Rain Barrels

A question we get regularly from our readers is: Where can a get a rain barrel locally that isn’t going to break the bank?

Easy. Sarasota County Water Resources is offering rain barrels to residents for $37. (including the spigot assembly)

Rain barrel classes are offered throughout the year. Details can be found: Here

 

The benefits of rain barrels are many, but here are just a few:

 

-Protects our rivers, streams and bays! Water stored in your rain barrel is water that won’t rush into our rivers and out to the bay. Instead, as you use the stored rain water around the home and garden, it will absorb slowly into the ground replenishing groundwater supplies. By decreasing the volume of stormwater runoff, rain barrels also help moderate stream erosion and the resulting pollution from fertilizers and other contaminants that are impairing our waterways.

-Reduces flooding in your yard, by collecting the water and using it for watering plants or slowly releasing it and allowing it to sink into the ground.

-Provides your plants with water they will love. Unlike treated water, which is often “softened” with dissolved minerals or has added chlorine, rain water is what plants are adapted to use. Chlorine-free water also helps maintain a healthy biotic community in the soil.

-Saves money and water! Instead of water from the tap or hose, you can use the water you’ve saved to keep your home landscape happy and growing. You’ll also reduce your water bill and sewage bill!

Bioswale Web Page Now Up and Running

Check out our new web page featuring a slideshow of our recently completed bioswale which shows step by step how we created a beautiful bioswale out of our existing drainage ditch. The page also has more information on bioswales and rain gardens as well as some useful links to get you started.

Click the link below to go to the site:

http://ecosrq.com/bioswale.html

O.K. I’m Hooked!

I am newly addicted on To-Go Ware’s RePEat Bamboo Utensils. Recently, on their road trip to Asheville N.C., our friends Dill and Raylon picked us up the most fabulous gift. They got us both a set of reusable To-Go Ware bamboo utensils in a handy mini-bag made from recycled plastic bottles. I haven’t left the house without them since.

Every time I’ve been eating my mid-morning snack at my desk, I stare at my plastic spoon, which although I have washed and reused several times, always fails to meet the grade. Coupled with the view I have from my desk of a poster featuring the Great Pacific Garbage Patch with the caption “Just Say No to Plastic”, I have long been looking for a better alternative. Given that enough plastic spoons and forks are thrown away every year to circumnavigate the globe three times, it is about time we started rethinking disposables.

I have been known to cart around metal utensils with me that jangle in my bag on the way to meetings and always seem to make it to the very bottom of my questionably-clean messenger bag. (Nothing says dedication like wiping lint and the debris of countless field trips off your spoon before dipping in your soy yogurt.) I have been left thinking “there has got to be a better way”. And then gorgeously, our dear friends handed it to me over beers one night. There should have been an angelic choir that rang out in the background Monty Python-style. I absolutely love them. They are sustainable, washable, aesthetically-pleasing and I can clip the holder to a convenient spot on my bag with the handy mini-carabiner.

What’s more, they are absolutely guaranteed to be a conversation starter if you bust them out at a work meeting.

Check out the link to the supplier’s site. The video featuring Conserve, a project based in India that makes the utensil holders out of scrap plastic bags, is a must-see.

http://www.to-goware.com/store/cart.php

Bioswale Demonstration Project Takes Off

The Sarasota Board of County Commissioners today unanimously approved our Neighborhood Grant to install a demonstration Bioswale in our neighborhood! -Our thanks to the County Commissioners for their support and also to Vicky French of the Neighborhood Grants program and to Rob Wright of the Neighborhood Environmental Stewardship Team for all their help and hard work on our behalf.-

So what is a Bioswale and why are we so excited about it?

A Bioswale is essentially a vegetated channel or swale that is planted with native plants. Bioswales provide a multitude of benefits to water quality and the environment:


-Improve water quality by reducing pollutant loads in stormwater runoff including excess nutrients -and heavy metals.
-Increase infiltration and groundwater recharge (very important in Florida’s ongoing drought)
-Reduce incidence of flooding
-Reduce application of pesticides (including mosquito treatment), herbicides and mowing costs
-Provide an aesthetically-pleasing landscape feature
-Provide habitat for birds, butterflies and other wildlife


Bioswales are not only good for our own water supply, but are good for the bay as well. If you stop to think about it, everything that applied to your yard and your neighbor’s yard (including fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides) makes its way into your stormwater ditch during heavy storms. Coupled with the contaminants that flush off of roadways, driveways and other impervious surfaces, stormwater becomes a contaminate stew that can be toxic to our bay and to the wildlife that call it home.


Our Bioswale project is set up as a demonstration project so that other individuals and neighborhood associations can see what one looks like installed and can learn how to do something similar in their own neighborhood. The more people that are able to participate, the greater the impact to our water quality. We will be documenting our Bioswale project with step by step photos, so that the process can be easily repeated in other areas. Stay tuned for more information as the project progresses including photos and the upcoming date for our volunteer planting day. If you would like more information, or would like to be more involved, feel free to leave a comment on this post.

Green Roof for Your Garden Shed

Like a lot of you out there, I wish I could put a green roof on my house. The benefits of green roofs are many including reducing urban heat effects, stormwater runoff, and curbing your carbon footprint. They are also, let’s just be honest, incredibly cool. I have visited homes with green roofs installed and left with a longing to implement this green tool in my own life. Sadly, my home was constructed in the 1950’s, and would require substantial and costly reinforcements to support the additional weight associated with a green roof.

So I was thrilled with a recent discovery that may allow us to implement the idea on a much smaller scale. We have been in need of a garden shed for some time and I have been loathe to purchase a plastic or metal monstrosity. I had decided to construct my own and was looking at my options for roofing when I stumbled on a green roof idea for, you guessed it, a garden shed. Not only is this a wonderfully attractive option, it also fits well with the overall “green” theme of our home and yardscape. Installing a green roof in this manner also turns out to be a much more cost-effective option than traditional shingles or metal roofing. The basic green roof structure involves stapling a PVC or plastic lining onto the wood roofing materials and creating a box structure out of 2 x 4’s to hold the greenroof substrate in place. I would love to plant our garden shed greenroof with native Florida plants and ferns. Not only would it be a great way to reduce impervious surface associated with our home, it would be a wonderfully attractive place to store our electric lawn mower.

See the link below for more information on this project.
http://www.greenroofs.com/projects/pview.php?id=455

Green Up Your Holidays- How to Have an Eco-friendly Holiday on a Budget

This year more than ever people are looking to green up their holiday experience without doing too much damage to their wallets. The holidays can be a time of celebration and getting together with good friends, however, often our holiday mirth can contribute a lot of excess waste to our landfills as well draining our pocket books. Want some simple solutions to greening up your holidays? Here are some tips we’ve tried implementing to make our holiday fun as well as eco-friendly.

Plantable Christmas Trees

Ever drive down the side of the road after the holidays and see all the discarded trees by the side of the road? It always makes me a little sad. (It is important to note that most Christmas trees have an average lifespan of 5 to 15 years depending on the size and species so at least these trees have been growing somewhere, albeit in planted rows, for quite some time and do provide some environmental benefit.) Several other publications have recently cited that cut Christmas trees are still more environmentally-friendly that their fake counterparts in terms of waste, pollutants, and the resources used in producing artificial plastic trees, however, doesn’t it seem like there could be a better way?

For the last couple of years we have been experimenting with live, plantable trees as an alternative to cut trees or plastic trees. A couple of great options:

- Potted table top trees from your local supplier. Here in Sarasota, Target stocks tabletop spruce and rosemary trees for about $15-20. Larger potted spruce trees around 4 feet tall can be purchased for around $40. Although, these spruce trees are not native, and shouldn’t be planted here in Florida, they do quite well as a potted patio plant. My hope, is to keep a rather large one in a pot out on our deck and drag it in every year for the holidays. (Of course I have to remember to water it.)
- Try starting a new tradition of planting a tree rather than cutting one down. Check your local suppliers for a wide range of native trees that can be planted for the holidays. We tried planting a native longleaf pine last year and it is thriving. Or consider planting a not-so-traditional tree. This year we are thinking of planting a fruit-bearing tree to contribute to our edible landscape. Check out http://www.floridanativeplants.com/ for a great selection of native plants and trees that can be planted this holiday season.
- Lastly, many Christmas tree farms are now providing B&B (balled and burlap) trees which can be used as a traditional tree and then planted or potted shortly thereafter. I have been having difficulty locating a local Christmas tree grower that provides this option, but there are several out-of-state companies that will ship to Florida. Shipping costs might be a little restrictive for this option, but I thought it worth posting nonetheless.


Give Handmade Gifts

There are dozens of great options for simple handmade gifts, ornaments and other fun holiday projects that can provide a personal touch to your gift giving and save you money in the process. Check out some of the fun ornaments made from simple supplies and recycled materials for gift giving and fun home decorating. One of my favorites were the recycled aluminum can stars that can be used as ornaments or to create mini-lanterns for a string of lights. Want to have some fun while ticking off gifts on your list? Try hosting a mini get together with friends to make handmade gifts for others. Keep it simple. No need to go overboard. Have a little nog and some festive treats and you can easily turn your get together into a fun holiday “create” party.


Cut Down on the Stuff


We all have too much stuff. I am in a constant battle with my bedroom closet. Where does all this stuff come from? A lot of it I accumulate during the holidays. A couple of ideas to stop the ‘stuff’ avalanche:

- Give food! Nothing says happy holidays more than good food. Try creating a gourmet basket for loved ones featuring locally grown products like citrus or good organic preserves. Keep in mind it doesn’t always have to be sweet. We all get way too much sugar over the holidays. Try making fresh soup or bread, or if you are not wanting to spend more time in the kitchen, try giving prepackaged gourmet goodies of the savory variety.

- Give memories rather than goods. Try giving your friends and family tickets to a concert or event they have been wanting to attend. Or take everyone ice-skating. Doing stuff together creates more memories and chances are you’ll have more fun this season than you would running yourself ragged trying to find the perfect gift at the mall. (Anyone who knows me, knows how much I dread shopping malls.) I have to provide a plug here for one of my other side endeavors, Biotica EcoTours www.bioticatours.com . We are providing gift certificates for the holidays for guided kayak tours of some of the most beautiful waterways on Earth. Ours.

Why Mulch Matters

Just about every gardener knows how wonderful mulch can be for your yard and garden. It helps the soil retain moisture (which is great for low water situations), helps feed your garden by breaking down in to valuable compost, and acts as a chemical-free weed suppressant…and the list goes on and on.

However, one question I get repeatedly is “What kind of mulch should we buy?” When it comes to mulch there are definitely some more environmentally friendly options out there for the eco-savvy consumer.

Good:

FloriMulch- This fantastic mulch is made from 100% non-native Melaleuca. Melaleuca is an invasive tree species which is strangling Florida’s wetlands, most notably the everglades. The mulch is cured to prevent seed germination and burrowing nematodes. FloriMulch has some added benefits. It is naturally termite resistant, the fibers interlock to provide excellent weed suppression and it provides an economic incentive to remove non-native Meleleuca trees from natural areas. (a big plus) FloriMulch is endorsed by the Friends of the Everglades and many other environmental groups.

FloriMulch is available at these local retailers:
http://www.floridanativeplants.com/
http://www.hibbsfarmandgarden.com/hibbs_welcome/index.htm
Sarasota Lowe’s


Other good options include pine straw (available at most landscaping supply stores) and leaves and yard waste from your own yard. Using leaves and clippings from your own yard is definitely a cost-effective method for adding mulch to your landscape. Why take all those great nutrients to the curb? Leaves and other materials can often be used as a base layer for other mulches to provide greater water retention and weed suppression.

Avoid Cypress Mulch:

Native Cypress trees have been mined for decades in Florida to provide building materials and other products. However, recent demands for attractive landscaping mulch have resulted in a renewed demand for Cypress logging and deforestation. Mature trees are often harvested and ground down to provide mulch for new developments and landscaping projects. This creates an economic incentive for landowners to log previously pristine tracts of cypress trees. Cypress trees provide important habitat for wildlife and are one of the most impressive and important tree species in Florida’ river corridors. The picture at the beginning of this post is of a mature cypress tree that has been scaled by Spartacus, our feline hiking partner.