Going green from the ground up

Annie Gilbertson

Gardening enthusiasts listen up—the evolving model for a "green lifestyle" incorporates several practices that will make a homeowner's groomed outdoors more eco-friendly.

On the forefront of this grassroots movement, Auburn University—particularly AU Landscaping Service—is grooming campus with aesthetics in mind and sustainability at heart.

"Much of the initiative at Auburn is modeled after programs in California, the 'dry coast,' where gardeners have always had to think ahead about dry circumstances," said the superintendent of Landscape Services, Charlie Crawford.

What is more, under this plan Landscape Services has reduced campus water use by 80 percent in 2008 compared to 2007 and by 50 percent from 2006, which was a wetter year. That means more money in the university's pocket.

In the past, initial plant cost and rare beauty played a large part in how Auburn's grounds were manicured—two motives that are not uncommon amongst homeowners.

But AU has switched to using indigenous or bioengineered plants that are better suited for the fluctuating rain pattern of Alabama and are less susceptible to disease, emphasized Gary Keever, professor of horticulture and consultant to Landscape Services.

On campus, this practice saves water, requires significantly less pesticide and allows Landscape Services employees more time to continue experimenting with upcoming green technology.

Keever said homeowners could easily employ some of the same techniques utilized by AU's Landscape Services.

"Always ask what you can do better," he said. "Selecting plants that are drought tolerant and recycling clippings will make your garden more sustainable."

Crawford takes sustainability a step further, emphasizing more consumer-minded habits.

"It is really best to evaluate a home's irrigation system over a longer period of time. By putting your system on a timer and experimenting with longer times between watering, a good cycle can be established," added Crawford.

"Be sure not to ignore a timed system during a rainy week—turn the system off. Plus, when plants experience some dryness, their roots will sink in deeper in search of water, strengthening their overall health."

Crawford emphasizes that by adapting such practices, large institutions to small homes will already be on a system that requires less water even when the weather permits abundance.

In addition, the green spaces overseen by Landscape Services will soon be moisture-monitored by a computer system.

Rising gas prices have also effected how Landscape Services does business. The department has made the switch to electric vehicles and is continuously evaluating their level of consumption as well as the waste they produce.

In the past couple of years, Landscape Services has even created a compost site for all clippings— even the largest of limbs are thrown into a powerful shredder, and the smallest blades of grass are collected.

This collection was once considered yard waste and shipped out to disposal sites at the cost of about $30,000 a year. Now, depending on the level of decomposition, the clippings are being used as a mulch surface for protection or to supply nutrients to the soil.

Landscape Services isn't the only AU department striving to be eco-friendly.

Most home gardeners are familiar with how beneficial kitchen-produced organic waste can be to plants. That's why Donny Addison, coordinator of AU's recycling and waste production program, is currently monitoring the food waste tossed out at the new student center on campus.

His goal is to recycle the many restaurants' waste into fertilizer for various agricultural projects on campus.

"This is an easy system that can be practiced in the average home," Addison said. "Simply collect organic matter under your sink, throw it in your compost site in your yard, and make sure you turn it weekly. In one or two years, you will be ready to plant with it."

The city of Auburn's Environmental Services Department is also taking steps to be more eco-friendly. Like AU, the city is making it a priority to collect limbs and clippings, offering a program that collects homeowners' yard waste.

Tim Woody, the director of Environmental Services, explained that 11,000 tons of yard waste is collected a year, with 65-70 percent being reusable.

Auburn Environmental Services also provides homeowners with several models for building compost heaps, ranging in cost from nothing to a couple of hundred dollars.

The city of Auburn has even begun researching a new system of rainwater collection that is still in the planning stages by Water Works, according to a recent announcement made by the director of the Sustainability Initiative at an Environmental Awareness Organization meeting.

Many Auburn homeowners are ahead of the city in this respect, already having a simple setup that directs rainwater from the roof into a storage cylinder and is then used to water the yard without the expense of a filtering system.

AU's Landscape Services and the city have been going green for years, and community members are taking good notes and greening their pockets along the way.

"I have worked with AU Landscape Services for several years," reflected Keever, "and wanted to share some of the environmentally-friendly practices that they have implemented, some as recently as this year and others as early as 30 years ago."