Before we begin, note that you can actually engage landscapers for specifically eco-friendly landscaping.
While not all companies may be willing or able to oblige, most are, especially longstanding companies like Boise Landscaping Company, as they tend to have more resources and expertise.
So if you want someone to take care of everything for you and save yourself all that time and effort, just know that the option to engage a professional exists.
Eco-friendly landscaping isn’t particularly hard or complicated though, so you can certainly tackle it on your own.
Here are 3 ways for your landscape to be environmentally friendly and give back to Mother Earth.
1. Rain Gardens
Rain gardens are bowl-shaped gardens built in shallow depressions at the bottom of slopes or in strategic low points where rainwater will flow down to.
This way, runoff from roofs, driveways, patios, and various other hard surfaces.
Rain gardens help reduce the water needs of your plants as they can hold rainwater for longer periods of time and use it for their water needs.
That’s not the main purpose of rain gardens though.
More importantly, rain gardens act as natural filtration systems.
Surface runoff will accumulate various pollutants like oil and grease, heavy metals, and even pesticides and herbicides.
Rain gardens help filter these out by breaking them down, absorbing them, or trapping them before returning the cleaner water back into the soil.
This is extremely beneficial to the environment in many ways.
Firstly, this reduces the amount of harmful pollutants like oil and heavy metals that reach your waterways, which translates to fewer pollutants that reach rivers and oceans.
This translates to less water contamination, which means you’re helping protect aquatic life and their habitat.
Second, by trapping water, rain gardens also help cool the surrounding air down through evaporation.
This helps reduce the “urban heat island” effect, where urban cities are usually warmer due to fewer plants and more structures that absorb and trap heat.
While the impact is modest, this still contributes to combating the effects of global warming, such as melting ice caps, ecosystem disruption, and rising sea levels.
Finally, as mentioned above, by trapping the rainwater instead of letting it go to waste, your rain garden is able to use this rainwater for its water needs.
In turn, much less additional watering is required, helping conserve water, and again benefitting Mother Earth by reducing the carbon emissions from pumping, treating, and transporting water.
And of course, this also reduces your water bills, benefiting not just the planet, but your wallet as well.
2. Irrigation Systems
Irrigation systems are arguably the most important element in maximizing water efficiency. They significantly reduce water wastage as well as water usage, helping conserve water and reducing the carbon emissions associated with water production.
Manual watering actually results in lots of water wastage, as oftentimes, you’ll end up watering more than needed, since we’re only human and aren’t able to accurately measure water.
Irrigation systems can deliver exact amounts of water. No more, no less, so your plants get the water they need with minimal wastage, which in turn also reduces the amount of water used.
That’s not all irrigation systems can do though. Advanced irrigation systems can further reduce wastage by taking into account rainfall and weather data, and then adjusting the watering schedule accordingly.
This further helps minimize the amount of unnecessary watering and reduces water consumption
Drip irrigation systems can also deliver water straight to your plants’ roots, minimizing water loss to the surrounding soil. Since less water is lost to the surrounding soil, you don’t have to water as much as you used to for the same amount of water to reach your plants’ roots.
As such, drip irrigation systems not only minimize water loss and wastage, but also reduce water usage.
All in all, irrigation systems are of the utmost importance for water efficiency. Without irrigation systems, it would be extremely hard to water your plants efficiently and keep water wastage and usage to a minimum.
This means that irrigation systems considerably reduce the carbon emissions associated with water production, thus slowing down the negative impacts of climate change, like melting ice caps, rising sea levels, and so on.
This ultimately helps keep Mother Earth healthier.
Irrigation systems also have the added benefit of saving you time and effort, so you can spend more time on more productive tasks, such as caring for your plants and helping them thrive so that they can continue to photosynthesize and combat greenhouse effects.
3. Use Native Plants
Chances are, you’ve heard the term native plants somewhere before, but do you actually know what they are and the benefits they bring?
Native plants are basically plants that grow naturally in your native region, thus the term native plants.
This may sound insignificant until you consider that if a plant is able to grow naturally in your local region, it means that not only does the plant require zero human intervention to grow, but also to survive against the local pests and diseases.
Native plants are able to do so as they have already adapted to your local conditions, so natural rainfall is enough for them to thrive. In other words, no extra watering is required from you unless there’s a drought or dry spell.
Native plants will also have adapted to local pests and diseases, or they wouldn’t be able to survive, so they will have their own defense mechanisms.
This means the occurences of plant diseases will be much less frequent. You’ll also have to use less pesticides, which are toxic to the environment.
In a nutshell, native plants are invaluable in conserving water and reducing the harm you do to the environment.
Conclusion
These are just a few ways to give back to the planet, and they certainly aren’t the only ways, so don’t limit yourself to just these.
You can opt for recycled materials, collect and reuse rainwater, create water sources to support local biodiversity, and so much more.
Now go forth, fellow green warrior, and continue to do your part to protect Mother Earth!
