Does your backyard need a rain garden?  These lovely little features are a great way to utlize the runoff from your roof and reduce the amount fo water entering sotrm drains.  Big or small, rain gardens also help to reduce water pollution by trapping sediments and excess nutrients before they hit waterways.

So what’s wrong with rain runoff?  Rain is natural, right?  Yes, rain is natural but the stormwater runoff and water pollution that occur in modern societies are anything but natural.  In fact stormwater runoff is responsible for 70% of the pollution that hits our waterways.  This pollution is in the form of fertilizers, pesticides, and other chemicals that are applied to people’s yards, cars, fences, and homes. Even if you don’t use these chemicals, you can probably bet that one of your neighbors does.

 A rain garden can help keep the rain where it falls so that it does not wash these pollutants into the nearest stream…making your yard part of the solution, not part of the problem.  Why are rain gardens better than just your average yard of grass?  Lots of reasons…less mowing and upkeep for starters.  Rain gardens are also better at absorbing runoff more efficiently- as much as 30% – 40% more then a standard lawn. By capturing rainwater in a rain garden, holding it and then slowly releasing it into the soil the rush of a large storm can be slowed and cleaned – 

quickly, neatly and naturally

.

Ready to get started?  No matter where you are in the country, click over to , a great website that will help you plan and prepare your rain garden.  Next, talk to the folks at your local greenhouse to find out which native plants would work best in your rain garden.  If you live in the Midwest, Northeast, or Southeast, you can also pick up one of these handy  for info about precisely which plants to plant in your area.

Here are a few more excellent sources of info about rain gardens:

 (.pdf)

Photo by

Finally, spring has sprung!  Are you ready to plant so seeds with your little ones?  You don’t need a bunch of store-bought seed starters and supplies to grow plants indoors.  Here are some great seed starter projects that use recyclables instead.

Newspaper

Take a sheet of newspaper and fold it in half so that it’s about 6-8 inches long.  Wrap the newspaper around a soda can, fold one end over to make the bottom, and voila…instant seed starting pot.  The best part is that when the seedlings have sprouted you can plant the whole thing in the ground…the newspaper will eventually decompose.

Eggshells

Another quick and easy way to grow seeds indoors is to use use clean, empty eggshells as a seed starter.  Save the egg shells from your next omelet and rinse them out with a gentle cleanser and water.  Store egg shells in their carton, fill with top soil and plant seeds inside.  When the seeds start to sprout, plant the egg shell (with the plant inside) right in the ground.

Cans/Cartons/Tubes

Need ore seed starter pots?  Raid your recycling bin and use metal cans, yogurt containers, waster bottles, milk cartons, egg cartons, toilet paper or paper towel tubes to do the trick.  The cool thing about using these recyclables is that your kids can decorate them to hold their new treasures.  Punch a few holes in the bottom of your recyclables to allow water to drain, fill with soil, plant and seed, and watch it grow.  When it comes to plant, gently remove the plant from the container and place it in the ground.

Photo by tonyolm

Fall Fertilizing

With fall in full swing, it’s time to starting think about fertilization…for your lawn and garden that is.  Why now? Fall fertilizing nourishes and strengthens your plants’ and lawn’s roots.  And stronger roots will give them a stronger base on which to thrive next spring.  Many of the fertilizers you find in the store are of the chemical variety and while they may force your plants to grow, they are actually quite harmful to the environment, especially the waterways in which they will eventually runoff.  For help in finding organic fertilizers that are good for both my yard and the planet, I turned to Harold Enger, franchise support director of training for , and Certified Turfgrass Professional.  Here are Harold’s fall fertilizing tips for green parents:

There are numerous choices now available to the average homeowner when it comes to selecting an organic fertilizer.  It is not as simple as going to the local hardware store and picking up the a bag or two of the most popular brand of fertilizer.  Part of the decision making process is determining the source of the organic part of the fertilizer.  You can purchase fertilizers that are derived from compost, humus compost, compost tea, fish, poultry waste, manures, bio solids, seaweed, molasses, fulvic acid, humic acid, etc.  Regardless of the type you choose, there are a few considerations you should think about before completing your purchase.

1. Test your soil to determine what it needs. Soil tests can range in price for about $25.00 to several hundred dollars.  A basic test will provide a pH level and often the amount of amount of nutrients that are available in the soil.  The more complex tests will provide such things as the Cation Exchange Capacity, micronutrient amounts, per cent of organic matter, and the amount of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, molds and fungi present in your soil.  Understanding and interpreting the results is as complex as you think it is, so be sure to choose a lab that can provide recommendations based on the results.  There are many fine soil testing labs, so do an Internet search on soil testing labs in your state.  Follow these recommendations when determining the amount and type of products to apply.
2. Look for products that have the symbol.  According to their website, “The Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) is a national nonprofit organization that determines which input products are allowed for use in organic production and processing.  OMRI Listed-or approved-products may be used on operations that are certified organic under the USDA National Organic Program.”
3. Review the product label before purchasing.  Some organic products require a large quantity of material to be applied to meet soil test requirements, which can cost a lot more than you expect.  Also look for special application equipment that may be needed to apply the product.  Finally, check the odor.  Some products, especially the manure and fish based products can be rather pungent.

Win This Compost Tumbler!

Did you know that food scraps make up over 12% of the US waste stream?  According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, Americans throw away more than 25 percent of the food we prepare, amounting to about 96 billion pounds of food waste each year! Yikes!

For starters, it sounds like as a nation we need to be more conscious about the amount of food we purchase and prepare to minimize waste.  And when we do need to toss out food scraps, we can do it in a way to reduce the impact on the environment.

No matter where you live, autumn is a great time of year to start a compost pile. Compost piles break down food scraps (like vegetable peels, bread crusts, and egg shells) into super-rich, super-usable fertilizer for your flower beds and garden.  There are tons of resources out there that cover the composting process inside and out. Basically, to get started you will need 2 types of ingredients:

• Carbon (shredded newspapers, cardboard, and straw)
• Nitrogen (lawn clippings, food scraps, and weeds).

Combine them together and before long you’ll have compost. If you’re feeling lazy you don’t need to do anything else (but wait and wait). You’ll have usable compost by next year even if you never touch the pile again. If you’d like things to move along a little more quickly, you’ll need to turn the pile and add a few drops of water every few weeks. Enclosed compost bins can help keep your pile neat and organized.

Personally, I have a compost tumbler, a self-contained composting unit that you simply spin every few days to mix. I love it because it makes composting neat and easy and even my kids like to give it a spin!  So I’m really excited to be giving one away today!  That’s right, thanks to Clean Air Gardening, one lucky winner will get the Tumbleweed Compost Tumbler delivered to their doorstep, just in time to take care of all of those autumn leaves!

There’s 3 ways to enter:

1. Subscribe to The Green Parent via RSS or Email. If you’re already a subscriber, just leave me a comment below and say so!

2. Join The Green Parents Forum (already a member? leave a comment below!)

3. Spread the word about this contest via Twitter, Stumble, Digg, Facebook, MySpace, etc.

Leave a comment below each time you do one of these things...each comment equals one entry. The winning comment will be chosen by Random.org. Remember…US residents only.  Contest ends 9/30!

And the winner is….

Here are your random numbers:

13

Timestamp: 2008-10-01 16:32:42 UTC

Congrats Tavia!

This year we decided to start a very small garden. We began with tomatoes, herbs, arugula, and lettuce. After a few weeks, I read that you could plant whole potatoes and decided to plant some. Just this week, we decided it was time to check on our potatoes.

When we originally planted our potatoes, we took one organic, red-skinned potato, cut it into four pieces and dropped them in the ground (actually, my little one dropped them in). This week, more than three months later, we pulled more than 20 red-skinned potatoes out of the ground. The activity was fun, entertaining (each time I found a potatoes in the ground, my little girl would squeal in excitement then place it in her collection bucket), educational, and uplifting.

She remembered when we planted them just a few months ago and felt so much pride for those potatoes anytime someone came to our house. She would show them the garden and gravitate to the potatoes that she had planted. She loved watching the flowers bloom when they came, and watching them die (when the summer sun got too intense). Often times she would call them tomatoes (since the two plants look so similar and the two words are very close in a toddler’s vocabulary). Come to find out, the two plants are actually from the same family, so she’s even smarter than I thought!

Once we finished digging up all those potatoes, we headed inside to prepare supper. I found another great use for those old toothbrushes!

We scrubbed, slices, and baked with fresh rosemary (from our front yard) and ate with our local dinner. The greatest part about this was that my little girl and I were in the entire process together – from planting to eating we participated together and partook of the work together. It actually reminds me of “The Little Red Hen.” The entire project required no batteries, energy, water (because it came from our rain barrel), or pesticides (we organically garden). What a gift for my child and for me. We spend countless hours together, gardening, talking, and sharing in the process of spud to table.

A full-time mom and writer with a background in Marketing, Michelle Andrade seeks to change the world one kid at a time. Native to Nashville, Tennessee, Michelle has a wonderful husband, 2-year-old daughter and 4-year-old Doberman-hound mix (rescued 2004). She dreams of living differently than the over-commercialized, wasteful society she is often compelled to compete in. Her thoughts, dreams and ambitions for a green, greater world can be read daily at .

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