It is really possible to create a beautiful landscape within your budget even when you are busy. All that is required here is a bit of planning and smart ideas. Here are 5 strategies suggested by Myers to create low maintenance and eco-friendly landscape.
Be water wise: The first and foremost step which you need to do is save water bill, water and time spent on watering. You could opt for the drought tolerant plants which suits your environment. You could use the manure which includes shredded leaves, wood chips, evergreen needles etc as it helps the plant is conserving the moisture, improving the soil fertility and reducing weeds. You can use the low nitrogen fertilizers like Milorganite as it promotes the growth of plant steadily and this process do not require watering of plants often. Thus, you can save water in this way. You could purchase a rain barrel to capture the rain water. Thus, you can use this water to water your plants.
Recycling Yard waste in your landscape:
You need to minimize the yard waste produced. Besides, reusing the yard waste produced for landscaping will help you in enhancing the growth of your plants. You can make use of the yard waste as compost. Thus you can save your money on purchasing manure. Leave all grass clippings in your lawn as these clippings will break down and add moisture and nutrients to the soil.
Preparing compost at home:
You can use the yard waste as compost. For this all you have to do is recycling the yard waste. Put all the plant waste in a heap and leave it until they rot. So, with less effort you can prepare the compost at you home in this way. Make sure that you don’t add any diseased plant material or insect infested or perennial weeds as they might be harmful to the plants. You need to also make sure that you don’t add meat, bones or any dairy products to the yard waste in your heap.
Managing pests in Harmony with the nature:
In general healthy plants can protect themselves from diseases and insects. Thus you could select the pest resistant plants as you need not pay special attention to them. However, you need to check the plants regularly during the growing season. However, if you really want to use any natural product on your plant make sure that you go through the directions of use on it.
You could opt for the landscape plantings which keep warm in winter and cool in summer. Thus you can happily spend some time in your lawn. Besides, this will also save your energy bills too. Thus you could follow all these strategies to save you money and time. These strategies are really easy to follow and time saving too. Melinda Myers is truly a great person who suggested these tips on building an eco-friendly landscape.
Melinda Myers is truly a great expert in gardening, author, columnist and radio/TV host. She had more than thirty years of experience in Horticulture. Besides, she wrote many gardening books. She hosts the Melinda’s garden moment of 100TV and this show is very famous in Canada and US. She also hosted a show called the plant doctor and this program has run for over twenty years. This lady had also written various articles for popular magazines too. She had done her doctorate in horticulture. She is truly a great personality who had contributed lot to the horticulture field. The above stated tips might look simple but they are really precious. Thus, you could follow all the Melinda tips to create an eco friendly landscape within your budget.