Climate-Friendly Gardening

Building Healthy Soil - Conserving Water - Reducing Emissions - Growing Vegetables - Planting Natives

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Conserving Water

Climate change is causing California’s water supply to be an increasingly limited and precious resource. According to the California Department of Water Resources and UC ANR, landscape irrigation accounts for 40 to 50% of California’s residential water use. Sustainable gardening practices can help to reduce our landscape water use and keep pollutants out of storm drains and our waterways. These practices include:

Choosing appropriate and low-water plants
Replacing or reducing lawns
Increasing irrigation efficiency
Keeping rainwater on-site
Using graywater for irrigation
Keeping runoff water free of chemicals and other pollutants

For more information, see Conserving Water.

Building Healthy Soil

As concerns grow over the rising levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, one way to help offset the trend is to keep more carbon in the soil. The burning of fossil fuels accounts for about two-thirds of the total increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Studies have shown that soil alone traps about 25% of the world's annual fossil fuel emissions. Through a process known as “carbon sequestration,” carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and stored in the soil.

Healthy soil is alive with a diverse community of organisms that work together to decompose organic matter (such as plant and animal material), recycle nutrients, improve soil structure, and create pore space so water can infiltrate and be stored in the soil. All of these processes are essential for plant growth and development. Plants and soil organisms are responsible for producing soil organic matter, or stored carbon. To capture more carbon in the soil, we need more plants growing in healthy, living soil.

Here’s what you can do:

Most importantly, understand the needs of each plant. Every plant species has evolved and adapted to a specific set of conditions. While the following general guidelines apply, different species may require more fine-tuned care to thrive.
Protect the soil from the sun, wind and rain with plant cover or mulch.
Protect the soil from compaction by using pathways.
Limit disturbance such as tilling, which breaks down soil structure, releases carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, and creates compaction.
Use compost and organic fertilizers to provide food for soil organisms, improve soil structure, and increase the soil’s capacity to retain water and nutrients. A healthy community of soil organisms will cycle nutrients that feed your plants.
Plant cover crops to enrich the soil with living roots and their exudates (organic carbon compounds) and to protect the soil.
Instead of removing the entire plant, leave its roots in the soil. Plant roots are organic matter that will break down and feed the soil organisms as well as improve soil structure.
Eliminate the use of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides.
Do not use leaf blowers on soil. Blowers remove the organic matter that protects soil, leaving it bare. This creates compaction and prevents movement of air and water into the soil.

Reducing Emissions

Some ways you can reduce carbon emissions:

Avoid fossil-fuel powered equipment such as leaf blowers and rototillers (avoiding this equipment also supports soil health)
Conserve resources
Shop locally
Use manual equipment
Avoid single-use plastics

Growing Vegetables

Growing edibles is a great way to practice sustainable gardening. Besides being a very satisfying and productive use of garden space, growing your own veggies eliminates much of the transportation, refrigeration and packaging associated with store-bought produce, thus conserving fossil fuels and lowering carbon emissions. You can also grow your food organically, using no chemical fertilizers or synthetic pesticides.

There is plenty of great information available on growing fruit and vegetables, and on how to control any pests or diseases that might arise. Here are a few useful links on the subject.

Planting Natives

Climate change is a threat to the native flora and the health of all living organisms in California. Development has added to the threat by loss of habitat for many native animals.

Advantages of growing California natives:

By growing natives, gardeners reduce their usage of fertilizers and pesticides.
Gardeners can help support the native birds, butterflies, bees, other insects and wildlife by growing the native plants those animals need to survive.
In general, native plant gardens require less maintenance than lawns.

Here’s what you can do:

Get to know the native plants that are suited to your region and your specific gardening space.
Seek plants that will not require much supplemental watering once established.
Add locally-appropriate native plants to your garden.
Protect the soil by growing native groundcovers.
Eliminate or reduce lawn coverage and install less water-thirsty plants.
Don’t grow a “pest” - an invasive plant that outcompetes native plants and does not provide the food resources needed by the local fauna.

See California Native Gardening for more.