Blue Thumb Gardening
Teri King, Washington Sea Grant Mason County
Did you know? Water running off lawns and gardens can carry nutrients and toxics into Puget Sound and other local waters. Homeowners have an important role in protecting water quality while nurturing healthy gardens and lawns. The keys are reducing the hazardous substances you use and the amount of water that runs off your property.
Here are 10 tips to make your landscape thrive and help keep local waters healthy.
- Test your soil. Before buying fertilizer, make sure your landscape needs it. Testing soil for nitrogen, phosphorus and pH will help you determine the right mix of nutrients for your yard and lawn.
- Select the proper fertilizer. Fertilizers come in many forms and concentrations. Organic fertilizers bind to soils and slowly release their nutrients, making them less likely to wash off your landscape into the water. Choose a fertilizer, based on your soil test, that meets your needs.
- Apply fertilizers as directed. A little fertilizer goes a long way, and more isn’t better. In fact, too much can be toxic to your plants and promote weed growth. Follow label instructions when applying any fertilizers.
- Leave grass clippings on your lawn. Set your mower so it cuts your lawn a bit higher and let soil organisms recycle the clippings into free fertilizer. Clippings can provide about one-third of the nutrients that your lawn needs every year.
- Install a native plant border. Plant a ‘fence’ of native plants to capture runoff from your landscape and control erosion. The plants will consume the water and nutrients that would have run off into local waterways and will help hold soils in place. Native plants can survive our region’s dry, hot summers and cold, wet winters. They require minimal maintenance and are generally resistant to pests and disease.
- Compost yard waste. Flower heads and grass clippings floating in Puget Sound are unsightly and will decay in the water, using up valuable dissolved oxygen needed by fish and other marine life. Instead of disposing of yard waste in the Sound, turn it into compost for enriching garden soils.
- Mulch it! Whether you make your own from leaves or purchase it at a garden center, a layer of mulch in your garden will conserve water and help discourage weeds.
- Water wisely. Water your lawn deeply but infrequently. It only needs about one inch of water a week in the summer. Make sure sprinklers aren’t watering sidewalks and patios or causing erosion in your garden.
- Identify the pest. Find out what’s dining on your garden and choose a method of control based on the favorite foods and lifestyle of whatever is ‘bugging’ your landscape. A healthy garden can better resist pests and disease.
- Try nontoxic pest control. Traps filled with beer or apple juice work great for slug control and are harmless to humans and pets. An overturned flowerpot in the garden will create a cool shady spot for slugs to congregate, making it easier to scoop them up for disposal.
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