Goldfish in a rain barrel?

Hmmm. Just found a post online (and several more about the topic once I started searching) that said that you can put goldfish in your rain barrels to keep the mosquitoes under control. This doesn’t sound like a good idea AT ALL, to me, but I would be interested in hearing some other opinions.

Sure, we all know the benefits of rain barrels. They help to capture rainwater for future use and also help cut down on stormwater runoff.

Since they do hold standing water, some people are concerned that they may be breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Since all of our rain barrels are the kind that are closed at the top, and fit directly to the downspouts on our home, we are not aware of them ever being a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

However, some people use a different type of rain barrel to capture their rain. These barrels are completely open at the top, and the opening is covered with screen to keep debris and small critters from getting in the barrel. I ASSUMED that these were the  type of barrels that some people add goldfish to, to help control any mosquitoes that lay eggs in the water. However, I found at least one post online where it looked like people were adding goldfish to a CLOSED barrel.

I don’t really know much about fish, but I am a critter lover. So my questions are: would goldfish in a closed rain barrel get enough oxygen? What about light? What happens when your rain barrel runs low on water? Or when its raining so hard that the water is just gushing into the barrel?

I know that these small fish are just sold as “feeder fish” for larger critters, anyway, so maybe people see them as expendable. But if they die, how do you keep the fish from clogging up your spigots?

Any fish experts out there care to add an opinion?

Here is the original post I read: Did you know? Goldfish and Rain Barrels

Avoiding the invasives

I read a great article about the native/invasive plant debate online recently entitled Foreign Invasion: Is Your Garden A Danger?  It’s a common topic among green gardeners who are often tempted to add a plant to their garden because of its aesthetic qualities without really giving much thought to what its going to do to their landscape…. or the surrounding landscapes….in the future.

Although there are many plant species out there that can tempt us to invite them home for a visit, some of them can become very pushy and invasive, and getting rid of them can be as difficult as eradicating a visiting houseguest who is already starting to rearrange the furniture in your guest room.

While you may not be too concerned because the problem seems contained to your backyard, Emily DeBolt, who is quoted in the article, says that  80 percent of the plants used in gardens have exceeded their boundaries and taken over roadsides, wetlands and fields.

“With more development, more habitat loss, our gardens are part of the bigger environment, the bigger ecosystems. What we put in our gardens does matter; it’s not just our own space,” DeBolt said.

The article reminds us that invasive plants can be spread in many ways. Birds and other forms of wildlife can eat berries and spread them through the neighborhood through their droppings. And, of course, seeds can be carried by wind, water and humans or animal fur.

And once they take hold, the effects of the non-native plants can adversely affect the environment, economy and human health.

The better alternative, of course, is to choose native plants which are suited for your own site conditions. Native plants generally require less harmful chemicals and supplemental water, which helps to save you money and help protect the environment.

Natives help protect waterways, too, because the deep roots absorb stormwater run-off better than turf grasses and the shallow root systems of ornamental plants.

The article suggests that a few extra precautions should be  taken if you do decide to remove some of your invasive plant species.

…if you’ve decided you do want a more eco-friendly garden and wish to rid your garden of the offending plants, pull them out and place them in a black garbage bag. Let it sit in the hot sun until the plant material turns to mush, and dispose of it in the trash. Don’t put the plants out for waste pick up or in a compost pile, and check with your local department of public works for more disposal information.

To Read the full article: Foreign invasion: Is your garden a danger?

Take control of your irrigation system controller to help conserve water

If your home has an irrigation system, it is tempting to just set the controller for a regular schedule and assume that it is handling all of your lawn and garden watering for you.

But the recent edition of the EPA Watersense newsletter has some great tips to ensure that homeowners don’t allow their irrigation systems to waste water.

Here are some TIPS to make sure that you keep the upper hand when it comes to controlling your watering:

1) Get to know your controllers: Kathy Nguyen, a 2011 WaterSense Promotional Partner of the Year, recommends that homeowners spend  time getting to know their irrigation systems this summer. For example, those with an automatic irrigation system should know how to turn it on and off.

“What has consistently saved the most water is when customers turn their automatic irrigation controllers on and off manually. Then, they are more apt to be involved in evaluating whether their landscape needs watering,” she says.

2) Spy on Your Sprinklers : Home and business owners should watch their sprinkler system run through each watering zone at least once to see how much concrete is inadvertently being watered. Systems that run overnight or at other times when users are not present can apply water to pavement that then evaporates before the user returns to the site.

3) Give Your Grass the Step Test:  Even if you don’t have an irrigation system for your yard, you can take steps to save water and improve your lawn’s health and beauty. Grass doesn’t always need water just because it’s hot out, Nguyen notes. Step on the lawn, and if the grass springs back, it doesn’t need water. She recommends performing this “step test” in the early morning or late evening to get the most realistic view.

Learn additional ways to save on your summer water bill, while enjoying a landscape that’s both beautiful and convenient.

Current Summer 2012 | WaterSense | US EPA

Native Plants for Wildlife

I always suggest that people add at least some native plant species to their landscapes. I think native plants are good for several reasons. They are generally better adapted to the conditions of the local environment so they shouldn’t need as much care, water and fertilizer as other plants might.

One of the other reasons that I recommend native plants is that they are usually the best choices for providing food for local wildlife.

But then I started thinking about butterflies. You may already know that butterflies all have specific plants that they use for their host plants. Host plants are the plants on which butterflies lay their eggs and caterpillars dine while they are getting big enough to go to chrysalis, before hatching into butterflies.

Some of my favorite butterflies – those of the swallowtail family – dine on dill, parsley and fennel. In fact, I often end up spending ridiculous amounts of money on these plants to make sure that my gluttonous caterpillars don’t run out of food.

And to the best of my knowledge, those plants aren’t native. So I wondered if there were native plants that those butterflies dined on before early European settlers starting bringing over their favorite herbs and spices.

I have a couple of favorite sites for checking butterfly info so I check there first. The Butterflies and Moths of North America website lists the plants I knew about as well as Queen Anne’s Lace as a host plant. I checked, and Queen Anne’s Lace is not a native, and is also considered invasive in some areas.

None of my other usual sites listed any other plants except saying “plants of the carrot family”. I FINALLY found one source that listed these native species for Black Swallowtails.

native species

• mock bishopweed, Ptilimnium capillaceum (Michx.) Raf.

• roughfruit scaleseed, Spermolepis divaricata (Walter) Raf.

• spotted water hemlock, Cicuta maculata L.

• water cowbane, Oxypolis filiformis (Walter) Britton

• wedgeleaf eryngo, Eryngium cuneifolium (Small)

Personally, I will probably keep buying a little parsley, dill and fennel for these beautiful creatures. We really don’t mind sharing. But if anyone knows of any NATIVE plant species that swallowtail caterpillars dine on, I’d love it if you let me know what works.

Happy gardening!

2nd Place Winner in the Green Gardeners Make a Difference Photo Contest

The second place winner of the Metro DC Lawn and Garden blog’s Green Gardeners Make a Difference Photo contest is Gemma Evans of College Park, Maryland.

Gemma’s photo made it into the voting round because it illustrated several eco-friendly principles. Gemma won second place in the contest because her photo received 186 total votes - the second highest number of all entries in the contest.

Here is the information Gemma submitted on her entry form, illustrating how she helps to make a positive difference to the local environment by creating an eco-friendly landscape.

Which eco-friendly practices are represented in this picture?: Eco-friendly plant choices, Water conservation techniques, Elimination of chemicals, Creation of wildlife habitat , Reduction or replacement of lawn areas

How does this photograph illustrate eco-friendly lawn and garden practices?: This photo of my shade garden shows many eco-friendly practices! You can see a wide range of native & shade-loving plants; use of mulch to reduce weeds & the amount of watering needed; plants that attract wildlife (birds, rabbits and insects); and replacement of lawn area (an on-going project).

Plants include ferns, bleeding heart, wood poppy, coral bells, redbud saplings, dwarf crested iris, rudbeckia, turtlehead (white and pink), lambs ear and hostas.

You also can see the base of a beautiful & massive Willow Oak, which provides a great deal of habitat for wildlife of all sorts, as well as plenty of leaves for my compost pile.

What you can’t see in the picture, that I am happy about, is any English ivy – an ongoing project is hand-pulling the darn stuff. You also can’t see the compost that has been included in the bed. I compost at home, and also purchase locally-made compost (and mulch) from the City of College Park.

I feel good using it, knowing that it didn’t travel more than a mile to get to my garden!

Thanks so much to Gemma, Nancy and to all of our other entrants!

1st Place Winner – Green Gardeners Make a Difference Photo Contest

The Metro DC Lawn and Garden blog sponsors would like to congratulate Nancy Striniste of Arlington, Virginia – our first place winner in the Green Gardeners Make a Difference Photo Contest.

Participants were asked to submit photos reflecting eco-friendly landscaping practices. Qualifying photos were then moved into the voting round, where site visitors could vote for their favorite photo.

Nancy Striniste was the first place winner, receiving a total of 261 votes for her photo entitled Living Roof and Front Yard Habitat Garden.

Here is the information Nancy submitted on her entry form, illustrating how Nancy helps to make a positive difference to the local environment by creating an eco-friendly landscape.

Which eco-friendly practices are represented in this picture?: Eco-friendly plant choices, Water conservation techniques, Reduction of stormwater runoff , Elimination of chemicals, Creation of wildlife habitat , Reduction or replacement of lawn areas

How does this photograph illustrate eco-friendly lawn and garden practices?: When we added our front porch in 2006, we couldn’t resist trying a living roof which would capture and clean stormwater, keep the porch below cool and comfy, and be soft and beautiful. This month there are iceplants, sedum and talinum in beautiful bloom on the roof. We’ve replaced our front lawn with a certified wildlife habitat—including North American natives such as Inkberry, Winterberry, Clethra, Itea, Oakleaf Hydrangea and a big patch of Echinacea which you can see in front of the fence— teaming with butterflies, bees and other beneficial insects—and later with flocks of goldfinches. Just to the left of the porch is a rain chain, and behind that is a rainbarrel and a new two-bin composter where we’re making rich mulch for the gardens. To the right of the driveway is a raingarden planted with natives, which captures about 50% of our roof water. The most recent addition, right in the center, sitting on the wall, is a tongue drum with a sign that says “PLAY ME”. It has become a favorite stop for neighborhood kids and it’s really fun to hear their music.

Congratulations Nancy, and thanks for doing such a great job creating an eco-friendly landscape. We know that your actions benefit us all.

We’ll have a post about our second place winner, Gemma Evans, tomorrow.

Eco-Friendly Paving Solutions

This is a topic that I haven’t written about for awhile but its another way that you can make a really positive change in your home landscape – choosing eco-friendly paving solutions.

One of the goals of a good, eco-friendly landscape is to allow water to percolate down and stay ON the property, rather than running off into storm drains. When water runs into storm drains, it can not only take chemicals and pollutants with it, but it can also cause flooding during times of heavy rains.

Here’s a great article that I found online recently entitled Eco-Friendly Paving Solutions.

The article says, “A host of paving products let water percolate through to the ground underneath, limiting water runoff, preventing erosion, filtering out pollutants, and improving the health of soil and vegetation. If you are planning a driveway, patio, sidewalk, or garden path project, consider permeable pavers or concrete to allow for natural drainage while providing a solid surface strong enough to handle vehicles and people.”

The article goes on to list several products, with great photos and more details, for porous pavement, open concrete grids, and permeable pavers.

It’s a great article if you are planning any major landscape design changes in the near future.

Read the full article here: Eco-Friendly Paving Solutions.

Previous post on similar subject: The benefits of permeable surfaces are finally starting to soak in!

Trees – will you be replanting?

Residents of Metro DC and surrounding areas may not be thinking very kind thoughts about trees right now. When Mother Nature blew through town a few weeks ago, she huffed and puffed and blew down many of the areas trees, leaving millions of people without electricity and facing weeks worth of cleanup and landscape maintenance.

Many people will soon face the decision of whether they want to replant trees in their yards at all. Personally, I love my trees. I mourn the big ones when they fall and I celebrate the new ones that sprout up in their place. I spend as much time as I can surrounded by trees.

I’ve done many posts about the benefits of trees. Some of those benefits are:

1. Trees decrease heating bills up to 15 percent and cooling bills up to 50 percent. (DDOE)
2. Trees Reduce Noise Pollution - Trees act as buffers against roadways and other noise producing sources by absorbing unpleasant sounds from the urban environment. PT
3. Tree roots protect groundwater - Tree roots help stabilize soil which, if loose and prone to erosion, might be carried away by stormwater runoff. MC
4. Trees provide Healthy Air - The trees of Washington filter 540 tons of harmful, health-threatening pollutants from the air each year. CT One acre of trees absorbs enough carbon dioxide every year to offset 26,000 miles of automobile exhaust! dc.gov
5. Trees provide habitat for wildlife

You can read some of my previous blog posts to see some of my favorite reasons to plant trees. But what are yours? This month’s poll asks the question “What would be your favorite motivator to plant a tree in your yard?” You can answer it here or on our facebook page.

Previous posts about trees:

• 20 More Benefits of Trees
• Hummingbirds Love Trees
• 10 Very Human Benefits of Trees
• More posts about trees

Just a few days left to vote in the Green Gardeners Make a Difference Contest!

There are just a few days left to vote in the Green Gardeners Make a Difference Photo contest and right now, it’s a close race to the finish!

We love to encourage gardeners who make a positive difference to the environment and our 18 entrants have all shared great photos showing how they do that by using native plants, compost, mulch, rain barrels and other green, eco-friendly elements.

You can vote ONCE per day through Friday, July 13th.

If you are one of those with an entry in the contest, don’t forget to ask your friends and family to vote for you each day, too. It’s easy to share your photo on Facebook and ask friends and family to keep on sharing it with their friends, too. There’s even a great Invite Friends button on the front page of the contest.

http://promoshq.wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/211893

At this point, every vote counts!

Good luck!

Animal-free fertilizers for the garden

  As an eco-friendly gardener, I have often mentioned substances to add to garden soil that I believe are less toxic to the environment. Many of them are animal by-products, such as animal waste and fish byproducts.

But there’s a blog post on Mother Nature Network which suggests ANIMAL-free choices, stating that,

“these days, a lot of people are choosing to grow their gardens without the addition of animal products, and for many reasons: They may be vegan or have an ethical objection, they may have religious limitations or they may have allergies, just to name a few.”

Here’s a synopsis of what they have listed as animal-free fertilizers. Head on over to the full article for more details.

1. Compost - It’s incredibly rich in myriad minerals, and it also provides important beneficial bacteria and other essential micro fauna. These organisms help to colonize the soil, keeping it “clean” and within a desirable pH range.
2. Liquid herbal infusions - Many of the most common plants, even some that are considered pests, can be full of important minerals such as nitrogen, iron, calcium, magnesium and sulfur.
3. Seaweed - Sea vegetables are an excellent source of trace minerals, like sodium, copper, zinc and more.
4. Mulch with straw - The benefit of mulching with straw is that the organic matter slowly breaks down and “feeds” the soil.
5. Nitrogen-fixing crops - Also called “green manure,” this is another technique that uses actual plants to create an organic fertilizer.

For all the details, visit: Animal-free fertilizers for your healthy home garden