Check your Mulch!!!

Mulch, especially if it was spread too deeply this spring, can hold so much moisture in the soil that it is harmful to the health of the mulched plants.

Mulch is a great way to suppress weeds, conserve moisture, and add appeal in a landscape. However, sometimes mulching can go awry and create unexpected challenges to gardeners and professionals alike. One such challenge is the overzealous application of mulch. Perhaps in an effort to squash all the weeds below, mulchers sometimes pile mulch too high around the base of trees and other plants. While some may find this appealing, it actually creates serious issues for the plant. Affectionately known as volcano mulch, these mounds of mulch hold moisture against the base of tree trunks and plant crowns that can lead to decay or Continue reading

Yard Waste: It’s not just leaves, sticks and clippings!

There are lots of things in our own backyards that can cause nutrient pollution. Homeowners can reduce nutrient pollution in our streams in several ways:

  1. If you have a household sewage treatment system (septic system or aerator), make sure that it is functioning properly and being maintained regularly. Most systems require routine maintenance every 3-5 years?
  2. Keep lawn waste out of the street, where it can wash into storm drains, and out of our streams. Sweep lawn clippings back into your lawn so the nutrients from the clippings can be recycled back into the lawn instead of polluting waterways. Pledge to Get Grassy and get a free rain gauge!
  3. Minimize the use of fertilizers. Apply the appropriate kind at the proper times and in the right amounts. Sweep up any fertilizer from sidewalks, driveways, streets and other hard surfaces, so that it doesn’t wash into storm drains.
  4. Wash your car in an area where the wash and rinse water drains to a grassy area and not the street, or save water and wash it at a commercial car wash.
  5. Install practices that infiltrate rain water into the ground (such things as rain barrels or cisterns (watering lawn and/or garden with stored rain water), rain gardens and paving that allow water to go into the ground (e.g. brick pavers).
  6. If you have exposed soil on your yard, keep it in place as best you can, especially if it could be washed into a storm drain or creek. Covering it with straw is often a simple, low cost way of keeping the soil from being eroded by the rain.
  7. Pick up pet waste and dispose of it properly. Dog waste contains millions of fecal coliform bacteria that can get carried into storm drains by runoff and pollute waterways.

Reprinted with permission from the Franklin SWCD Backyard Conversation