•Use drip irrigation or soaker hoses to water plants and gardens instead of sprinklers for less water loss due to evaporation.

•Set up a rain gauge to record weekly rainfall and water plants only when they need it.  Plants need 1 inch of rain per week for good growth.

•Mulch beds to help retain soil moisture and prevent weeds.  Use cardboard or layers of newspaper under bark mulch or leaves to create new gardens or beds.

•Set up a rain barrel to collect rain water for watering plants.

•Plant a rain garden to help retain water in the soil and prevent runoff.

•Reduce the size of your lawn by planting some of it with shrubs or drought tolerant perennials.

•Pull weeds by hand which is often more effective and less damaging than resorting to chemical sprays.

•Leave grass clippings on the lawn for added nutrients and organic matter. Use a mulching lawn mower so lawn clippings don’t have to be collected or add clippings to your compost pile.

•Don’t bag leaves and send to a landfill. Instead, compost them or chop them with a mower and use for mulch in gardens. If your yard has no place for a compost pile, develop a yard waste recycling program in your neighborhood.

•Promote diversity in your yard and garden by planting native plants and a wider variety of plants which can provide habitats for beneficial insects and reduce damage from diseases. This also helps to preserve genetic diversity.

•Plant trees to help shade and cool your home in the summer to reduce energy costs.

•Plant a windbreak to reduce winter heating bills.

•Minor insect damage in your yard and garden is natural and will actually work to increase the number of beneficial insects. Learn to distinguish the good from the bad! Spray only with safe eco-friendly pesticides when absolutely necessary.

•Tolerate low levels of weeds in your lawn and develop a strong, healthy lawn that can out compete the weeds.

Things You Can Do In Your Garden and Landscape To Help the Environment

Green Gardening

What does it mean to be "Green" or "Sustainable"?

Going Green involves practices and product choices that conserve energy, water, and other limited natural resources. Going Green reduces waste through reuse, recycling, composting, and more! Sustainable living places great value on meeting the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of future generations to live happy, healthy, and successful lives.

Missouri Botanical Garden

What better place to start? Focusing on gardening, America’s most popular outdoor activity, gives us an opportunity to take small steps to make significant changes in our environment.
 
We at Plantscape have long provided and encouraged environmentally safe products and practices.  Being passionate about plants, nature, and the environment, we hope to help you achieve positive gardening experiences by using healthy natural products; reducing chemical use in the garden, landscape, and home; encouraging wildlife; planting native plants; growing more shrubs, trees, perennials, and fruits; replacing boulevards with habitat gardens; conserving and harvesting water; composting, reusing and recycling.  

Organic Products Available at Plantscape

Insecticides
   B.t. (bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis) controls caterpillars of all types
  Milky Spore (bacteria Bacilllus popilliae) controls Japanese beetle grubs
  Diatomaceous Earth (Crawling Insect dust) – made from fossilized shell algae     (diatoms), controls slugs, crawling soft-bodied insects like ants, roaches, etc.
  Spinosad – new class of biological control – bacteria controls caterpillars   Horticultural Oil-suffocates scale, aphids, mealybugs, mites, insect eggs, etc.
  Insecticidal Soap-used for aphids, mealybugs, mites, whitefly, caterpillars, etc.
  Neem Oil – from the fruits and seeds of the neem tree; insecticide, miticide,      and fungicide
  Pyrethrins- affects insects’ nervous system; used for beetles and more

Fungicides
     Horticultural Oil (used with Baking Soda)

    Liquid Copper
     Sulfur
     Neem oil
     

Herbicides (Weed Killers)
     Corn gluten – natural preventative
     Clove oil – Burn Out

Organic Fertilizers
     Bonemeal - phosphorus
     Bloodmeal - nitrogen
     Cottonseedmeal – nitrogen; creates acid condition
     Greensand - potassium
     Rock Phosphate – phosphorus
     Kelp meal – Potassium, nitrogen, minerals, and micronutrients
     Bat Guano – phosphorus and nitrogen
     Natural Guard Organic Fertilizer - Feather meal, Alfalfa meal, Fish meal
     Fish emulsion
     Neptune’s Harvest Fish and Seaweed fertilizer, Crabshell meal
     Liquid Seaweed (Kelp) fertilizer
     Limestone – calcium carbonate; raises pH
     Gypsum – calcium sulphate; breaks clay particles apart for better drainage         Espoma Organic Fertilizers

Soil Amendments
     Bulk Compost
     Cotton Burr Compost
     Composted Chicken Manure
     Composted Cattle Manure
     Mushroom Compost
     Compost and Manure
     Organic Planting Mix containing worm castings, kelp meal, and bonemeal
     Coir potting mix
     Peat moss
     Earthworm Castings
     Dr. Earth Organic Potting Mix
     Baccto Organic Potting Mix
     Natural Guard Organic Potting Mix
     Ocean Forest Organic Potting Mix