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Conserve energy. By properly landscaping, you can reduce your air conditioning bill in the summer and heating bill in the winter. Learn about the use of trees and shrubs to modify your environment.
4. Reduce pollution. Your landscape can be useful in reducing air and water pollution. But be careful that in caring for your plants, you don’t become a chemical polluter. Many homeowners use more chemicals per square foot than farmers. Look for alternatives.
5. Protect the environment. Plan your landscape with food and shelter for wildlife, or incorporate wild flowers around your home. You will be richly rewarded. Don’t take more from the environment than you return to it. If you heat with wood, plant at least as many trees as you cut down, if not on your property then at schools, parks or other public places.
6. Conserve water. Clear, pure water is a product of a complex system and should not be wasted. Never simply run cold water down the drain, while waiting for it to turn hot. Save it for your house plants. Investigate the use of trickle irrigation for your garden.
7. Improve our educational system. Kids learn from more sources than just their teachers. Give a child a plant, and teach him or her how to care for it. Or make a larger commitment, and sponsor a 4-H garden project or school garden program.
8. Improve your community. Make your neighborhood more attractive by working with others. Start with an good-looking, well-kept landscape. If you have no space, plant a geranium or zinnia in a window box.
p. Improve your health. Gardening is great preventative medicine. Not only does it provide physical activity, it also relieves many of the stresses and tensions of modern life.
10. Show you care. Share your horticultural skills and products with a friend. Then for a greater challenge, share them with a stranger — someone in a nursing home, halfway home, or local hospital — or a disadvantaged neighbor.
Dr. Diane Relf is an environmental horticulturist with Virginia Cooperative Extension and is a member of the faculty of Virginia Tech.
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