A GREEN GUIDE TO YARD CARE Your yard is the environment over which you have the most control. YardWise is a simple four-step program to help you maintain a healthy yard with less cost, less work, and less waste. TEXAS COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY GI-028 (Rev. 2/08) Why “These heaps of garbage … YardWise? do you know what all this is? Many common yard care practices are out of balance It is the flowering meadow, it is with nature: the green grass, it is perfumed ♦ Every year more than 5 million tons of yard trimmings and other hay, it is golden corn, it is bread organic materials end up in Texas landfills instead of building up on your table, it is warm blood the soil. in your veins, it is health, ♦ Millions of gallons of city- treated water are used to it is joy, it is life ….” irrigate landscapes where native vegetation once grew in naturally —Victor Hugo mulched soil, sustained by rainfall. ♦ Much of that water runs off the land, eroding depleted and unprotected soils that are unable to absorb it. The excess sediment from your lawn and many other yards can smother aquatic life in the receiving bodies of water. Excess sediment can also increase the cost of operating water supply reservoirs. ♦ Costly synthetic fertilizers and pesticides are applied to compensate for the loss of nutrients and protection once provided by organic debris and rich soil life. Surprising as it may seem, residential users apply more pounds per acre of these chemicals than farmers do—often to the point of disrupting beneficial soil life. ♦ As your soil loses its organic matter, it allows more of these chemicals to run off and wash through it—contributing to the pollution of lakes, streams, and underground water. In excess, these pollutants can harm aquatic life or contaminate the food chain. These practices cost Texans millions of dollars every year: ♦ Disposing of organic materials in Texas landfills costs more than $150 million a year and consumes more than 15 million cubic yards of space. ♦ The extra water and chemicals used to sustain gardens and landscapes in depleted soil costs many more millions. ♦ It is difficult to put a price on the loss of water quality in Texas rivers, lakes, and aqui- fers. However, it is almost always less expensive to prevent pollution than to clean it up. As our population increases and home landscapes become a larger part of the Texas environment, it is more important than ever to manage them responsibly. Contents Watering Trees, Shrubs, Glossary ........................................................ iii and Ground Covers ................20 Drip Irrigation ...........................20 Grasscycling: “Don’t Bag It!” .........................1 Sprinkler Irrigation ....................20 Basics ...............................................1 Integrated Pest Grasscycling Benefits ................................1 Management (IPM) .......................21 Grasscycling Guidelines: Mowing ............1 Basics ......................................21 Grasscycling Guidelines: Watering ....2 Identify the Problem..................21 Grasscycling Guidelines: Fertilizing ...2 Know a Friend from a Foe .........21 Mulching .........................................................3 Use Appropriate Controls ..........21 Basics ...............................................3 Your Yard and Clean Air ..............................25 Mulching Benefits .............................3 Small Engines —Big Problems ..........25 Mulching Guidelines: Make the New Regulations— Best Use of Mulch Covers ...............3 Part of the Solution .......................25 Composting ...................................................4 Pollution Prevention in Basics ...............................................4 Your Own Back Yard .....................25 Compost Benefits ..............................4 Avoid Spilling Gasoline .............25 Two Compost Recipes........................5 Maintain Your Equipment ..........26 Cool and Easy Compost ..............5 Consider Cleaner Options .........26 Hot and Fast Compost .................6 Use Manual Tools .....................26 The Science of Composting ...............7 Reduce Mowing Time ...............26 Basics ........................................7 For More Information .................................27 A Balanced Diet of Carbon General ...........................................27 and Nitrogen (C:N) ..................7 Composting .....................................27 Adequate Moisture General Composting .................27 and Oxygen .............................8 Backyard Composting ...............27 The Right Particle Size .................8 Worm Composting A Healthy Temperature................9 (Vermicular) ..........................27 Typical Composting Systems ............12 Xeriscaping ......................................27 Piles: Open or Covered .............12 Integrated Pest Management ............27 Homemade Bins .......................12 Small Gasoline Equipment Manufactured Bins ....................13 for Lawns and Gardens .................27 Harvesting and Using Compost ........14 Sources ............................................27 When is Compost Ready? .........14 How to Harvest Compost ..........14 How to Use Compost ................14 Figures Worm Composting ..........................16 Figure 1. Recommended Kinds of Worms ........................16 Mowing Heights ....................................1 Materials for Compost Bin Illustrations ........................11 Worm Composting .................16 Figure 2. Desirable Compost Bin Containers for Features ...............................................13 Worm Composting .................16 Figure 3. Trench Composting ..................18 Steps to Establish a Worm Figure 4. Burying Food or Pet Wastes ......18 Composting Bin .....................17 Harvesting Worm Compost .......17 Tables Preventing Problems .................17 Table 1. Mulch Application Guide ...........3 Composting in the Ground ..............18 Table 2. Compost Pile Troubleshooting .....9 Green Landscape Design Table 3. Compost Pile Ingredients ...........10 and Yard Care .............................................19 Table 4. Comparison of Worm Basics .............................................19 Composting with Composting The Right Plants in in Large Piles .......................................16 the Right Places ............................19 Table 5. Selected Biological WaterWise .......................................20 Control Agents .....................................23 Basics ......................................20 Table 6. Selected Botanical Pesticides: Watering Lawns ........................20 Targets and Toxicity ..............................23 ii Glossary aerobic—having sufficient free oxygen to support respiration anaerobic—not having sufficient free oxygen to support respiration annual—a plant with a natural life span of one year or less botanical—derived from plant matter without chemical alteration “brown” materials—organic materials with a high carbon-to-nitrogen ratio such as dead leaves, dry hay, dry wood chips, and paper dripline—the ground directly below the farthest reach of a tree’s branches essential plant nutrients—elements that are necessary for the normal growth of plants “green” materials—organic materials with a low carbon-to-nitrogen ratio such as green grass clippings, vegetable trimmings, and fresh manure humus—the complex mixture of materials resulting from extensive decomposition of living things macronutrients—essential plant nutrients that are used in relatively large quantities: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sulfur micronutrients—essential plant nutrients that are used in very small amounts: iron, manganese, copper, zinc, boron, molybdenum, chlorine, and cobalt microorganism—a living thing that is only visible through a microscope organic—consisting of residues from living things, including dead leaves and branches, grass clippings, manure, and the products of the natural decomposition of these residues organism—a living thing peat moss—a moss harvested from peat bogs and used as a soil amendment and as a component of potting soils perennial—a plant with a natural life span of more than two years pH—a measurement of the acidity or alkalinity of a material, on a scale from 0 (maximum acidity) to 14 (maximum alkalinity), with 7 representing neutral. synthetic fertilizer—a material containing manufactured essential plant nutrients synthetic pesticide—a material containing manufactured chemicals designed to kill pests toxicity—the ability of a substance to cause adverse effects (that is, to be toxic) in living organisms; a high toxicity means that very small amounts of the substance cause adverse effects iii B A S I C S Grasscycling: Grasscycling means leaving “Don’t Bag It!”* grass clippings on the lawn to encourages deep root decompose into soil. Grasscycling growth. ▼ Mow grass at the proper Guidelines: ♦ Mow often enough that height and disperse the Mowing each mowing removes no grass clippings down to The key to grasscycling is more than one-third of the the soil. to mow at the proper height grass blade; for example, if (see Figure 1) and disperse you set your cutting height ▼ Water grass only as the small grass clippings at 2 inches, then cut be- needed—about 1 inch of evenly so they fall down to fore the grass is more than water once a week. the soil. Mowing grass too 3 inches tall. ▼ Fertilize grass with slow- short causes stress, discour- ♦ Keep mower blades sharp