Climate-Friendly Yards

If you’re looking for ways to do your part for the climate and reduce your carbon footprint, don’t forget to look in your own back yard! Here are some yard and garden tips that will help you keep carbon out of the atmosphere and make you a river-friendly and neighborhood-friendly gardener too.

1. Go native. Landscaping with native plants requires fewer chemical pesticides and fertilizers, nurtures wildlife, and keeps carbon in the soil and out of the atmosphere. Oregon has ten different eco-regions with different soil, vegetation, climate, geology, and wildlife characteristics. Look for plant nurseries that offer a selection of native plants grown from sources in your region. Nurseries are your best source: state law forbids collection of many plant species from natural habitat because it can damage natural plant communities.
2. Cut the fertilizer. The manufacturing of commercial fertilizers creates nitrous oxide emissions and uses energy. Most Oregon lawns only need to be fertilized once per year, if at all. A good natural fertilizer is grass itself; if you leave grass clippings on the lawn, they release nutrients back into the plot. 
3. Use a push-powered or electric mower. A little engine can give off a lot of pollution. A typical push lawnmower emits as much hourly pollution as 11 cars, according to EPA. Use a push or electric lawnmower instead.
4. Make a smaller grass lawn. If your yard is mostly grass, then your landscape may release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than the plants in your yard can take up and hold. More grass also means more water, more fertilizer, and more of your time maintaining it. 
5. Use a grass lawn alternative. Researchers at Oregon State University developed a mixture of grasses, flowers, and herbs that requires less frequent mowing, watering and fertilizing than grass. There are also many varieties of green ground-covers that stand up well to foot traffic.
   
6. Plant carbon-partner plants. Trees and shrubs that “fix nitrogen” stimulate plants to take up more carbon from the atmosphere, reducing the burden on our climate. Oregon's native alder trees, wild lilac shrubs and legume plants including lupine, vetch, and clover are good nitrogen fixers.
7. Use mulch. If you mulch heavily, weed seeds don't germinate and you won’t need to till them under. You’ll preserve beneficial creatures in the soil and avoid soil compaction. Working in organic matter by tilling is less effective than laying organic matter on top of the soil and letting it seep in for a slow, long-lasting benefit.
8. Skip the tilling. The latest research show that plants grow just as well, or better, if you don’t disturb the surface of your garden with tilling before planting. Place seeds in slits in the soil, and set plants in an opening made with a shovel or trowel. This will reduce erosion and cut the transfer of carbon from soil to air. Garden beds may not look tidy with last year’s plant debris on the surface, but it will soon be replaced with healthy growth

Article contributed by Jim Fisher.