Sustainable Elements in my Garden


So, one of the things that YardMap asks you to put on the map are elements you might have in your garden that add to the sustainability of your yard.  I am proud to say that I have had a compost bin and a rain barrel in my yard for years now.

First, I'll talk a bit about my compost bin.  I keep a plastic container with a tight-fitting lid under my sink and whenever I have peelings or other leavings from fruit or vegetables, I put them in the container, instead of my trash. Every week or so, I mix it in with the other compost in the bin.  I also put in dead leaves in the compost bin.  The vegetable leavings count as "green" and the leaves count as "brown" in the compost bin, and to get good compost, you should have some of both.  Whenever I plant a new plant in my yard, I dig some of the beautiful brown, loamy soil from the bottom of the compost bin and put it in the hole for the new plant, instead of purchasing a chemical fertilizer.  This whole process keeps the vegetable leavings out of landfills and saves energy that would have been required for the manufacture of chemical fertilizers.

I also have a rain barrel in my yard that is made of 30% recycled plastic.  The great thing about this rain barrel is that it collects water from my roof and I can use it to water plants in my garden.  It was really helpful this summer with some of the dry weeks in August and early September.  I never had to use the hose to water plants.  You shouldn't use this water to fill a bird bath, though, because it often has some oil in it from the roof shingles.  But, it is perfectly fine for plants.