Celebrating Earth Day, every day
by Laura Oergel
Sustainable gardens create perfect little eco-systems that benefit our biggest eco- system, planet Earth. Beneficial insects, bugs, bacteria and fungus all work together to create a healthy environment. Swales (contours) and mulch provide moisture retention and drainage, while captured rainwater from your roof, directed passively into the garden, reduces the need for municipality water to irrigate drought-tolerant plants. With the mulch acting as a filter, this type of conscious living landscape reduces storm water runoff, polluted with chemicals and trash, from being carried to the ocean. It’s pretty amazing and pretty simple.
- Proper prep.
- Build swales.
- Use climate appropriate, drought-tolerant plants.
- Use fresh mulch.
- Utilize municipality water via a drip irrigation system only when needed.
- Capture and distribute rainwater into the garden.
If you’re a DIY-er, or on a budget, take advantage of the many rebates the city and the state offers to help you become more sustainable. There are rebates for rain barrels, irrigation controllers and drip irrigation systems, just to name a few.
Still not sure where to start? “The Water-Wise Home” by Laura Allen is a great book that gives information on how to conserve, capture and reuse water in your home and landscape. Or, consider hiring an expert to help with the design and have them consult throughout the project. Ventura resident, Scott Veatch did just that.
Scott applied for the rebates he qualified for. A DIY-er, he wanted to do the work, but also hired a Ventura-based landscape company for their design and consulting expertise. Specifically wanting to conserve on his municipality water consumption, Scott chose drought-tolerant plants and ran a drip irrigation system. He then gave the okay for a local rainwater harvesting company to install a passive rain water distribution system throughout the garden.
When the plants are mature, they’ll only need supplemental municipality water.
There is a tremendous value, for the environment and for your return on investment (ROI), in creating beautiful, healthy, sustainable landscapes.
Here are links to websites that offer additional, helpful information:
Ocean Friendly Gardens is a part of Surfrider’s Clean Water Initiative. Promoting garden landscapes that use conservation, permeability and retention (CPR) and curb cuts to redirect storm water runoff into landscapes for irrigation, they offer educational workdays like this one: http://www.beachapedia.org/images/3/3e/OFG_poster.residential2.pdf
Learn more about OFG at http://www.oceanfriendlygardens.org.
The city of Ventura’s Environmental Sustainability division is dedicated to the preservation of Ventura’s environment.
http://cityofventura.net/greenventura
-Class schedules with the city, including water-wise gardening, composting and vegetable gardening, rain and greywater harvesting and programming your irrigation controller 101 can be found at:
http://www.cityofventura.net/water/landscape, or 652-4501
Rebate programs:
http://www.cityofventura.net/waterwise/incentiveprogram
http://SoCalWaterSmart.com
Rainwater harvesting and distribution:
New Era Water Harvesting Systems 850-6248 http://newerawhs.com
City of Ventura http://www.cityofventura.net/page/rainwater-harvesting
Laundry to landscape greywater harvesting and distribution:
Eco-Restoration Partners 815-6300 http://www.ecorestorationpartners.com
Did you know that 19% of the energy used in California is water related?
Create momentum. Educate yourself, then educate others.
