil is lacking in nutrients, it is tempting to enhance it with chemical fertilizers. These fertilizers can leach into groundwater, and if you’re not careful, they can cause further imbalances in your soil.

Soil compaction occurs when you drive heavy equipment over the ground, packing the soil too densely and ruining the natural pores. This makes it hard for plants to grow. It destroys the natural soil structure and makes it impossible for nutrients to get to plant roots, or for roots to expand as much as they need to.

Solution

Get a soil test and follow the recommendations that you receive in the results. Don’t use chemical fertilizers if the nutrient levels need to be improved. Instead, use organic options. Often there is a natural solution, such as adding a little compost. If your soil is compacted, compost can also help aerate the ground.

3. Lacking Diversity in Your Plants

There may be a flower or shrub that you are particularly fond of, but planting your favorites exclusively will mean there’s not enough diversity in your garden. This lack of variety will make your yard less attractive to pollinators. Additionally, using all the same plants can be bad for soil, leach nutrients, and can promote the rapid spread of disease.

Solution

Use a variety of plants: Some shrubs, some perennials, and some groundcovers. Additionally, don’t just use one kind of these plants, but various trees, perennials, and flowers. You’ll want to have at least 70 percent native plants. These plants will attract local animals and pollinators, and the diversity will keep your soil healthy as well.

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4. Conventional Lawn Care

Traditional lawn care techniques teaches to keep your grass cut short and to collect the grass cuttings. However, most people don’t realize that grass is a flowering plant.

While many people like to have a perfect short lawn, it prevents the grass from maturing. Additionally, grass cuttings are great fertilizer, which often goes to waste when it’s collected and discarded.

Solution

Allowing your lawn to grow a little bit longer will allow your grass to flower, keeping it healthier. The taller grass will also shade out weeds, meaning you won’t need to spend time weeding or treat your yard with pesticides.

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The ideal length for an organic lawn is three to four inches during the growing season, which varies depending on what type you have planted. You will want to talk to someone at your local nursery to find out what time of year that is for the grasses you are growing.

Additionally, when you cut your grass, leave the clippings on your lawn so they break down and their nutrients can be reabsorbed.

5. Overwatering

We all know plants like water, so it is tempting to think that by giving our gardens and lawns lots of water they will thrive. This presumption is not correct. Overwatering not only drowns plants, but it is wasteful, especially in a time of drought.

Solution

Learn about the plants and grass that you intend to use. Then make a watering schedule and stick to it. A plan will help you keep from overwatering.

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New plantings and freshly sown lawns will require more water. You may need to water these up to two or three times a day, but only for 10 minutes. Once the seeds have germinated, start scaling back.

It takes three to five years to create a lawn that is thick enough so you won’t need to overseed each year. It will need frequent water during the growing season but once your lawn is thick, you will only need to water once or twice a week.

Create a schedule so that you slowly wean it while still keeping your lawn healthy. It is also helpful to let the ground dry out a little, so water can penetrate deeper and roots can grow stronger.

Finally, find ways to use recycled water. This water comes in two forms: Gray water, which is gently used water from household systems like your bath and washing machine, and excess runoff, which is water used in your garden that can be collected and reused.

6. Discouraging Pollinators

People often get nervous about having bugs, bees, birds, or bats in their yard, so they try to eliminate them. However, these animals are a critical part of the ecosystem, and bats and bees have been struggling to survive recently.

Without bees to germinate crops, we would have no food, so creating a space for them to flourish is critical. Bats serve a double purpose in the ecosystem by being pollinators and seed dispersers, and helping to control insects.

Solutions

Create gardens that bugs, bees, birds, and bats will love by providing them with creative habitats that will make them comfortable.

For bats, you can build a small bat house or buy one from Amazon or Home Depot. You will want to place these houses on a pole at least 15 feet off the ground and in a sunny location near a water source.

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For butterflies, be aware that the butterfly bushes do provide nectar, but they are invasive and don’t provide nourishment for caterpillars. Consider using butterfly weed, asters, or other plants caterpillars like instead.

Remember to plant dense shrubs that will make caterpillars and birds feel safe from predators. Using native plants that have a variety of flower shapes and colors will also help to increase the garden’s attractiveness to all pollinators.

These are some plants that pollinators love:

  • Achillea
  • Ajuga
  • Asclepias tuberosa
  • Echinacea
  • Eupatorium Joe Pye weed
  • Lavandula
  • Origanum
  • Rubus
  • Salvia
  • Sedum
  • Milk weed
  • Lobelia cardinalis

7. Poor Design

You want to be a good steward of the earth, but it is tempting to overpower the natural features of your yard, either by moving or eliminating them.

This urge is a mistake. Your landscaping should mimic the natural surroundings. People often import too many foreign plants and try to change the geography of their land. All of these habits are disruptive to the environment.

Solution

designBefore you start your new landscaping project, take time to strategize.

A comprehensive plan that addresses what you’re planting, where you are planting it, and a watering schedule will help you to create an attractive landscape that also complements your local ecosystem. A plan will also help you see if you have sufficient diversity in the plants you are choosing.

Pick as many different kinds of plants as you can. Diversity will help attract pollinators to your garden and make your yard healthier.

Mimic your surroundings; have meadow-like fields if you have space, and use a combination of high canopy tree cover and shorter and smaller trees and bushes to give your landscaping texture.

Use irrigation in your gardens to get water deep into the root system. Finally, use dense shrubs to create shelter for local animals.

8. Wasting Your Waste

Often, we just throw out our food scraps and blow our leaves away, not thinking about the consequences nor using them to their fullest potential. But using a motorized blower can expel pollutants into the air, and tossing organic food waste instead of taking the time to turn it into compost is a big opportunity missed.

Not only is using store-bought compost more expensive than food waste, these mass-produced products can have sludge and other harmful chemicals that pollute your soil.

Solution

Instead of blowing your leaves, take time to rake and create a pile. This pile can be composted, instead of sending them to your local dump. If you don’t use them for compost, find out if your municipality composts.

If you chose to compost, make sure you to add your vegetable waste as well. This habit will give you fertile soil that you can use to naturally add nutrients to your ground or create a compost tea.

9. Not Loosening Roots When Replanting

When a plant outgrows its pot, the roots can become compacted. You may find this when you buy from a nursery.

Compacted roots can also occur if you don’t give your plant enough room in your garden. Root systems need room to grow and will die if they are not separated.

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Solution

Take time to loosen new roots so that when you plant them, they will have enough space to flourish. Make sure there is sufficient space between flowers and shrubs in the garden and then water immediately after you put them in the ground so that their roots will flourish.

10. Being Impatient

You may have noticed a pattern in a lot of these mistakes: Most of them stem from impatience.

Instead of taking the time to create a beautiful organic garden, we sometimes look for the quickest possible way to produce the type of garden we want. This practice leads to pollution and can even be hazardous to our health.

Solution

Be patient! Learn about the art of Zen gardening and enjoy time spent caring for your plants. This habit can be a centering and calming process.

Gardening is even good for your health. Taking the time create a beautiful organic garden is a rewarding process. In a busy, time-crunched world, you will find this to be a fulfilling practice.


 

Download your copy of the 10 Common Gardening Mistakes That Hurt The Environment

Common-Garening-Mistakes-that-Hurt-the-Environment-coverIn the last decade, we have become increasingly aware of how our actions can affect the Earth. From the cars we drive to the type food we buy, these activities can have consequences. Landscaping projects can also change the environment, so learning the best organic practices to help protect and preserve our natural world is essential.

Making a conscious choice to avoid harmful landscaping practices in your yard might seem tough, but you can have gorgeous landscaping that also benefits the environment. If you avoid these ten mistakes and adopt organic methods instead, your garden will flourish without harming your local ecosystem.

How to Avoid Making These Mistakes

Gardening can be an intricate and tricky process. Don’t be afraid to talk to other people, join your local gardening club, or find help planning your project.

A local organic landscaping company can help plan, prepare, and execute a project that incorporates best practices that are good for the planet. Whether you chose to work with a company or on your own, make sure you have a clear plan, strong understanding of your goals, and access to the supplies that you will need.

At Moodscapes, we have been a leader in creating organic landscapes for 20 years. If you’re feeling overwhelmed with the process, we can help you create a plan for the beautiful and natural yard you’ve always wanted.

Want to know more about how we can help you? Schedule a free, 15-minute consultation call with us today.

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