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Collecting the rain that falls on your roof can help your garden and save some of your water usage. Master gardener Paul James, conservation expert Gina Hungerford and rain barrel builder Jeff Greer explain how to start your own water conservation system with easy-to-install rain barrels.
To save a little water from going down the drain, Hungerford offers a simple, efficient, low-cost method for homeowners to collect and recycle water. She suggests installing rain barrels, which are simply large containers that capture rainwater at the end of your downspout. According to Hungerford, a quarter-inch of rain falling on the average home yields a little over 200 gallons of water. A rain barrel can be filled within a matter of minutes during a good rain.
A green roof is an extension of a new or existing roof that involves a high-quality water proofing and root repellant system, a drainage system, filter cloth, a lightweight growing medium and plants. Green roof systems may be modular, with drainage layers, 
filter cloth, growing media and plants already prepared in movable, interlocking grids, or, each component may be installed separately. Green roof development involves the creation of “contained” green space on top of a human-made structure. This green space could be below, at or above grade, but in all cases the plants are not planted in the “ground.”
filter cloth, growing media and plants already prepared in movable, interlocking grids, or, each component may be installed separately. Green roof development involves the creation of “contained” green space on top of a human-made structure. This green space could be below, at or above grade, but in all cases the plants are not planted in the “ground.”
Minneapolis Solid Waste & Recycling recommends that you not bag, but leave grass clippings on your lawn. Read on to find out why.
Privacy fences are often an essential feature of the urban or suburban yard, and they may even play a role on some rural landscapes. Privacy fences work in both directions. Firstly, they screen out unpleasant external sights and sounds that would otherwise impinge upon the senses. Secondly, privacy fences screen your movements from the prying eyes of neighbors.
From the wacky to the practical, renting instead of buying can save you serious money, as well as benefit the environment.
1. Tools
In these tough economic times many people are looking for ways to shave expenses off their budgets. One tried-and-true method is to rent instead of buy. Environmentalists have long pointed out that we can also significantly reduce our impact on the planet if we borrow the things we only need occasionally.
1. Build a clothesline
Next to your refrigerator, your dryer is likely the biggest energy-guzzling appliance in your house. And while we wouldn’t ask you to store your food in a vintage icebox, an old-fashioned clothesline is actually a pretty good idea. (If that sounds too retro, think of it as a “solar dryer” instead.)
You can buy a pulley kit like the one pictured here at the hardware store. Or you can order the components online. But it’s easy to make a traditional clothesline yourself, using 4×4 or 6×6 pressure-treated posts for the uprights and 2×8s for the cross arms (which don’t need to be pressure-treated). Simply notch the posts to receive the cross arms, set them in concrete, and run the lines on eye hooks between them. A 4- or 5-foot cross arm should give you enough room for five lengths of line, nicely spaced.
Lumber: $42
Hardware: $10
100 feet of line + 100 wood clothespins: $17
Total: $69
Home composting is a simple task. All you need is common household and garden waste, air, a bit of heat, moisture and time for the organic materials to break down into a rich, loamy soil-like material that your plants and soil will love. If you’ve been considering composting at home, read on for inspiration and information.
Advantages of Composting at Home
Home composting is good for you and your family, your garden and the planet. Here are the basics. Compost is filled with healthy nutrients for your plants and soil. Because you choose the ingredients in your homemade compost, you don’t need to worry about harmful compost materials in your garden and yard where your children, pets and birds play. Most importantly, by composting at home, you are doing your part for the environment by putting to good use ingredients that would otherwise end up in the trash and, ultimately, a landfill. Read more…
Dandelions are weeds that most people would rather not have. They make yellow flowers that easily wilt once they are picked. Children love to play with dandelions by making chains with them but adults do not like to look at them. A dandelion can take over your yard pretty fast is they are left alone to propagate by themselves. It only takes one dandelion plant to make more. The flower of the dandelion makes a white circle of seeds that float through the air and deposits the seeds in a new and fresh location to start a new dandelion plant. If you don’t like dandelions in your yard here are some tips to remove them without harmful chemicals. Read more…
A majority of homeowners in the northern climatic regions will generally purchase turfgrass sod or lawn seed in mixtures or blends rather than a single variety. Many cool season grasses are compatible and widely used in seed mixtures. Kentucky bluegrass, fine fescue, perennial ryegrass, and turf type tall fescues varieties can be combined to make excellent mixtures for the northern lawn. A blend is two or more of the same grass specie. Read more…
Growing grass in the shade is one of the most common lawn problems.If your shady lawn is thin and unacceptable, follow all the following steps to grow healthy, attractive turf in the shade:
1. Trim the trees. Remove branches up to 8 feet above the ground to allow more sunlight through.
2. Plant shade tolerant seed. We recommend:
North: a mixture of fine fescues and shade tolerant bluegrass
Transition: a blend of tall fescues
South: a blend of shade tolerant Zoysiagrasses
3. Raise your mowing height 1 inch higher than the rest of your lawn. Greater leaf surface increases the ability of the plant to capture and use sunlight.
4. Water deeply during dry periods. Tree roots compete for moisture, causing drought stress in the shade, sometimes before it shows up in sunny areas.
5. Reduce nitrogen level by 1 lb/1000 sq. ft. per year compared to rates used in the sun. Apply fertilizer at the same time on the entire lawn, just reduce the rate in the shade. Lower fertilization rates promote root growth at the expense of soft, succulent shoot tissue which is more susceptible to turf diseases found in cool damp shade.
6. Limit traffic to reduce stress in the shade. Where possible, redirect traffic to the sunny areas of your lawn.
7. Plant new seed as early as possible in the fall to allow time for grass plants to mature before tree leaves fall. Remove leaves by gently raking to avoid turf damage. If you cannot seed in the early fall, wait till spring.
8. For a poorly drained shady site, improve drainage where possible. If it is not practical to remove excess water, plant a grass seed mixture of 70% Poa trivialis (rough stalk bluegrass) and shade tolerant bluegrass in the northern climate.
If you follow all these steps and, after a full growing season, your lawn is not satisfactory, there is probably too little sunlight to support turfgrass. You may want to consider alternative landscape strategies, such as tree removal, planting ground cover, or installing permanent decorative mulch.
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