Garden & Green Living Articles

Article / Updated 06-06-2023

Before you reach for the insecticide sprayer to attack pests in your vegetable garden, try some of these lower-impact methods to reduce problems from harmful insects and diseases. Often, a pest problem in a garden can be averted before it actually becomes a problem. Plant your vegetables in the proper locations. Many pests become more troublesome when plants are grown in conditions that are less than ideal. For example, if you grow sun-loving vegetables in the shade, mildew problems are often more severe. Choose resistant plants. If you know that a certain disease is common in your area, choose plants that aren’t susceptible to that disease or that resist infection. Some vegetable varieties are resistant to specific diseases. For example, some tomato varieties resist verticillium, fusarium, and nematodes. Know the enemy. The more you know about specific pests and diseases common to your area — when they occur and how they spread — the more easily you can avoid them. For example, some diseases run rampant on wet foliage. If you know that fact, you can reduce the occurrence of these diseases simply by adjusting your watering so you don’t wet the plants’ leaves or by watering early in the day so the plants dry out quickly. Keep your plants healthy. Healthy plants are less likely to have problems. Water and fertilize regularly so your plants grow strong and more pest resistant. Keep your garden clean. By cleaning up spent plants, weeds, and other garden debris, you eliminate hiding places for many pests and diseases. Encourage and use beneficial insects. Beneficial insects are the good bugs in your garden — the insects that feed on the bugs that bother your vegetables. You probably have a bunch of different kinds of beneficial insects in your garden already, but you also can purchase them to release in your garden. In addition, you can plant flowers that attract these insects. Rotate your plants each year. Avoid planting the same plants in the same location year after year, especially if you grow vegetables in raised beds (any planting area that’s raised above the surrounding ground level). Rotation prevents pests and diseases that are specific to certain plants from building up in your garden. Avoid harm to beneficial insects and animals If an insect or disease does get out of hand, treat it effectively without disrupting the other life in your garden, which includes everything from good bugs to birds. Control measures may be as simple as handpicking and squashing snails, or knocking off aphids with a strong jet of water from a hose.

Article / Updated 05-12-2023

When you consider the sustainable fashion and the clothing industry, you might feel overwhelmed as you think of landfills filled with clothes and read startling statistics about the environmental damage from the fashion industry. But you tell yourself that you don’t make or sell clothes, so how can you make a difference? I’m here to help you figure this out and answer the question: What is sustainable fashion? The conventional definition or understanding of sustainability tends to focus on eco-friendliness, particularly on pollution and climate change. A person or population’s impact on the environment is measured and referred to as a carbon footprint, which is the total amount of greenhouse gases — including carbon dioxide and methane — that are generated by all our actions. The average carbon footprint for a person in the United States is 16 tons per year, one of the highest rates in the world. There are many ways to reduce your carbon footprint, like by eating less meat or using public transport. But you also reduce your carbon footprint by shopping sustainably, purchasing less clothing, and sending your unwanted clothing or textiles to other places besides a landfill. Treating people with dignity and respect The environmental aspects of sustainability are critical, but there is another important aspect of sustainability: ethical practices. Fashion is sustainable if the clothes and accessories are made in an eco-friendly, ethical, and socially responsible way. The socially responsible aspect of sustainability in fashion means that clothes and shoes are made in a way that is fair to workers and the farmers who grow the crops for fabric, such as cotton. Workers should work in safe environments and receive adequate wages. The ethical aspect of sustainability in fashion means that there is a fair and transparent supply chain, with fashion brands directing their business to factories that are audited and accredited for fair labor practices or sourcing fabric from fair-trade farms. The problem with today’s fashion industry The fashion industry has an overproduction problem, and this overproduction is part of what makes the fashion industry the least sustainable, one of the worst polluting industries, and the one with the most unethical practices. New stuff comes into stores every week, our closets are bulging with clothes, and charity stores are receiving record amounts of clothing donations because there are just too many clothes entering circulation. It is estimated that 100 billion clothes are produced annually. That’s the equivalent of 12 new pieces of clothing per year per person, and whether these clothes are bought or not, they are still made. Those statistics explain why we have clothes piling up in landfills. We are consuming 60 percent more clothes now than we did 20 years ago and throwing away a lot of them. Also, a lot of the waste comes from fashion factories in the form of excess fabric that isn’t used in garment production and is thrown away. The rise of fast fashion So what has happened in the last 20 years? Why do we all own more clothes? The 60 percent increase correlates with the rise of fast fashion. Fast fashion is an approach to the design, creation, and marketing of clothing fashions that emphasizes making fashion trends quickly and cheaply available to consumers. Fast fashion equates to quick production, high volume, trendy items, and inexpensive prices at the register. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the clothes cost less! Fast fashion appeared in the 1990s and early 2000s and has taken the industry by storm, providing more variety and a greater volume of clothes than we have probably ever seen — or needed. Fast fashion is the norm right now, but there was a vibrant fashion world before fast fashion. Many well-known brands predate fast fashion, and they were viable, successful businesses back then. A three-legged monster The fast-fashion model relies on churning out lots and lots of trendy clothes very quickly, which in turn is heavily dependent on fast, on-demand manufacturing and uses a lot of resources. The end product — literally tons of clothes — ends up in landfills as soon as a trend is out of style. Consequently, the problem with fast fashion is threefold: The fashion industry has become an environmental disaster. According to the World Economic Forum, fashion production makes up 10 percent of humanity's carbon emissions. Dyeing and constructing clothes leads to water pollution, and the final product ends up polluting the land when it’s tossed into a landfill. But that’s not all. Today, most clothes are made with synthetic (man-made) materials that take decades to decompose, emitting greenhouse gases in the process. These gases trap heat in our atmosphere and contribute to climate change. Garments workers are treated poorly. This breakneck speed of production means that clothes need to be in and out of the factory in two to three weeks and workers must work arduous hours, often in unsafe conditions. On top of all that, most of the time, garment workers aren’t even paid a living wage (an income that keeps a worker out of poverty). The modern mass-market fashion industry’s business model scams you, the consumer. What seems like a good deal when you have options galore weekly at apparently cheap prices is not a good deal. That’s because if you aren’t spending a lot of money on an item, chances are, it’s made with poor-quality materials. Once it falls apart, you need to buy a new one. And then another one. In the end, you probably would’ve been better off buying a higher-quality, but more expensive, item at the start. Most fashion brands try to convince consumers to buy more than they need. That works for them, because you give them more money, but it’s not good for your wallet or the environment. Being part of the solution and avoiding eco-anxiety The scale of the problematic practices of the fashion industry may make it seem as if individual action can’t have any meaningful impact in reversing the adverse impacts of such practices. The more you read or hear about the problem, the more you are at risk for eco-anxiety, a chronic fear of environmental doom and feeling helpless about it. Even if that’s not you, you may still wonder where you fit in all of this. You don’t make clothes; you just buy them. You still need clothes and still want to enjoy fashion, but you don’t want it to be at the expense of the planet and the people who make your clothes. You also know that precious resources go into making your clothes. Armed with this information, you can and should make more sustainable fashion choices. This book explains what those choices are and helps you implement them. You may be one person, but your choices and actions have an impact! The actions of each one of us ultimately add up to become a catalyst for good, meaningful change in the fashion industry. So don’t aim to change the world by yourself; you’ll get frustrated and quit, and the planet can’t afford you quitting. The fact is that fashion’s adverse impacts are primarily caused by the fast-fashion brands that produce all the clothes. If it weren’t for their manufacturing of hauls of these clothes, fashion consumption wouldn’t have changed in the ways it has. The industry is the cause of the problem and the primary culprit, of course; but by consuming fast fashion the way the industry wants you to, you become a sort of accomplice after the fact. So, what actions can you take as an individual? I believe wholeheartedly that if many more people were to bring sustainable values to the consumption of fashion, brands might be forced to do better. It may sound whimsical, but there are definitely more and more fashion consumers who value sustainability, so a domino effect can’t be discounted. Show fashion brands that you don’t support their unsustainable practices by boycotting their products. As brands plan for the future, the wiser ones will listen and make changes. While your individual actions may seem like they’re too small to have any impact, aggregated with similar actions of others, the impact becomes meaningful. Plus, there is an emotional benefit to you. It feels good to know that you’re doing your part by, among other things, shopping more intentionally and mindfully. Once you begin living your values as a sustainable fashion consumer, you can be an inspiration to others in your orbit. You can also work on educating yourself about the issues from reliable sources. You can follow environmental bloggers or sustainable fashion bloggers and read ethical fashion publications like Good On You. With more information, you can become involved in more targeted engagement, including petitioning brands to make the changes necessary to operate more sustainably. What you can do to increase sustainability Sustainable fashion habits are built over time. Don’t aim to do everything at once. For example, it may take you some time to learn how to sew to repair your clothes, but you can shop for preloved items or from your own closet right away. Also, perfect sustainability doesn’t exist; don’t let seeking perfection be the enemy of your progress. Try these tips to get started on the road to sustainability: Use what you already own. Your most sustainable clothes are the ones you already own, including your fast-fashion clothes. Resources have already gone into making these clothes so take care of them! That’ll help them last longer, keeping them in your closet and out of landfills. Repair the clothes in your closet. A great way to be a sustainable fashion consumer is to repair your clothes. This keeps your clothes in your closet and out of landfills. The task may seem daunting, but you can make some simple repairs without a sewing machine. For the bigger repairs, you can take clothes to a tailor. Buy preloved clothes. This not only keeps clothes out of landfills and prevents the resulting environmental damage, but also gets you great stuff for less. Ready to get thrifting? Shop from sustainable brands. Donate and recycle what you no longer need. At some point you might fall out love of with clothes and need to give them away or recycle them. For the details on how to do all of the things I'm suggesting here, check out my book Sustainable Fashion For Dummies.

Article / Updated 05-03-2023

To understand the importance of fabrics being sustainable, you should understand the environmental impacts of fabrics, from growing the crops to make the fabrics, to manufacturing, and even disposal. Unfortunately, there is no fabric that has no impact on the earth. Anything processed has a footprint, but eco-friendly fabrics have a much smaller one. Sustainable brands make significant efforts to use fabrics with less impact on the earth. Eco-friendly fabrics range from ones you may already know, like organic linen, and some innovative fabrics like Piñatex made from pineapple leaves. The impacts of unsustainable fabrics, from harmful chemicals in pesticides to over-consumption of scarce water resources, are far reaching. There are, of course, also the adverse impacts on farmers and workers who are exposed to pesticides and toxic chemicals. Because our clothes are made from fabric, fabric choices are consequential. As such, reading labels for fabric composition is really important to make sure that you’re choosing sustainable fabrics. Natural sustainable fabrics Not everything that's from natural sources is sustainable. For example, conventional cotton isn’t sustainable and can expose people to harsh chemicals. Wool and leather are natural fabrics but sometimes aren’t considered to be sustainable. (See the section below titled “Can wool and leather be sustainable?”) But luckily for us, sustainable natural fibers are becoming more available, and there are also organizations that can certify that natural fabrics are nontoxic, fair trade, and eco-friendly. There are five natural fabrics that are known to be more sustainable than other fabrics: Organic linen: Untreated natural linen is fully biodegradable. The natural linen colors are ivory, ecru, tan, and gray. When linen is grown organically with no harsh chemicals and pesticides, it’s truly a sustainable fabric. It requires significantly less water than cotton when grown in temperate climates (most linen comes from European temperate climates, in fact not all European linen will be labeled organic but is still largely sustainable). Rainwater is sufficient for growing linen, whereas cotton requires extensive irrigation. When you see an organic-linen label (whether a natural color or dyed using nontoxic eco-friendly dyes) and the fabric is made in a fair-trade certified factory, do a happy dance because you have a sustainable and durable fabric. Organic cotton: Unlike conventional cotton, organic cotton is grown without harsh chemicals or pesticides from non-GMO seeds. This means organic cotton is safer for you and farm workers because it does not contain toxic chemicals and does not pollute the water and soil where it is grown. As you explore sustainable cotton options, you may come across organic Pima cotton, which is considered to be the highest quality cotton. Pima cotton is a long staple cotton meaning it has extra-long fibers. Extra-long fibers create softer fabric, which I can imagine would make a comfy T-shirt. The best Pima cotton comes from Peru, where it’s picked sustainably by hand because machines will destroy the long fibers. Recycled cotton: Recycled cotton has been ranked the most sustainable type of cotton — even higher than organic cotton — by Made-By (a nonprofit research firm whose mission was making sustainable fashion commonplace). Their research was based on six sustainability metrics: greenhouse gas emissions; human toxicity; energy; water; eco-toxicity; and land. Regardless of ranking, reusing what we already have, if possible, is an ideal eco-friendly practice. Recycling cotton is not without challenges. For example, the mechanical recycling process weakens the fiber, and a lot of cotton is blended with other fabrics, which can complicate recycling. But many companies are committed to navigating these challenges and are researching ways to do so. Organic hemp: It’s great to see that more and more clothes are being made from hemp. While not as common a fabric as cotton and linen, it’s an old fiber dating back to ancient China BCE, where it was used for clothing and paper through early last century. Its use declined with the increase in cultivation of cotton and use of synthetic fibers. Hemp can grow almost everywhere and requires very little water and no pesticides. It grows fast and even fertilizes the soil as it grows! It’s a sustainability superstar. Recycled wool: Recycling wool is not a new thing. In fact we have been recycling wool for about 200 years. Also, it’s not that hard to do, and systems for wool recycling are well established. In Prato, Italy, heralded as the birthplace of textile recycling, people have been recycling wool for over 100 years. Through a mechanical process (no chemicals) wool can be pulled back down to a raw fiber state and made into new yarn. Patagonia sources over 80 percent of its wool from recycled sources, and by doing so, has been able to save 3.4 million pounds of CO2 emissions by choosing recycled wool over virgin wool. Clothing made from bamboo Bamboo clothing is becoming more and more popular, but many sustainability experts are on the fence regarding its eco-friendliness. At face value, it looks promising: Bamboo is fast growing, self-regenerates (meaning no replanting is required), and doesn’t need any pesticides. Processing it into fabric is where it gets tricky. The process for turning bamboo into fabric requires a lot of chemicals, and some of these chemicals are very toxic. There are some promising advances in processing that may mitigate this issue. Time will tell! But in the meantime, you can look out for bamboo lyocell. This form of bamboo requires fewer chemicals than the alternative (bamboo rayon). Bamboo lyocell is processed using a closed-loop system means that no chemicals are released into the environment. Can leather and wool be sustainable? Leather and wool are both natural fabrics we have used since ancient times. Wool has kept people warm for centuries, and leather is undeniably durable. Both fabrics are natural and biodegradable, but both raise concerns around animal cruelty and sustainability. Large-scale cattle ranching has been associated with deforestation and biodiversity destruction, greenhouse gas emissions (methane from the cows), as well as excessive water consumption (including from leather production). In addition, leather tanning requires a lot of chemicals that expose workers at tanneries to skin and lung conditions. (Fortunately, many tanneries are phasing out these chemicals.) On the other hand, wool emits way more greenhouse gases than, for example, cotton. An Australian wool-knit sweater emits about 27 times more greenhouse gas emissions than a cotton-knit sweater (per research by Circumfauna, an initiative of collective Fashion Justice). With all of this in mind, how can you purchase and wear leather and wool in a sustainable way? Here are some answers: Buy secondhand wool and leather products when you can. Thankfully, a lot of secondhand leather jackets and shoes are available. Take care of your wool and leather garments so they can last longer in your wardrobe and even be passed to other users when you donate them, for example. A lot of resources go into making these products, so do all you can to extend their life and keep them away from landfills. Buy recycled wool. Wool is relatively easy to recycle and some brands use recycled wool (see more on recycled wool in the preceding section). If you need to buy new leather or wool, consider buying from certified cruelty-free and responsible sources like the Responsible Wool Standard, for wool, and the Leather Working Group (LWG), for leather. While these certifications offer some reassurance about a product being more sustainable than its conventional counterparts, the certifications aren’t perfect. For example, LWG focuses mostly on the tanning process, not the entire supply chain for leather products. Innovative sustainable fabrics There are some completely new eco-friendly fabrics that are becoming increasingly popular. These fabrics are artificially made, but many mimic natural fabrics. Sustainability innovations are new, evolving, and yet to become commonplace. They are not perfect, either. Some of the plant-based leathers contain some plastic (typically bioplastics made from plant sources) but are still currently not biodegradable or only biodegradable under controlled industry conditions. However, they’re a glimpse into a future where people continue to innovate as they navigate a path to a more sustainable future. Even though they are flawed, I prefer not to write them off completely just yet and plan to continue to watch the space and hope they fix some of these challenges. If you’ve been looking for a vegan, sustainable leather purse, I’ve got you covered. Some innovative, sustainable fabrics include: Tencel: This is a versatile fabric ranging from cottony to silky. I have a tencel dress that feels like a heavier silk. Tencel can be used for denim, activewear, intimates, dresses, pants, and shirts. It's essentially a more-sustainable version of viscose made from wood pulp from sustainable sources. Tencel requires less energy and water to produce. It is manufactured in a closed-loop system that recovers and reuses solvents, thereby minimizing the environmental impact of production. This eliminates waste from chemical solvents escaping into the environment and is also just less wasteful. Closed-loop systems reuse production waste to create new products. This is a sustainable way to preserve resources, and in the case of chemical handling, keeping chemicals from being released into the environment. Piñatex: Imagine wearing a pineapple — okay, just kind of, as the fabric is actually made from pineapple leaves. Piñatex is a leather-like fabric. I love that it’s made from a by-product of food production. Pineapple leaves that would be thrown away are made into a plant-based leather. Although Piñatex is made from pineapple leaves, it is not 100 percent biodegradable. Its composition is 80 percent pineapple and 20 percent PLA (plastic made from cornstarch, which is only biodegradable under controlled industry conditions). Piñatex continues to grow in popularity. Apple leather: Another new leather-like fabric that is getting more popular is made from apple peels. It’s awesome to see more leather alternatives made from (mostly) plant-based materials and not PVC (polyvinyl chloride, a type of plastic). Apple leather is born from the Tyrol region of Italy, which is known for apple growing and processing. To combat what was otherwise significant waste, local manufacturer Frumat made a new vegan leather fabric. Veerah, a vegan shoe brand, makes stunning shoes from apple leather. To me they look like regular leather and the shoes are just as stylish. Just like Piñatex, apple leather is not 100 percent biodegradable as it has some synthetic components. Econyl: I am a proud owner of two Econyl swimsuits. Econyl is a sustainable nylon made from recycled synthetics such as plastic, synthetic fabric, and fishing nets. It’s an eco-friendlier alternative for making swimsuits. Econyl is a high-quality, Italian fiber made by Aquafil. In addition to using recycled fabrics, which is always a great choice, it also uses less water to process than virgin nylon, yet it is the same quality. Mara Hoffman, Do Good Swimwear, Elle Evans, and For the Dreamers are some examples of brands that use Econyl for swimsuits. Recycled Polyester (rPET): This is made from recycled plastic bottles. It’s eco-friendlier than virgin polyester that has to made by extracting oil. It also requires less water to make than virgin polyester. Econyl and rPET are more sustainable than their virgin counterparts but still shed microfibers. Microfibers (a type of microplastic) are tiny plastics that shed from synthetic fibers when you wash them, and they end up in oceans. Wash your synthetics in a Guppyfriend bag and consider purchasing these fabrics for outfits you don’t wear too often and thus won’t need to wash frequently. All of these fabrics are improved alternatives, but I’m excited to see what sustainable options become available in the future. I don’t know about you, but I am curious to see and feel the purse that Stella McCartney made from mushroom leather (mycelium leather). Yes, you read that right. It’s leather made from mycelium, which is the root-like system of mushrooms. Other interesting leathers you may see in stores in the near future include Cacti leather, MuSkin leather (from fungus), and leaf leather.

Article / Updated 05-02-2023

What makes a brand sustainable? This question cannot be answered just by looking at glossy mission statements or publicly stated commitments around sustainability (although those are not unimportant). You have to consider how a brand operates. Brands must be judged by their deeds, not their words. What makes a brand sustainable is a combination of actions, and to be clear, there is no one-size-fits-all. A big, established brand that already has a larger carbon footprint needs to take many more actions (relative to smaller brands) for it to truthfully claim to be sustainable. Sustainable business practices The term sustainable business practices is used here to describe business practices that are both people- and earth-friendly. Earth-friendly, which is used interchangeably with sustainable and eco-friendly, describes business practices that are focused on the least consumption of natural resources, like water. Such practices also reduce waste pollution and emissions that are harmful to the climate. People-friendly, on the other hand, describes business practices focused on paying farmers and factory workers a living wage and providing safe working conditions. A lot of industries, including the fast-fashion industry, take a linear approach to business, extract resources, and make products at the lowest cost possible, thereby maximizing their profits. Maximizing profits usually entails a disinterest in how products are consumed and disposed; often both the consumption and/or disposal is not done responsibly. It’s an extract–make–throw-away business model. A sustainable approach, on the other hand, is more circular and encompasses mindful extraction of resources, mindful manufacturing, and mindful or conscious profit-making — making profits but still being fair to workers throughout the supply chain. It also entails thinking about a product’s entire lifespan, including how it will be disposed. Circular in this context focuses on the concept of circular fashion, which involves using and circulating clothes responsibly and effectively in society for as long as possible, disposing of them only when they are no longer fit for use. To this end, some sustainable brands offer ways to sell your preloved garments bought from them or even repair your clothes. So-called eco-collections or eco-conscious lines of fast-fashion brands are not sustainable fashion. These fashion lines are usually guilty of greenwashing, which is when brands exaggerate or fabricate stories about their sustainability initiatives. Sustainability is not about having a few clothes made from recycled bottles; yes, that is a step in the right direction but really a drop in the bucket. What is needed is far more fundamental: a reworking of entire supply chains to be sustainable and ethical. The sustainable fashion industry has demonstrated that profitability, mindfulness, and fairness can co-exist. For more about what makes a brand sustainable and more examples of sustainable brands, check out my book Sustainable Fashion For Dummies. Sustainable environmental practices The fashion industry is polluting our air, water, and land. The scariest part of fashion-related pollution is that most of the damage has been done in the last 20 years, attributable primarily to the rise of fast fashion. Thankfully, there are brands leading the way to a more sustainable fashion future, and I hope they can provide a blueprint for the whole industry. Following, I explain some environmental best practices for the fashion industry, not only to help you understand them and their impact, but also to help you appreciate how hard eco-friendly brands are working in an industry that is clearly not doing enough. Zero- or low-waste practices The fashion industry is extremely wasteful. It’s estimated that fully 35 percent of materials in the fashion industry supply chain go to waste. Brands that engage in practices that achieve zero-waste (or a reduction) of materials in their supply chain going to waste are engaged in sustainable environmental practices. Practices that reduce or eliminate fabric waste are a major focus of sustainable brands. One way sustainable brands waste less fabric is by hand-cutting the fabric, which achieves more precision and thus less waste than machine-cutting. Such brands also use any excess fabric they may create so that it doesn’t end up in landfills. For example, they make items such as totes and hair accessories from leftover fabric. Some brands use deadstock (also known as overstock, surplus, or remnant) fabric to make their pieces. These are textiles that have been discarded but are still usable. Regenerative practices Some sustainable brands obtain their natural fabrics from sources that engage in regenerative agriculture. Agricultural activities (including those that are part of the supply chains of fashion) inevitably lead to degeneration (erosion, pollution, and loss of fertility) of the soil. But a growing regenerative agricultural movement is focusing on better stewardship of agricultural land and revitalization of soil nutrients, as well as removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Fashion can be regenerative of the soil and soil nutrients when it supports regenerative agriculture. Use of nontoxic and eco-friendly dyes Textile dyes became toxic with the introduction of synthetics in the 1800s. Prior to that, dyes had come from nature — from plants and insects. After the discovery of the synthetic dye mauveine in 1856, synthetic dyes began to be used on a large scale. The reactants or reagents used in the manufacture of some synthetic dyes have been found to be toxic and therefore dangerous to workers and to the animals in the waters into which wastewater from the dyeing process is discharged. A practice associated with a brand being sustainable is the use of nontoxic and natural dyes. Natural dyes extracted from plants can be beneficial to the environment. For example, indigo, a natural dye, is extracted from a legume that is also a nitrogen-fixing plant and can replenish soil as it grows. While natural dye production can’t keep pace with the current demand for dyes by the fast-fashion industry, use of natural dyes is something you can associate with sustainable brands that generally produce fewer clothes. Another sustainable alternative to synthetic dyes is low-impact dyes. These are also synthetic but are manufactured without harmful chemicals, so they’re not harmful to workers nor do they produce toxic waste. Groceries Apparel is an example of a brand that uses only nontoxic dyes from its Vegetable Dye Studio, including dyes made from pomegranate, carrot tops, onion skins, roots, bark, flowers, and real indigo. Carbon neutrality Another sustainable environmental practice is carbon neutrality. The fashion industry accounts for about 10 percent of global carbon emissions. This means that activities of fashion brands in the aggregate add up to this negative impact on the planet. Sustainable brands achieve carbon neutrality in two ways: First, they do so by minimizing their carbon footprints, including favoring sustainable natural fibers over synthetic fibers made from oil, smaller-scale production, and other waste-reducing practices. Second, they offset the carbon footprint they can’t eliminate. Eco-friendly packaging If you shop online, you may have noticed that the items you buy tend to arrive wrapped in excess plastic, airbags, or bubble wrap, and a lot of this plastic is not recyclable in most curbside recycling programs. As online shopping continues to explode, even from sustainable brands, utilizing sustainable packaging is very important. Some sustainable brands reduce plastic use by opting for recycled and recyclable paper mailers or cardboard or reusable packaging. Innovations around packaging are resulting in more eco-friendly alternatives to traditional plastic, such as bioplastic. There are questions as to whether these innovations are fully sustainable, but some sustainable brands are using them. Hopefully, as these innovations get refined, these questions will be addressed and more sustainable packaging solutions will be brought into the market. Practices that conserve and protect water The fashion industry is very water intensive. A lot of water is used to grow raw materials like conventional cotton, which requires extensive irrigation. Furthermore, textile production uses 79 to 93 cubic meters of water annually, which is about 4 percent of all freshwater, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. The fashion industry also pollutes our water. Twenty percent of water pollution is from textile dyeing. So sustainable brands engage in practices that minimize their own water use and pollution impact. They do this through such practices as water conservation and using nontoxic dyes. One way a sustainable brand can reduce its water impact is through the use of low-impact dyes. These dyes require less rinsing than conventional dyes, which saves water. Additionally, low-impact dyes don’t contain harmful chemicals that pollute water. TenTree, a sustainable apparel brand, shares some information on its website about how it minimizes pollution from dyes and conserves water used in the dyeing process. It uses nontoxic and natural dyes and recycles and reuses wastewater. Sustainable certifications Here a few of the certifications you should hope to see on the labels and what they mean: Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS): is an international textile processing standard for organic fibers and includes both the social and environmental impact of the entire supply chain. Clothes with the GOTS label are certified organic, and this label also certifies that working conditions have met all International Labor Standards, United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) standards for fair labor. Fair Trade Certified: This is the first certification I came across; it is for fair-trade chocolate but also covers textiles. This label certifies that clothes were made in a fair-trade factory, meaning that workers received fair wages and worked under good working conditions. Bluesign: This entails certification at all levels of the manufacturing process that the fabric and other inputs used have the lowest possible impact on people and the environment. Bluesign certification also certifies the safety of the dyes and any other chemicals that may be used in the manufacturing process. Bluesign-verified fabric is nontoxic, sustainable, and ethically made. B Corporation (B Corp): This certifies that the business has verifiably met high standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency, and balances profit and purpose. Some sustainable brands will have this certification on their websites. Soil Association: Certifies that every step of a clothing brand’s supply chain has met environmental and social standards. The soil association looks at a brand’s use of harmful chemicals, whether or not they provide safe working conditions, its efforts to reduce energy and water usage, and many more criteria. Cradle to Cradle: This certifies the use of either natural materials that can safely return to the earth to decompose or synthetic materials that can be used over and over without downgrading their quality. This certification comes in levels, including gold, silver, and platinum, certifying each product qualitatively. This list is by no means exhaustive; if you see a label you are not familiar with, just look it up online. Regardless of their certification status, a brand should be transparent about both the environmental and social aspects of its supply chain, whether this is shown explicitly through its social media pages, its website, or via credible testimonials. Sustainable brand Tonlé publishes a sustainability series on its website, highlighting all its practices and testimonials. Ethical labor practices The fashion industry is a labor-intensive industry; 1 in 6 people, mostly women in the developing world, work in the industry. A brand can’t be sustainable fashion without doing right by garment workers! Ethical labor means that each garment worker receives a living wage and works in a safe and healthy work environment. A minimum wage is usually the bare minimum typically mandated by law; a living wage, on the other hand, means that a worker is earning enough to keep them out of poverty. Clothes made using ethically compensated labor are more expensive, but people shouldn’t suffer so that our clothes are exceptionally cheap. Moreover, many sustainable brands have items that retail for under $100 and yet they pay a living wage. Brands that qualify to be described as sustainable pay a living wage. I have heard it asked quite often: Can fashion brands afford to pay a living wage yet remain profitable? The answer, contrary to what some fast-fashion brands may want to admit, is yes. Smaller sustainable brands are being ethical and yet are still in business and are profitable. If there is a will, there is way.

Article / Updated 05-01-2023

Simply put, low-water landscaping is all about landscaping with less water. And no matter whether you’re trying to sustain an established yard in a desert-like climate or you’re wishing to make changes while adjusting to a limited or unpredictable water supply, the message is the same: You can do it! Having a beautiful landscape isn’t just nice, it’s also important. The plants in and around the area are more than décor, they’re alive — even in times when water is scarce. We humans are bound in a relationship with plants, not just for the pleasurable beauty or fragrance they may provide as we come and go from our home or hang out in the yard, and not just for the other creatures they help sustain (from pollinators to birds). We’re also elementally bound together by the shared, interdependent, natural cycles of air — the exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen — and water, the stuff of life as we know it. When water is rationed or in short supply, when rain is a rare event, when we constantly hear dire stories about falling reservoirs and depleted aquifers, we worry. We should worry. Water is precious and vulnerable to human demands as well as forces that feel beyond our control, like weather patterns and macro-climate change. And yet, having an attractive yard isn’t a foolish wish, nor is it a luxury. Your yard is part of your home and part of the big picture of the larger landscape. Rather than giving up, adapt. Become a good steward. This article gives you a brief overview of what you can do. Find out how to conserve water, how to better deliver it to wisely chosen plants, and how to keep it all healthy and beautiful. Defining Low-Water Landscaping Low-water landscaping is using less water, more efficiently. Sustaining home landscaping on less water isn’t mysterious. Many excellent techniques and ideas come from farming and agriculture. And, of course, research is continuing. Certain water-conserving ideas from agriculture translate well to smaller and more intimate settings, whether you only have a courtyard or balcony, or you’re trying to maintain a half-acre or more around your home. Also other gardeners have developed clever, effective ways to successfully nurture many plants with less water. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. Plenty of trial and error and research, worldwide and over many centuries, has yielded innovative and practical ways to install and care for plants. Here, I begin by taking a closer look at where you can reduce water use and how. Not every suggestion will apply — but many will! Conserving is a matter of examining every opportunity. See where it makes sense to implement There are many places and times where saving water can (and should) be possible. These include the following: Where getting water to your yard and plants is difficult or complex Where the water supply is expensive/where water bills just keep going up and up Where the water source is uncertain: unreliable, depleted, or drying up Where rainfall is unpredictable, sparse, or briefly seasonal Where water rationing is mandated and enforced Where the landscaping you do have is suffering from lack of water When you don’t have time, funds, or the energy to fuss over your yard When you’re ready for a change to more responsible and creative landscaping Why being water-wise is important Global climate-change weather models suggest that severe droughts may not be occasional anomalies to endure but become the norm — sobering news. Therefore confronting the situation and being proactive about your water use is imperative. Should things improve or monsoon rains be generous, well, the good habits and practices you develop ought to stay in place anyway. Wasting water is a careless habit; conserving water shows respect for life itself, starting with the plants and creatures inhabiting your yard and also respect for your neighbors and neighborhood, your municipality, and your bioregion. Leverage your water sources Part of water-wise gardening is gathering all the water you can and sometimes storing it to use with care later — in other words, maximizing your supply. You may be surprised by some of these useful ideas: Start monitoring how much water your garden needs and uses. Install one or more rain barrels. Collect and store water in a cistern or tank. Use gray water. Gray water isn’t all of your household water, but rather the sources of relatively clean consumption, such as sinks, showers, bathtubs, and even the washing machine (not the toilet or utility sink). Some municipalities regulate the use of gray water and, of course, you don’t want to use certain soaps or cleaning agents, which would make the re-used water unsafe or unsuitable for your plants or soil. Route or reroute drainage from your roof. Study and route or reroute drainage out in your yard. Put in a rain garden, a garden area set up in a low area where rain pools or where you can divert your rain gutters. Find out whether your municipality has reclaimed water, which is water that has been treated but isn’t meant for drinking/not potable. They may be using it to irrigate city parks and other public places, but it may also be possible to access it for your personal landscape. For the details on how to implement all of the ideas in this article, check out my book Low-Water Landscaping For Dummies. Eliminate wasteful watering practices A series of seemingly minor changes in your watering habits can help. Here are a few suggestions: Prevent runoff. Don’t overwater, don’t water too long, and help water soak in so plants can use it. It begins with good soil, actually. Create watering basins around individual plants. Create water-need zones by grouping plants with similar needs together so you can water them together. Water when chance of evaporation is lowest. A full explanation and discussion — including myth-busting. Choose watering gear wisely. Replace old-model sprinklers and sprinkler systems with some amazingly efficient new technology. A wide range of items and networks deliver water directly to the roots of your plants (and not to the sidewalk and gutter!). Hold water in the ground around your plants by mulching. It’s cheap, it’s easy, and it’s tremendously effective. Just to get on the Mulch Soapbox for a moment: Anyone can mulch their plants and everyone, especially those needing to conserve water, should! Mulch has profound benefits. Mulch prevents evaporation, which is huge because most plant roots are fairly close to the soil surface. Mulched plants need water less frequently and stay fresh-looking longer after a watering. Mulch also helps keep weeds at bay, and weeds are notorious for stealing water and nutrients from your desired plants. Like to grow and display plants in containers, but you’ve definitely noticed that they’re more water-intensive than plants in the ground? Good news: You can get the needed water to potted plants without waste or worry. Among the options are clever self-watering pots and water-holding crystals added to potting soil. Replace Impractical Plants with Practical Ones If you’re honest with yourself, you already know that your yard — including but not limited to your lawn — has some plants that aren’t doing so well these days. Not enough water is obviously their problem. They’re getting to be too much trouble and expense to maintain. To be blunt, the solution is obvious. Out with the old, in with the new! I want to reassure you that not only can you make changes, but you can also embrace changes by making smart and creative choices that will look great. Keep reading for some general suggestions. Getting rid of your lawn Taking out your grass feels like the end of an era … because it’s the end of an era. Green lawns suck up a lot of resources, mainly water but also fertilizer and perhaps weedkillers (all of which can be harmful to wildlife, your environs, and groundwater) — not to mention all your own effort and sweat in mowing and clipping. And what’s the point if water is limited and no matter how hard you try, it doesn’t look as lush as you want? Completely removing your lawn isn’t as hard as you might think. Lawn grass isn’t deep-rooted, and you can dig it up and peel it away like a thick old carpet. You can also get rid of a lawn by tarping, solarizing the area, or undertaking sheet or “lasagna” mulching. After the deed is done and you’ve removed your grass, you’ll have a clean slate, an area of open space, presumably in full sun and in full view of you and your neighbors. This is a brand-new landscaping opportunity! Yes, look at this transition as pivoting to a new and better way — because it is. While you’re contemplating your next steps, don’t leave bare, exposed ground. Weeds — those hardiest and most resilient of all plants, even in dire drought conditions — will invade. The saying “nature abhors a vacuum” is never truer than when a spot is freshly cleared. Just cover over the area until you’re ready to re-landscape and replant. Consider lawn alternatives You have a lot of options for alternatives, depending on the size of the space, your budget, and your energy. I recommend you do a little (fun and inspiring) research by looking at how others in your neighborhood and region have dealt with lawn replacement. Meanwhile, the following can jump-start your thinking: Put in a native drought-tolerant grass or grass blend. True, your lawn won’t look like a golf green, but it may serve as a pretty and quite water-wise new installation. A plus: These types of grasses look more harmonious and natural, rather than out of place. Consider ornamental grasses. Unlike turf grasses, ornamental grasses are clump-formers, so they tend to be taller and need to be planted more closely if you’re still wanting broad coverage. You can clip or mow to maintain a desired height. Install a meadow. Full disclosure — installing a meadow takes soil preparation, careful selection of a balance of flowering plants and native grasses, and some regular maintenance to keep it looking nice. It’s gardening; you can’t just sprinkle a can of meadow mix and be done. However, the results can be gorgeous and gratifying, and the area definitely will consume very little water once established. Some municipalities and homeowner associations are still reluctant to allow or approve of meadow gardens, particularly in front yards or areas clearly visible from the street. Put in a groundcover. Plenty of plants certainly can fill in and cover up a broad area and look terrific. Some introduce different shades of green and other colors (and/or seasonal color changes, which can be lovely) to your home landscape. And, don’t be succulents-averse. There are more options than you may realize, and mixing and matching can also supply impressive, beautiful, and effective coverage.

Article / Updated 04-27-2023

If you're trying to conserve water for your yard and garden, it's worth looking into the various ways you can grab and save this precious resource — thereby not having to turn on the house spigot. Water collection is easy, convenient, affordable … and smart. The two main options are rain barrels and cisterns. You may hear these projects referred to as rainwater harvesting. The main source of water is rainwater routed from your home’s gutter system, so you want good gutter coverage of your rooflines, complete with screens or filters. Make a practice of cleaning out the gutters yearly, ideally in a dry season (because it’s easier). Other possible sources include runoff from other impervious hardscape in your home landscape, such as an elevated patio or deck where you can route and collect that runoff. Before proceeding, find out if the government in your area has limitations — that is, limits on how much water you can collect from your own home and landscape. Colorado’s regulations are a case in point. Presently, most homeowners in that state are limited to a maximum of two rain barrels with a combined maximum storage capacity of 110 gallons. Permitting may apply. You might want to check whether there are local tax incentives, rebates, or discounted equipment suppliers. Many municipalities offer incentives to encourage water conservation and stormwater control in their communities. Rain barrels Not all rain barrels are created equal — they’re usually made of some kind of heavy-duty plastic; some are larger, some are smaller. Colors and styles, as well as capacity, varies. Household barrels are typically 50 gallons (though larger ones are available). They range in price from about $100 to $400. Look around at what your neighbors are using and shop around locally and online to locate the many choices. You get what you pay for. The best rain barrels are made of UV-resistant resin, with seamless rotational molding and spin weld fittings. They aren’t cheap, but they’re long-lasting and work beautifully. You can also make your own rain barrel. Use a large, clean, sturdy plastic barrel and install a lid (with an opening for the incoming gutter water) and spigot. Heed the following information — features that good, purchased rain barrels should also have. Figure 2-2 shows a good example of a rain barrel. Unless your area is fortunate enough to receive regular rainfall (uncertain or unlikely, to be honest, for most households in water-scarce areas), rainwater collection isn’t a dependable or year-round source of water for your home landscape. Consider it supplemental and, of course, make the most of it. Recycled barrels may be tempting, but you must find out what the original use was; solvents, oils, and farm chemicals are all no-nos. Old garbage cans may be leaky or not strong enough to support a full volume of water without buckling. Seeking certain features Rain barrels work best when they have the following practical features: A sealable lid: A securely fitted lid keeps out debris, bugs (including mosquito larvae, definitely unwelcome), and animals (including birds and snakes). Screening may not be sufficient because pollen and dust can still get through (and if the water will be directed into an irrigation system, tiny materials like those items can clog emitters). Use a solid lid such as a board, piece of metal, or plastic. A good, non-flimsy, secured cover is also a safety matter, if you have a curious outdoor cat on the premises or small children playing outdoors. Outlet spigot: It needs to sit low-down on the side of the barrel. Otherwise water sits below it and becomes stagnant. Overflow pipe: When a barrel gets really full, it will overflow. A pipe inserted near the top can carry off excess water — it should be long enough to be routed to a nearby plant or bed. Thus no water is lost or wasted! Sturdy construction and fittings: These prevent leaks. Some store-bought ones come with a flat side/flat back, making it easier to wedge against a wall of your house — a nice option. Installing your rain barrel When you install your rain barrel, remember these pointers: Place your rain barrel on an ample and level spot, ideally a concrete pad or pavers. If you can elevate it, gravity will help with water pressure. (However, not too high — you don’t want it to topple.) Site it in a spot that’s handy to your garden and plants. Make sure the spot is comfortable and accessible for you (checking on it, hooking up a hose, filling a watering can, and occasionally cleaning it). Route a downspout or downspouts into it; add a filter/filters if there’s the potential for lots of debris. Consider multiple barrels because if all downspouts lead to just one barrel you have the potential for overflow/wasted water. Using the water from your rain barrel When you’re ready to use the water in your barrel in your yard, keep the following in mind: You can hook up a hose to the spigot. You can simply fill a watering can at the spigot and make repeated trips into the garden or to your potted plant collection. You can even hook up an inground irrigation system to it Don’t hook up a soaker hose to a rain barrel’s spigot. There isn’t enough water pressure for the soaker hose to operate effectively, particularly at its farthest reaches. Maintaining your rain barrel Clean out your rain barrel and perhaps replace the spigot, and any filters, once or twice a year. Otherwise silt may build up in the bottom, and/or the interior may get a stinky film. If your winters have freezing weather, completely empty the barrel beforehand. Freezing water in a spigot can ruin it, and residual water in a frozen barrel expands and can damage it. Store it in a garage, shed, or barn over the winter months. Water that runs off your roof, into your gutters, and then into your rain barrel is untreated and may pick up chemicals and debris from your roofing material. It may also be contaminated by anything from bird droppings to microbes, or contain impurities absorbed from the air, such as arsenic and mercury. Even if you have filters in place or flush off the first few collected gallons, don’t drink it. Only use this water on your plants and lawn! Supplemental water for your rain barrel What if there’s a period of no rain? Your rain barrel stands empty and unused, which is unfortunate. You can supply it with household water, then. Collect kitchen-sink water, veggie-rinsing water, bathtub/shower water, even dehumidifier water. Avoid water that has particles in it or soaps that may contain microbeads. Use pitchers or buckets in the house, and once they’re full, make a delivery to the rain barrel, replacing the lid afterward. Cisterns and tanks Cisterns are large tanks for storing as much as 20,000 gallons (75,708 liters) of water. Many farmers and market gardeners, as well as public parks and gardens, use such things, but residential homeowners can use cisterns to stockpile water for later use, too. A homeowner-size cistern is about 10 feet by 20 feet and 3 feet deep (3 x 6.1 and 0.9 m), with a capacity of around 4,000 gallons (15,141 liters). Check with your local authorities to see if cistern use is permitted or regulated in any way. Areas with severe water restrictions ban these. If you do get the green light, new challenges lie ahead, including location, materials, cost, delivery, and setup. You also want to consider how you can protect it from heat and sun (overheated water or algae growth being the problems) and what types of filters and pumps to use, if any. If you’re determined to proceed, consult the supplier — whether a home-improvement store or an ag-supply outlet. Other ideas Water directed from downspouts from your roof, or an upper deck or balcony area, and routed directly into your garden can bring needed water to your plants — assuming it rains. Although this isn’t a viable year-round watering strategy, it’s safe and legal. You may want to consider a rain garden. Chapter 16 discusses rain gardens in greater detail. Another option is a relatively new technology called rain walls. They’re basically slender vertical water-storage tanks, made of strong, UV-stabilized, food-grade plastic. Pioneered in Australia, they come in building blocks, so they're stackable or can be set up as interlocking forms. You can fit one or more into a very narrow side yard, for example, or make a fence or wall out of several or many. Installation is straightforward. One example of these is Rainwater Hog. Is using gray water a good idea? Gray water (sometimes spelled “grey”) may be another source of water you can collect and give to your landscape plants. Gray water is water from inside your home, basically anything but toilet-flushed water bound for the sewer or septic tank. Also avoid collecting utility-sink water. Gray water is wastewater from household sinks, showers and tubs, and laundry. Utilizing it is, indeed, water-wise. You’ve paid for it once if you get your water from your municipality, yet you’re using it twice (for those with well water, similar point: you’re using it twice). Thus you’re conserving water and conserving energy. By not sending this wastewater into the sewer or your septic tank, you’re lightening their load, too. There may be incentives to use it, or there may be restrictions. Check your city, county, or state websites and/or confirm with phone calls before proceeding. Here are the best ways to get it into your garden, where it’s needed: Collect in buckets and pitchers. Leave them in the tub and sinks at all times so everyone in the household gets in the habit of dumping gray water in them. Route directly. An outflow pipe from the kitchen sink or washing machine goes straight out to the yard. An on-off valve is a good idea, for those days when you run three loads of wash, which may be too much water for your plants, especially if you’re growing drought-tolerant natives. Rig an irrigation system, complete with storage tank, filters, and outgoing lines. This sort of thing takes some expertise, and some municipalities don’t allow DIY installations; you must hire a trained and licensed professional to install it. Because people use soap products in all of these areas, and some soaps are harmful to the environment (to soils, to plants, and to groundwater), find out what’s allowed and what’s best. Basically, you want to favor soap products that don’t contain microbeads, phosphates, salts, boron, or oils. You may have to change brands in order to collect maximum gray water. Also, use common sense: don’t reuse household water that contains bleach or cleaning products, or laundry water that rinsed diapers or a mechanic’s work clothes. Out of an abundance of caution, don’t use gray water on certain plants, including anything you’ll eat — for example, salad greens and melons. However, watering tomato and pepper plants, berry plants, and trees (including fruit and nut trees) with gray water is considered okay.

Article / Updated 04-26-2023

A popular alternative to a traditional, water-sucking lawn is a meadow or, more properly, a meadow bed. These plantings use native grasses and prairie-type plants or native flowers, both annual and perennial. Certain wildflower (pre-made) mixes composed of low-growing plants can also be used for meadowlike lawns. Meadow lawns are less formal-looking than most grass lawns but can be walked on or played on and have a wild beauty all their own. Make no mistake: A meadow garden is still gardening. You can’t just sow or plant meadow flowers and grasses, and then walk away and expect the results to prosper or stay looking the same. But doing this in your yard is no more difficult than installing and caring for other planting projects. The following sections explain how to make your meadow dreams come true. A compelling reason to do this is to create habitat for and offer sanctuary to pollinators, birds, and other ecosystem inhabitants. If someone else a street over has a meadow area in their yard, stop by, ask for a tour, and learn from their experiences! But what will the neighbors think? Despite their benefits and potential beauty, meadow gardens and beds remain controversial in some communities. To the untrained eye or the eye accustomed to traditional lawn grass or even beds of gravel punctuated by succulents, these plantings aren’t welcome. This prejudice isn’t totally unfair. A meadow area that isn’t matured (maybe its second year will be a peak show) or one that isn’t well-maintained can indeed look like a jumble of weeds. Meadows may be prohibited or frowned upon in densely populated neighborhoods. In planned communities with a homeowners association (HOA), they may be outright banned or at least regulated. Find out whether your area allows meadow gardens. You’ve probably heard stories of defiant or distressed meadow gardeners being fined or forced to mow it all down. Sometimes they’re prohibited in the front yard, and you can shift your plans to another part of your property. Certainly you ought to be able to landscape however you please in the back or along the sides of your home. Assuming you get the green light and go ahead with the project, take good care of the area. Let your neighbors see you out there — that will help them understand it’s a tended garden space, not a weed patch! Getting started on your meadow area When you’re ready to begin, attend to these practical measures: Pick a spot. Full sun and out in the open tends to be ideal. Repurpose some or all of your former lawn area, dress up a curb strip, or create a border along a driveway or walkway or along the front of your house. Define the area. If your meadow garden has boundaries — edgings of stones, wood, fencing of some kind, even a buffer like a gravel moat — the whole thing looks tidier and planned, and skeptics will better receive it. Defining the area also makes the project more manageable for you. Put up an attractive and informative sign. Order a customized one on Etsy, saying something like “Teri’s Meadow, Butterflies Welcome!,” “Mi Pequeño Prado,” “Habitat Restoration Project,” “Pollinator-Friendly Garden,” or “Low-Water Wildflowers.” Do your homework. Read and ponder this section’s basic information. Visit nurseries and do some research online about meadow plants and design approaches. Figure out approximately how many plants you’ll need. The first step is measuring the site and calculating the area (length x width). Maybe make a sketch. Because you want thicker growth in a meadow scheme, plan for plants to be installed close together. Knowing their projected size will guide you. Alternatively, armed with the site dimensions, go to the nursery and enlist the help of a staffer. You can always add more plants if you didn’t buy enough on the first trip! Preparing the site and soil A meadow area or bed is a gardening project, not a toss-in-the-plants-and-go affair. Get the spot ready beforehand to boost success by doing the following: Evict weeds. Weeds are aggressors and can overwhelm and shade out little growing meadow plants. Remove them by the roots whenever possible. You might not get all of them but give this a good effort — you’ll save annoyance and work down the line. If the area is full of weeds now or in the recent past, hit the pause button and beat back the problem first. Don’t till, which brings both weed seeds and plant and root fragments to the surface where they can germinate and grow. You have options: Tarp or solarize the area. Let a crop of weeds germinate, then mow them down (many are annuals and won’t get tall enough to reseed; you’re basically outsmarting them with this method!). Consider some soil improvement. Even when you intend to install lots of native plants, the native soil in your yard may not be welcoming to seeds or seedlings. Low-water plants do need some tough love (that is, you don’t want to pamper them with rich soil that leads to lush — and thirsty — growth), but a little soil improvement won’t hurt in this case, particularly if your soil is poor or gritty. Improve it before planting anything by digging in organic matter such as compost, bagged dehydrated cow manure, and/or good topsoil. Install a watering system or have a watering plan. Among your options are in-ground irrigation, soaker hoses, and watering gadgets. Your water needs will be dictated by what sorts of plants you choose — really drought-tolerant plants won’t require much. But, as ever, seeds and baby plants always do. So have a plan. Protect the prepared spot. A cleared area, with or without some soil improvement, is an open invitation to opportunistic weeds. They can come in from seemingly nowhere, on a breeze, or from under the ground if you missed root fragments. Even if the gap between getting the spot ready and planting time is only a couple of days, cover it! Tarp it, cover it with black plastic, spread flattened cardboard or old carpets over the area, whatever it takes. Anchor the edges. Don’t remove the cover until planting day. Choosing appropriate plants Picking plants for your meadow display is fun. Your best bet is to pay a visit to a nursery that specializes in pot-grown native and meadow plants so the staff can advise you and answer your questions. Otherwise, nose around a more-general nursery and look for ideas. Local and regional plants are well-adapted and also offer food and shelter to area pollinators. Planting these boosts two goals: adding garden beauty and nurturing the environment. Here are my best shopping tips: Be selective. Choose wildflowers and native grasses. Planting a variety assures that you’ll always be something to admire. Aim for balance to get a more natural-looking meadow. Pick some grasses and some perennial and annual blooming flowers. (Time and experience will help you hone the look as you discover if your plans worked or need to be tweaked from one year to the next.) Don’t be a purist. When you go shopping, you’ll see cultivars or nativars, which are cultivated varieties of native plants. They’re variations and improvements on the original species — either spotted by a savvy horticulturist or developed at a nursery. Their growth habit may be shorter and less rangy, or their flower size may be larger and/or flower production is higher. Color variations are available. For example, purple coneflowers now come in a rainbow of bright colors, including orange, magenta, red, and yellow. Some plants aren’t native nor descended from natives (instead they’re from other low-water parts of the world), and yet they deliver the color and exuberant look you wish for, so go for it! Add some cosmos, zinnias, and different kinds of poppies to your meadow display. The goal is to have lots of pretty flowers tossing in a light breeze. Keeping your meadow looking nice Water is a need in the early days, but over time, your meadow planting will become more self-sufficient. Still, here are things you can and should do to keep it attractive: Mulch it. As with all new plantings, mulch is key. It helps hold in critical soil moisture to help sustain young plants and helps keep out encroaching weeds. Lay down an inch or more, and if possible, maintain/replenish the mulch layer, at least until the meadow plants get taller, growing thickly enough to manage these matters for themselves. Maintain it. Pass through and groom your meadow, even if doing so feels like busywork (many meadow plants are low-care, but you want to let your neighbors see you working in the meadow area). You can trim off spent flowers, remove excessive or spent growth, and cut back stems or branches that are crowding out other plants or pushing the boundaries of the area. Mowing at season’s end might be a good idea. Assess balance. The prettiest meadows in nature have both grasses and flowers. Although the look you wish is up to you, an equal amount at any given time looks nice. Grasses carry on most of the year (and may even bloom, though their flower spikes arguably aren’t as showy or colorful as their companions) but flowers come and go. The look can change dramatically from one season to the next, and definitely from one year to the next — simply because some plants are stronger growers. Intervene to edit — trim or take out plants — when you feel the balance is off or when you notice some of the plants becoming too dominant. For the first year, observe which flowers do best for you. Plan to reseed more of them in subsequent years, especially near to each other so you create little islands of each variety. This action actually mimics the way natural meadows look and will be more stable as the years go by.

Article / Updated 04-24-2023

After you choose a good sunny spot for your vegetable garden and draw a plan on paper, you need to clean up the area so the soil will be easier to work. You can clear your garden area any time during the year, but the season before planting works best — clear in the fall for spring planting, or clear in the spring for summer or fall planting. You can clear the area the day before you plant, but you may have more weed problems later. Here are the basics of initially clearing your garden spot, which I explain in more detail in the sections that follow: Outline the areas of your garden plot that you want to clear. You outline the areas depending on how you want the plots to be shaped. Follow these guidelines: To get your edges straight for a square or rectangular vegetable plot, stretch a string between sticks and mark the line with a trickle of ground white limestone, which is available at garden centers. For a round garden, use a hose or rope to lay out the area, adjusting the position to create a smooth curve. If you want several individual beds separated by permanent paths, outline each bed independently with string, sticks, and limestone so you don’t waste time improving soil that you’ll never use. But if you think that you may change your garden layout from season to season or year to year, work the entire area within the outline. Clear the surface by first removing plants, weeds, brush, and rock. If necessary, mow the site to cut back the grass and weeds close to the surface of the soil. (See the next section for how to handle weeds.) Dig out the roots of small trees and tough weeds with a hoe, shovel, or pick ax. After the vegetation is manageable, remove any sod. (See the section, “Stripping sod,” later in this article for details on how to do this.) Properly preparing the soil before planting is an all-important first step toward a bountiful harvest. To learn how to test and adjust the pH of your soil, read "How To Test and Improve Your Soil." Don’t take shortcuts with your soil. You’ll be cheating your plants at their roots, and they won’t like it. You feed your soil, and your soil feeds your plants. Killing weeds and aggressive grasses If your garden area contains a lot of perennial weeds — like quack grass, that come back year after year — or if you need to clear an area of a warm-season lawn composed of vigorous grasses (like Bermuda grass), make sure that you first kill these weeds or grasses. You can pull out or heavily mulch over seedlings, but many aggressive weeds and turf spread by underground roots as well as seeds; these underground roots can haunt you forever. If you have an existing garden, you have to be diligent about weeding, or you may need to start all over again with tilling and removing as much of the weed’s root system as you can. You can kill weeds and aggressive grasses two ways: Hand dig and sift: For a small garden, dig up the earth and carefully sift the soil, removing sod and root parts that may come back next year as weeds. Apply a covering: An easy, chemical-free way to clear your garden is to cover it with clear or black plastic, cardboard, or even old rugs. After a month under these impermeable coverings, existing plants die from the lack of sunlight. You must plan ahead to use this method, and it may not look pretty, but it works like a charm — especially on annual weeds. For perennial weeds, you may need to dig out their roots, too, after applying the plastic. You can buy plastic in rolls at hardware stores or home improvement centers; check department stores for old pieces of cardboard. Use the thickest plastic or cardboard you can find — it should be at least 2 millimeters, but 4 millimeters is even better. Controlling weeds and grasses by applying a covering to your garden area is easy. Just follow these steps: Spread the covering over your entire garden area, securing the edges with spare rocks, bricks, or boards. Let neighboring pieces overlap by several inches so light can’t penetrate. If you’re using old rugs, place them nap side down. After a month, remove the covering and strip off any grass or weeds. Use a shovel to cut off any grass or weeds at the root level (just below the soil surface). If they aren’t too thick, rototill them into the ground. Wet the area and wait about 10 days for weeds to sprout. Leave the covering off; you want weeds to sprout. You should get some growth because you haven’t removed weed seeds. Use a hoe to kill the weeds. Hoeing the weeds down is sufficient to kill annual weeds, but if you have perennial weeds, you need to dig out the roots. Check out the National Gardening Association’s Weed Library for help identifying the weeds in your garden. Organic approach to killing weeds For an organic approach to killing weeds while also building your garden soil, try a no-till layered garden technique (see the figure below). It’s like making lasagna: The season before planting, lay down cardboard over the garden area. Water the cardboard generously to keep it in place. Cover the cardboard with a 6-inch-thick layer of hay or straw. Top that with a 1- to 2-inch-thick layer of compost. By the next planting season, the layers will have killed the grass and most of the annual and perennial weeds in your garden. You can hand pull any tenacious perennial weeds that survived. Earthworms will have munched up much of the cardboard, turning it into valuable compost. You can plant your seedlings right into the mulched layers, and they’ll grow like weeds (even better). Stripping sod If you don’t want to try the techniques in the preceding section, you can immediately remove the lawn grass by stripping the sod (grass and roots) before planting. If your lawn consists of bluegrass and other less-spreading grasses, you can strip the sod without first killing the grass; most lawns in the northern United States consist of these types of grasses. But you should kill weedier grasses, like Bermuda grass, before you strip the sod (see the preceding section for details on killing weedier grass). Stripping sod takes a lot of effort, but it works. Just follow these steps, and have your wheelbarrow or garden cart handy: Water the area that you want to clear for 15 minutes for each of the 2 days prior to digging up your sod. I suggest watering this way because stripping sod is easier when the ground is slightly moist. Starting at one end of your plot, slip a spade under the grass and slide it under the sod. An easier method is to precut the sod into square or rectangular sections and then loosen each section with a spade. Either way, don’t dig too deep; you just want to remove the sod and 1 to 2 inches of roots. You also can use a rented sod stripper to cut the sod into rows that you roll up and remove. Pivot your spade up and let the sod flip off the spade and back onto the ground; use your spade to slice off the sod section, toss the sod into a wheelbarrow or garden cart, and take it to a compost pile. If your sod has healthy grass with few weeds, and you don’t want to compost it, use it to patch bare spots in your lawn. Keep it well watered, and it should root and blend in with the existing grasses. Repeat Steps 2 and 3 until your garden is cleared of sod. These steps should clear all the grass in your garden. You’ll get new growth only if you have an aggressive grass like Bermuda and don’t kill all the roots.

Article / Updated 04-24-2023

After clearing your garden area in preparation for planting, you need to take a close look at your soil — give it a good squeeze, have it tested, amend it, and then work it out to make sure it’s in shipshape. Good soil gives vegetable roots a balance of all the things they need: moisture, nutrients, and air. And knowing your soil type enables you to counteract problems that you may face when gardening on that piece of land. I explain the basics in the following sections. Distinguishing different types of soil Three main types of soil exist, with a lot of variations in between. Hard clay is at one end of the spectrum; soft, sandy soil is at the other end; and loam is in the middle. Being familiar with your soil helps you know what to expect when gardening. Clay soil tends to have a lot of natural fertility but is heavy to work with and doesn’t drain water well. Sandy soil, on the other hand, drains water well (maybe too well) but doesn’t have a lot of natural fertility. Loam, the ideal soil, is somewhere in between the two. Here are general characteristics of the three basic types of soil: Sandy soil is composed of mostly large mineral particles. Water moves through this soil quickly, taking nutrients with it. Sandy soil is well aerated, quick to dry out and warm up, and often lacks the nutrients that vegetables need. Clay soil consists of mainly small particles that cling tightly together and hold water and nutrients. It’s slow to dry out and warm up, and has poor aeration, but it’s fertile when it can be worked. Loam soil is a happy mixture of large and small particles. It’s well aerated and drains properly, but it can still hold water and nutrients. This is the soil to have for a great vegetable garden. The squeeze test To find out what type of soil you have, grab a handful of moist soil and squeeze it. Then use these guidelines to determine what type of soil you’re working with: Sandy soil falls apart and doesn’t hold together in a ball when you let go. It feels gritty when you rub it between your fingers. Clay soil oozes through your fingers as you squeeze it and stays in a slippery wad when you let go. Rubbing clay soil between your fingers feels slippery. Loam soil usually stays together after you squeeze it, but it falls apart easily when you poke it with your finger. If you have sandy or clay soil, don’t despair; you can improve your soil and make it more like loam by adding organic matter, such as compost, sawdust, animal manure, grass clippings, ground bark, and leaf mold. To learn more about this, check out my book Vegetable Gardening For Dummies, 3rd Edition. Testing your soil's chemistry Vegetables are kind of picky about soil chemistry. Too much of this nutrient or too little of that nutrient, and you have problems. If you don’t believe me, see what happens when tomatoes grow in soil that’s deficient in calcium; they develop blossom-end rot. Yuck. Sometimes too much of a nutrient, such as nitrogen, causes lots of leaf growth on plants (such as peppers) but few fruits. Getting the levels just right is important for the best harvest. In addition to nutrient levels, soil pH also is an important factor in plant growth. The right pH enables vegetables to use nutrients from the soil. Soil is rated on a pH scale, with a pH of 1 being most acidic and a pH of 14 being most alkaline. If your soil’s pH isn’t within a suitable range, plants can’t take up nutrients — like phosphorus and potassium — even if they’re present in the soil in high amounts. In addition, if the pH is too low, the solubility of certain minerals, such as manganese, may increase to toxic levels. Most vegetables grow well in a slightly acidic soil with a pH between 6 and 7. Potatoes, including sweet potatoes, prefer a slightly more acidic soil, in the 5 to 6 range. But in general, if you aim for a soil pH between 6 and 7, your vegetables should grow well. The only way to find out whether your soil will be to your vegetables’ liking is to test it. Don’t worry; analyzing your soil isn’t complicated, and you don’t need a lab coat. Here are two ways that you can test your soil: Use a do-it-yourself kit. This basic pH test measures your soil’s acidity and alkalinity and sometimes major nutrient content. Buy a kit at a nursery, follow the instructions, and voilà — you know your soil’s pH. However, the test gives you only a rough picture of the pH and nutrient levels in your soil. You may want to know more about your soil. Have a soil lab do a test for you. A complete soil test is a good investment because a soil lab can thoroughly analyze your soil. Here’s what you can find out from a soil lab’s test in addition to the pH level: Your soil’s nutrient content: If you know your soil’s nutrient content, you can determine how much and what kind of fertilizer to use. In fact, many soil tests tell you exactly how much fertilizer to add; see Chapter 15 for more on fertilizer. Soil problems that are specific to your geographic region: A soil test may help you identify local problems. The soil lab should then give you a recommendation for a type and amount of fertilizer to add to your soil. For example, in dry-summer areas, you may have salty soil; the remedy is to add gypsum, a readily available mineral soil additive. Of course, soil labs charge around $20 to $30 for their basic services. Your local Cooperative Extension Service office or a private soil lab can conduct a complete and reliable soil test. To locate a private lab, search the Internet for soil test labs around the country. You also can ask your Cooperative Extension Service office for recommendations. Fall is a good time to test soil because labs aren’t as busy. It’s also a good time to add many amendments (materials that improve your soil’s fertility and workability) to your soil because they break down slowly. To prepare a soil sample to use with a do-it-yourself kit or to send to a soil lab, follow these steps: Fill a cup with soil from the top 4 to 6 inches of soil from your vegetable garden, and then place the soil in a plastic bag. Dig six to eight similar samples from different parts of your plot. Mix all the cups of soil together; place two cups of the combined soil in a plastic bag — that’s your soil sample. After you’ve collected your sample, consult the instructions from your soil test kit or the testing lab. If you’re testing a soil imbalance — a known problem that you’ve identified in either pH or nutrients — you may want to test your soil every year because changes in pH and most nutrients are gradual. A home testing kit is a good way to test a pH imbalance. For nutrients, you may want to do a yearly test at a lab until the imbalance (high or low levels of a nutrient) is fixed. To maintain balanced soil, test it every three to five years. Adjusting soil pH Most garden soils have a pH between 5.5 and 8.0. This number helps you determine when and how to adjust your soil’s pH level. The following guidelines help you interpret this number: If the number is below 6, the soil is too acidic, and you need to add ground limestone. If the measurement is above 7.5, the soil is too alkaline for most vegetables, and you need to add soil sulfur. In the following sections, I explain how to figure out how much lime or sulfur you need to add to your soil and how to apply the materials. Calculating how much lime or sulfur you need All Cooperative Extension Service offices, any soil lab, many lawn and garden centers, and the National Gardening Association website have charts showing how much lime or sulfur to add to correct a pH imbalance. The charts tell you how many pounds of material to add per 1,000 square feet, so you need to measure the size of your vegetable garden first. Then use Tables 1 and 2 to figure out how much lime or sulfur you need to add to your soil. Pounds of Limestone Needed to Raise pH (per 1,000 square feet) pH Pounds for Sandy Soil Pounds for Loam Soil Pounds for Clay Soil 4.0-6.5 60 161 230 4.5-6.5 50 130 190 5.0-6.5 40 100 150 5.5-6.5 30 80 100 6.0-6.5 15 40 60 Pounds of Sulfur Needed to Lower pH (per 1,000 square feet) pH Pounds for Sandy Soil Pounds for Loam Soil Pounds for Clay Soil 8.5-6.5 45 60 70 8.0-6.5 30 35 45 7.5-6.5 10 20 25 7.0-6.5 2 4 7 In general, soils in climates with high rainfall — such as east of the Mississippi River (particularly east of the Appalachian Mountains) or in the Pacific Northwest — tend to be acidic. West of the Mississippi, where less rainfall occurs, soils are more alkaline. But regardless of where you live in North America, you should easily be able to find the lime or sulfur that you need at your local garden center.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-13-2023

Recycling is a commendable action that shows you care about the environment and are working to improve it. Yet there are many ways you can improve your recycling habits, raise recycling rates, help build a strong recycling economy, and secure the future of all the recyclables you so diligently put in your bin. This Cheat Sheet gives you some tools to get you started.