Sustainable green design in the back yard can be a rewarding venture for a home owner but does take some patience and hard work. There are several options to make the backyard more eco-friendly and cut down the cost of maintenance.
These are some of the options that you can choose from to make your backyard more green:
Composting
Create an area where grass clippings, coffee grinds, vegetable matter, or leaves can be used for compost. There are many composting formulas available to assist in making pesticide free fertilizer than can be used in the yard.
Rain Cisterns
These rain catchers can provide free water for the plants for a season. An inch of rain on 1,000 square feet of roof with eaves and downspout can produce about 600 gallons of water.
Plant Wild Prairie Grasses and Other Indigenous Plants
Some areas of the yard can be planted with natural plants that can be used to border the yard or replace large areas that don’t need to be mowed. The sustainable green design created by these plants is easy to maintain and comes back year after year.
Build Bird and Bat Houses
While many would rather keep bats away, they eat their weight in insects every night. Having birds and bats inhabit the area cuts way down on both crawling and flying bugs that bit humans or harm plants, which prevent the use of pesticides.
Plant Perennial Flowers, Hostas, and Other Ground Cover
Colorful flowering plants return year after year, adding interest to the yard. Ground covers will establish and choke out weeds. Hosta varieties are wonderful for increasing in size each year and their ability to be split and replanted. Hostas are also hearty in poor or dry soil.
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