Categories: Blog

Eco-Garden Tours are Growing this Summer

Over 25 Bay Area gardens with eco-friendly features were on display and were hosted by a landscape designer or homeowner who was instrumental in the garden design. They were available to respond to questions from the public.

Just What is an Eco-garden?

A garden that is working with Mother Nature and not against her. These gardens may include smart irrigation controllers, habitat for wildlife, native, drought tolerant, fire resistant and deer resistant plants, permeable surfaces, edible organic gardens, pesticide-free landscapes, lawn-less front yards, beehives, rain chains and owl boxes.

Because of the California drought, rainwater harvesting is a hot topic this year and several gardens featured examples of how local residents are keeping rainwater on site. While there are some water conservation benefits associated with harvesting rainwater, there are other benefits as well. By reducing the amount of rainwater that runs off of roofs and other hard surfaces, less water flows into local creeks during and after storms. This helps to prevent creek bank erosion downstream.

Removing a Front Lawn or Simply Making it Smaller is a Growing Fad

Many of the suburban yards on display had also removed the ubiquitous front lawn and had beautifully replaced it with drought tolerant and native plants which attract pollinators. This is a growing trend around the country especially in the dry Southwestern states where water is becoming more and more of a cherished resource.

67 million pounds of pesticides are applied to roughly 30 million acres of lawns in the U.S. each year and homeowners are using 40-60 percent of their summer water allotment on their lawn. Lawn grass is the #1 most water intensive crop in the US. In Paul Tukey’s new book entitled The Organic Lawn Care Manual, Dr. Michael Surgan, the leading environmentalist for the New York State attorney’s general office states, ‚”We are seeing only the tip of the iceberg. In the coming years, many years, many more lawn care products that are currently on the market will be proved to be dangerous.”

With the Recession in Full Throttle, Many Homeowners are Going Back to their Roots and Learning to Cultivate their own Food

Gardening advocates are calling this trend ‚”recession gardens’ similar to the victory garden movement during WWII.” Recent gardening industry surveys are showing double-digit growth in the number of home gardeners this year. Some have been inspired to grow their own food organically because of their reduced shopping budget or the recent food scares. Others have followed Michelle Obama’s lead when she invited a plethora of schoolchildren to help remove some of the front lawn and create an organic vegetable garden at the White House.

Researchers globally have been documenting declining numbers of pollinators such as native and honey bees, butterflies, moths, hummingbirds and wasps. With less lawn and more flowering crops and flowers, home gardeners can easily invite pollinators back to their yards. Once established eco-gardens offer low environmental stress, low maintenance, high yields and peaceful aesthetics. It’s win-win for the wildlife, the environment and the gardener!

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