This is Part 1 in a series of resources for Conservation Gardening. See What does Conservation Gardening mean to see how these references are used in Conservation Gardening.
Sustainable Landscaping
Sustainable Landscape Construction: A Guide to Green Building Outdoors, Second Edition, by J. William Thompson and Kim Sorvig. This is an excellent and thorough guide to landscapers and homeowners to all the facets of sustainable landscaping. Sustainable Landscape Construction takes a new approach to how to construct outdoor environments based on principles of sustainability. This enormously influential book has helped to spur a movement that has taken root around the U.S. and throughout the world. The second edition has been thoroughly updated to include the most important developments in this landscape revolution, along with the latest scientific research in the field. It has been expanded to provide even more ideas for designing, building, and maintaining environmentally sensitive landscapes. It is essential reading for everyone with an interest in “green” landscape design.
Sustainable Landscaping for Dummies, by Owen E. Dell. This book gives gardeners and homeowners many examples of sustainable landscaping in practice, including: the essentials of sustainable garden care, ways to minimize your lawn’s impact and keep it healthy, a step-by-step tutorial on designing a great landscape plan, how to grade, plant, and irrigate the sustainable way, tips for fitting food into your landscape, cheap (or free) planet-friendly projects, nonsustainable gardening mistakes to avoid, and when and why to call in the pros.
The Green Gardeners Guide, by Joe Lamp’l This book is full of excellent ideas and suggestions for maintaining a “green” garden. Joe Lamp’l describes this book: “As a passionate gardener committed to environmental stewardship, I wanted to take a positive stance and provide solutions in a comprehensive resource; not just for gardeners but for anyone who cares about our environment. I wanted to offer useful, yet practical ways for each of us to collectively make an impact. Ironically, as we gardeners and weekend warriors create beautiful gardens and landscapes, in the process we often waste water, use products and chemicals that have the potential to runoff into waterways, indiscriminately kill beneficial insects and emit greenhouse gasses into the air.” This is a great resource for avoiding these and other problems.
Lawn Reduction
Redesigning the American Lawn: A Search for Environmental Harmony, Second Edition, by F. Herbert Bormann, Diana Balmori, and Gordon T. Geballe. This is a very helpful summary of the history of the American lawn and a discussion of the unsustainability of this practice. American fanaticism about the well-kept family turf does not always serve the best interests either of the turf or of the American or any native wildlife. The emphasis here is on shaping a new aesthetic for a new ecological ethic. The idea is not to do away with the lawn but to design and manage it to reduce its present damage to the environment. However, the authors also propose two alternatives to the conventional lawn: “freedom lawns,” which would allow natural, unrestricted growth of grasses and low-growing herbaceous plants, and total replacement with new landscape designs.
The Wild Lawn Handbook: Alternatives to the Traditional Front Lawn, by Stevie Daniels. Native grasses, wildflowers, ground covers, and moss are Daniels’ answer to “monotonous single-species turfgrass lawns.” Her book is a primer for gardeners who want to reduce or stop using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, conserve water, or turn their yards into a collection of plants that attracts birds, butterflies, and other wildlife. There are detailed instructions on choosing a wild lawn and on installing and maintaining the lawn, and even a chapter on landscaping ordinances. Daniels divides the wild lawns into chapters on prairies and native grasses, meadows, moss lawns, woodlands, ground covers, and front-yard gardens. The result is little need for polluting fertilizers and demanding watering regimens–and you won’t have to mow ever again.
How to Get Your Lawn off Grass: A North American Guide to Turning Off the Water Tap and Going Native, by Carole Rubin. Home-based water conservation starts with How to Get Your Lawn Off Grass, the only North America-wide guide on how to convert your yard from a water-sucking source of pollution runoff to a flourishing, productive showcase of natural vegetation. While 1.3 billion people on the planet don’t have access to safe drinking water, 60% of ours goes into conventional turf-grass lawns and ornamental, exotic gardens. Runoff from chemical treatment of lawns and gardens has seriously compromised groundwater supplies everywhere in the United States and Canada. We have put garden cosmetics ahead of our health. How to Get Your Lawn Off Grass teaches how to conserve water and prevent the pollution of groundwater. It covers how to cut, roll up and compost turf-grass lawn (and water-sucking, ornamental “exotic” garden plants) and how to replace them with gorgeous native ground covers: flowers, shrubs, trees and grasses that will need no fertilizers, no chemical controls for pests, no mowing and, after the first year, no watering. This is a vital publication for all North Americans who are concerned about water scarcity and water quality.
What are your favorite sustainability resources?
Ways to get involved at Ecosystem Gardening:
- Show off Your Wildlife Garden–we’d love to see what you’ve got, so pick your favorite photo of your habitat garden and get the chance to be published at Ecosystem Gardening
- Tell us What you Want to Learn–we want to keep bringing you the best, most up-to-date information, but we need your help. Please tell us what you’d most like to learn
- Sign up for Wren Song, the Ecosystem Gardening Newsletter. Coming to your inbox every Wednesday, Wren Song brings you breaking news and tips for planning your Ecosystem Gardening. Just fill in the Wren Song coupon at the top right of this page
© 2009 – 2010, Carole Brown. All rights reserved.
{ 3 trackbacks }