News
ENLARGE
Did you know that the average daily water use for the city of Roseburg goes from 4 million gallons per day in February to more than 10 million gallons per day in July?
According to the EPA, per capita use of public water is about 50 percent higher in the West than the East due to our long, dry summers. It is not difficult to guess where most of that extra water is being used: on our landscapes.
As the populations of most Western states continue to grow, sustainable gardening methods will be very important to insure adequate water supply and continued good quality.
According to the EPA, per capita use of public water is about 50 percent higher in the West than the East due to our long, dry summers. It is not difficult to guess where most of that extra water is being used: on our landscapes.
As the populations of most Western states continue to grow, sustainable gardening methods will be very important to insure adequate water supply and continued good quality.
Sustainable gardening is often referred to as low-input gardening. Whether we are wisely managing our water and fertilizer use to minimize leaching and runoff, recycling our organic waste to keep materials out of our landfills, feeding our soils with compost to enhance fertility, choosing native plants that thrive in our Mediterranean climate or using soft pest-management systems to reduce repetitive applications of harsh pesticides, our goals are always the same — keep inputs to the minimum while maintaining a healthy, beautiful landscape.
The beauty of low-input gardening is that nurseries now have hundreds of plants from which to choose that offer color, size, and adaptability to our wet and dry cycles. Literature about these great plants can be picked up at the OSU Extension Service office. These new plants really make sustainable gardening easy since they require very little water, fertilization or pest control.
To help people in Douglas County practice more sustainable gardening methods, I have developed a new OSU Extension Service program called Oregon Sustainable Landscapes. This program will help you find a gardening style that is good for you and our surrounding ecosystem. I have condensed this low-input sustainable gardening system into a one-page checklist that will help guide you to the most important features of a low-input gardening system. The publication is available at the OSU Extension Service office and will be distributed at our “Spring Into Gardening” seminar on Feb. 23 at Umpqua Community College, at the March 1-2 Home Show, Earth Day in April, and our Plant Expo in May.
The initial role of OSU Extension Service and the Master Gardeners will be as coaches helping people understand the details of sustainable landscaping.
If you would like to have your landscape certified as an Oregon Sustainable Landscape, you will need to get a copy of our publication and do a walk-through of your yard to look at your gardening habits. Analyzing your landscape and your gardening habits will help you decide if you need to make changes before you contact the OSU Extension Service office for certification.
The checklist reviews questions from each sustainable category as part of our educational process. If you cannot answer certain questions, you are directed to other OSU publications or to visit or call the Master Gardener clinic for consultation. Homeowners will need to go through the certification checklist with the agent or a Master Gardener to receive an Oregon Sustainable Landscape certification. Once your landscape is certified, you will be given a small sign to place in your landscape with pride.
<i>Steve Renquist is the horticulture extension agent for OSU Extension Service of Douglas County. He can be reached by e-mail at steve.renquist@oregonstate.edu or by phone at 541-672-4461.</i>
The beauty of low-input gardening is that nurseries now have hundreds of plants from which to choose that offer color, size, and adaptability to our wet and dry cycles. Literature about these great plants can be picked up at the OSU Extension Service office. These new plants really make sustainable gardening easy since they require very little water, fertilization or pest control.
To help people in Douglas County practice more sustainable gardening methods, I have developed a new OSU Extension Service program called Oregon Sustainable Landscapes. This program will help you find a gardening style that is good for you and our surrounding ecosystem. I have condensed this low-input sustainable gardening system into a one-page checklist that will help guide you to the most important features of a low-input gardening system. The publication is available at the OSU Extension Service office and will be distributed at our “Spring Into Gardening” seminar on Feb. 23 at Umpqua Community College, at the March 1-2 Home Show, Earth Day in April, and our Plant Expo in May.
The initial role of OSU Extension Service and the Master Gardeners will be as coaches helping people understand the details of sustainable landscaping.
If you would like to have your landscape certified as an Oregon Sustainable Landscape, you will need to get a copy of our publication and do a walk-through of your yard to look at your gardening habits. Analyzing your landscape and your gardening habits will help you decide if you need to make changes before you contact the OSU Extension Service office for certification.
The checklist reviews questions from each sustainable category as part of our educational process. If you cannot answer certain questions, you are directed to other OSU publications or to visit or call the Master Gardener clinic for consultation. Homeowners will need to go through the certification checklist with the agent or a Master Gardener to receive an Oregon Sustainable Landscape certification. Once your landscape is certified, you will be given a small sign to place in your landscape with pride.
<i>Steve Renquist is the horticulture extension agent for OSU Extension Service of Douglas County. He can be reached by e-mail at steve.renquist@oregonstate.edu or by phone at 541-672-4461.</i>
