I just caught an interesting comment on my Water-Smart Gardening article this morning. It was from Derek Lippert, owner of ‘Naturally Maintained‘, a local landscaping company dedicated to providing environmentally friendly landscape solutions in the Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge (Tri-city) area.
Here is what Derek had to say in his comment:
I started Naturally Maintained in 1999 with the primary focus of installing and promoting lawn alternative landscapes. At the time it was a fairly hard sell, with people saying ‘lawn what?’ Nowadays the lawn alternative is becoming nearly as popular as the lawn itself. With many options and styles to choose from it’s likely that a lawn alternative can be designed for nearly everyone’s taste. We’ve put in demonstration gardens for the Region of Waterloo and have eliminated lawns from 100’s of homes throughout the tri-cities. I’m at a point now where it’s hard to keep up with the demand.
I’m really excited to hear that these alternative landscaping ideas are really taking off! It sounds as though Derek doesn’t need the business, but I figured I might as well see if we can help him round up some more! (sorry, Derek! haha)
I totally love the look of the Naturally Maintained website - very simple and clean, but also full of life (great images and designs). Even if you don’t live in the Tricity area I highly recommend you check it out. The gallery section alone is definitely worth it! Certainly puts my landscaping efforts to shame! haha!
I see Derek offers installations of Eco-Lawn (I wrote a post about it recently) - cool! I’ll have to ask him about that (since I’ve been hoping to find someone who has experience with it).
If you happen to live in the K-W or Cambridge are and are looking for lawn-alternatives or other eco-friendly garden ideas, I highly recommend you check out Naturally Maintained (follow link at beginning of article).
One other thing I should mention. After hearing from Derek, I suddenly had a brainwave (happens once in awhile)! I think it would be really fun to dedicate a page to green businesses in Waterloo Region (perhaps even Southwestern Ontario in general).
I always love hearing about any that are close by, and I think it would be a great way to inform people in the region about green alternatives.
Anyway, I’ll think on that a little more and let you know what I decide to do!
Related Sherpa Posts:
Water-Smart Gardening
Eco-Lawn - Is The Grass Really Greener on the Other Side?
Technorati Tags: eco-lawn, green landscaping, lawn alternatives, natural landscaping, naturally maintained, kitchener-waterloo, waterloo region, local businesses, eco-friendly
Written by Bentley on July 12th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Water Conservation and Gardening.
I had an e-mail exchange with Franke James earlier this week and she happened to mention that she had enjoyed my post about ‘Water-Smart Gardening‘ and was wondering if I could recommend any drought-resistant grass species.
Franke recently went to battle with the city of North York when she discovered that building a permeable ‘green driveway’ was not permitted in the city. She gained a lot of publicity thanks to Toronto newspapers and news programs (as well as a post on Treehugger), and thankfully was eventually given the green light. For the full story, be sure to check out the post on her blog:
How my Eco-friendly Driveway got the Green Light from City Hall
Well now that her battle is behind her, Franke is looking for a suitable grass species for the PermaTurf® system she will be installing (or has already installed). Not being a huge fan of grass in general, unfortunately I did not have an answer for her off the top of my head, but I decided to see what I could find online. Aside from wanting to help out a friend, I knew there would be plenty of other people interested in learning more about this subject.
It didn’t take me long before I came across the mention a product called “Eco-Lawn”. With my curiosity piqued sufficiently I decided to learn as much about the product as I could.
Eco-Lawn was developed by Paul Jenkins and Miriam Goldberger of Wildflower Farm Inc., a native plant nursery and natural landscaping company located in Schomberg Ontario (~ 1/2 hour north of Toronto). Having heard that fescue grasses had a reputation for high performance with low maintenance, they decided to start experimenting with various fescue species. Eventually they hit upon a blend that offered all the beneficial qualities of fescue grass, while still providing the aesthetic appeal of a ‘normal’ lawn.
After a few years of successful testing, they decided to begin marketing their blend under the name “Eco-Lawn”. The rest is of course history!
Some of the Benefits Listed on the Eco-Lawn page:
- Drought tolerant
- No fertlizers/chemicals required
- Grows in full sun, part shade, and even deep shade
- Less vulnerable to grubs
- Reduced mowing requirements
I highly recommend you check out this video interview with Miriam Goldberger: Eco-Lawn
Unfortunately I don’t have any personal experience using Eco-Lawn, so I’d definitely be interested to hear from anyone who has in fact tried this grass.
Also, if you happen to know of any other drought-resist grass species, or interesting lawn alternatives in general, please let us know! This is a really interesting topic, and something I’d like to revisit again in the near future.
Related Sherpa Posts:
Water-Smart Gardening
Green Options For Your Driveway
Technorati Tags: eco-lawn, drought, lawn, grass, fescue, lawn care, xeriscaping, franke james, wildflower farm, lawn alternatives
Written by Bentley on June 29th, 2007 with 3 comments.
Read more articles on Water Conservation.
As mentioned multiple times now, this year I’m really zoning in on water conservation - both inside and outside of the house.
One of my significant water-suckers last summer was my vegetable garden. While I certainly wasn’t a crazy hose-wielding maniac like my neighbour across the street (who seems to love watering his grass, washing down his multiple vehicles, and even pressure washing his driveway during summers droughts), I still needed to give my plants a decent amount to drink so as not to stunt their growth.
This year I decided to impliment some additional water-conserving strategies to help reduce the amount of tap water needed to keep my crops in good shape.
Mulch - I decided to lay down straw on my vegetable bed this year to help reduce water-loss via evaporation. You
do need to be a little careful when using a carbon-rich mulch like straw (wood chips etc) however since it can lead to loss of nitrogen from the soil (microbes breaking down the straw take up the N to help maintain C:N balance).
I decided to use slow release fertilizer sticks to help ensure the plants have a constant supply of N (and P). In future years I would love to use strictly organic methods, but unfortunately my soil is just not rich enough yet. If you ARE going to use inorganic fertilizer I highly recommend taking the slow-release route.
Targeted Watering - Using a watering can, and pouring water under each plant (vs general watering of beds) can save a lot of water. To further prevent excess run-off, I like to water 2 or 3 plants at a time. I’ll start with the first, counting off 3-5 seconds as I pour, then move to the next and so on. This allows the water to percolate down, making it much more likely that it will reach the roots where it is needed.
Depending on how serious you are (about water conservation, and about your veggie garden in general), you may even want to set up some sort of slow-release system, either in the form of a drip-line, or slow release reservoirs.
As mentioned not too long ago, the latest Mother Earth News has some great info on the subject. In the article “Wise Watering”, one method the author suggests is creating slow-release water bottles by punching small holes in the bottom, placing them near your plants then filling them up with water. I think this is a great idea.
Here’s a related idea that popped into my head recently: if you happen to have 2 litre pop bottles, why not make a series of punctures or slits then bury in the ground with only the lid showing (could easily be hidden from view with mulch). To water, simply open the lid and pour water down into the bottle.
Rain Barrels - I highly recommend using at least one rain barrel to capture run-off from your roof during summer showers. I’ve been absolutely loving my rain barrel this year, and actually really want to create a multi-barrel system. One of my dreams in the past has been to create a huge underground cistern for rainwater, but I think I’ll need to wait until I get a country property before it makes sense to do that.
Sadly, I just used up the last of my rain barrel water the other day. Things have been utterly desert-like as of late! Speaking of which, if you do only have one barrel I would recommend trying to use as much of it as possible between rainfalls. I’m always frustrated when I’ve been extra-conservative with the barrel water, only to see it overflowing after a couple minutes the next time it rains. You could also simply move the water to other containers so as to ensure that you will always collect a full barrel each rainfall.
Indoor Water Capture - Assuming you don’t already have a greywater system in your home, why not capture excess water from rinsing dishes, washing fruit/vegetables, showers etc etc. (I’ll be talking a lot more about this in our first newsletter). It’s amazing how quickly this adds up. Of course, I’d recommend you keep the soapy water in it’s own container since it’s probably not the greatest water for your edibles - you can however use this for your shrubs and other ornamentals.
Timing - Another way to help reduce the amount of evaporation is to water your plants either earlier or later in the day, when the sun is lower and temperatures are cooler. Early morning is your best bet since this provides your plants with a nice dose of water for their most active hours, and also reduces the chances of diseases developing (watering at dusk is not as ideal for this reason). I’m far from perfect myself, so my timing is not always the best. Now that the weather is really heating up however, I think I’ll be working a little harder to ensure I time my waterings a little better.
So there you have it - just a handful of ways you can save a considerable amount of water this summer, while maintaining lush, healthy gardens.
Technorati Tags: water conservation, mulch, rain barrels, rainwater recycling, watering can, drip line, slow release fertilizer, greywater, grey water
Written by Bentley on June 18th, 2007 with 2 comments.
Read more articles on Water Conservation and Gardening.
Just caught this interesting press release from Newswire:
The City of Toronto and Green Roofs for Healthy Cities successfully bid for the 2009 World Green Roof Congress
TORONTO, May 31 /CNW/ - “Green Roofs for Healthy Cities,” the North American green roof industry association and the City of Toronto are pleased to announce that they will be hosting the 2009 World Green Roof Congress.
The Congress will bring more than 1,000 delegates to Toronto from around the world to discuss the latest research, policy and technical advances in the rapidly growing green roof industry. The World Green Roof Congress is organized through the World Green Roof Infrastructure Network, an international organization made up of the leaders of national green roof
industry associations from around the world.
“I’m extremely happy the Green Roofs for Healthy Cities has chosen Toronto for its 2009 Congress,” said Toronto Mayor David Miller. “This is a heartening endorsement of our policies and practices, and an acknowledgment that Toronto truly is a global leader in the fight against climate change.”
“This is a tremendous opportunity for Toronto to showcase its progress on sustainable communities and demonstrate significant progress in developing the green roof industry in North America,” said Steven Peck, President of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities and co-host of the event. “Green roofs have really captured people’s attention as a beautiful way to help fight climate change and save money. Green roofs deliver more public and private benefits than any other green building technology.”
In 2006, The City of Toronto passed “Making Green Roofs Happen,” a comprehensive report on policies and programs that will advance the use of green roof technology among City buildings and in the private sector.
Green roof infrastructure involves the use of technologies that incorporate drainage/filtering systems, quality waterproofing,
root-repellancy, engineered growing media and plants. The benefits of green (vegetative) roofs include a reduction in storm water run-off, better heat and sound insulation, energy savings, improved air quality and reduction in the urban heat island. Other benefits include increased park space, improved aesthetics, community gardening and habitat restoration.
Toronto is Canada’s largest city and sixth largest government, and home to a diverse population of about 2.6 million people. It is the economic engine of Canada and one of the greenest and most creative cities in North America. In the past three years Toronto has won more than 50 awards for quality and innovation in delivering public services. Toronto’s government is dedicated to prosperity, opportunity and liveability for all its residents.
Visit our website at www.toronto.ca
Technorati Tags: green roof, toronto, green roof congress, water management, rainwater recycling
Written by Bentley on June 1st, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Water Conservation and Eco Events and News.
I imagine sports in general must be huge energy and water consumers. Other than the odd ‘green’ ski resort opening up, I don’t think I’ve really heard all that much about sports making an effort to go green - well at least not until today.
The ECB and the Test match grounds, in partnership with domestic Test match sponsor npower, have announced plans to work together on the first overarching ‘green audit’ of a sport by a UK national governing body.
The audit will review energy use and water consumption at the UK’s seven Test match grounds: Lord’s, Riverside, Edgbaston, Trent Bridge, Headingley Carnegie, Old Trafford and the Brit Oval.
Most clubs have their own environmental initiatives and practices, but the aim is for npower to help these venues reduce their carbon emissions by at least 10 per cent by spring next year and ensure they are ahead of the game, when the energy performance of buildings directive comes into effect in April 2008.
The Test match grounds currently have a collective annual energy consumption of over 25 million kWh and, although cricket already has a greener reputation than many other sports, steps can still be taken to reduce emissions.
Full Article: Cricket Goes Green
Now if only we could do something about golf! Nothing says eco-responsibility like golf courses in the desert!…[Sigh]
Written by Bentley on May 16th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Water Conservation and Interesting & Notable.
Just wanted to write a short post wishing all our readers a very happy Earth Day! Hope you have been enjoying the weekend (absolutely gorgeous here) and getting involved in some Earth Day Weekend activities.
Steve and I got up bright and early on Saturday morning and met up at a local mall where the city was selling rain barrels (for an incredible bargain). I cannot believe how long the line was even at 7am. It took about an hour in a fast-moving line to finally reach our destination (the rain barrel truck), but it was a beautiful morning and it was nice getting caught up!
I’m definitely looking forward to getting my new barrel set up this week and kickstarting my 2007 water-conservation project (more on that in a future post)!
Technorati Tags: earth day, rain barrel, waterloo region, water conservation
Written by Bentley on April 22nd, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Water Conservation and Eco Events.
A recent question from one of our readers re: ‘green driveways’ inspired me to do some research on the topic. From what I can tell there are two main approaches:
1) creating a driveway that is literally ‘green’ with vegetation, and 2) using some form of porous concrete or asphalt.
Both of these options have the advantage (over traditional driveway paving) of allowing rain water to drain into the ground, thus helping to remove pollutants and lessening the burden on storm sewers and local water bodies. The vegetative option has the added advantage of eliminating (or at least greatly reducing) the ‘heat island’ effect associated with paved areas, not to mention offering a certain natural aesthetic appeal.
Let’s look at the vegetative options first. Of course the easiest approach would be to simply rip out your driveway then plant grass - the downside of this approach however, is that over time the earth will get compacted and ruts will form. In order to maintain good drainage some sort of structural lattice is required - typically made of concrete/stone or high density plastic.
One example of the plastic lattice approach is Grasspave2, one of a number of innovative products offered by Invisible Structures Inc. Here is a blurb from the Grasspave2 page:
Grasspave2 is a structure which provides incredible load bearing strength while protecting vegetation root systems from deadly compaction. High void spaces within the entire cross-section enable excellent root development, and storage capacity for rainfall from storm events. Stormwater is slowed in movement through and across Grasspave2 surfaces, which deposits suspended sediment and increases time to discharge. Suspended pollutants and moderate amounts of engine oils are consumed by active soil bacteria, which are aided by the system’s excellent oxygen exchange capacity.
Be sure to check out the Invisible Structures website - they have a variety of intriguing drainage solutions.
If you are looking for some excellent ‘how to’ info on building your own green driveway I highly recommend checking out this HGTV article: A driveway that looks like a lawn. It takes you step by step through the process of installing your own turf driveway using a plastic lattice.
Ok, moving on the the topic of ‘porous pavement’…
There seems to be quite a lot of good info on this topic. Here is an exerpt from and interesting webpage about porous pavement:
What is porous pavement:
Porous pavement is a permeable pavement surface with a stone reservoir underneath. The reservoir temporarily stores surface runoff before infiltrating it into the subsoil. Runoff is thereby infiltrated directly into the soil and receives some water quality treatment. Porous pavement often appears the same as traditional asphalt or concrete but is manufactured without “fine” materials, and instead incorporates void spaces that allow for infiltration.
Why consider porous pavement:
Traditional stormwater management practices significantly reduce groundwater recharge has led to a number of environmental concerns in recent years. As infiltration decreases, base flows in streams are decreased and previously flowing, small streams now often dry up between rains. Homeowners and public water suppliers often rely on wells that tap groundwater. Without recharge, the threat exists that these drinking water supplies could dry up rapidly
If you are interested in learning more about this topic I highly recommend you check out the EPA’s Porous Pavement Factsheet
I also highly recommend this excellent article all about the advances in the porous pavement field (actually provides a lot of great info about alternative pavement options in general)
Technorati Tags: porous pavement, green driveways, grasspave2, drainage, rainwater, stormwater
Written by Bentley on March 22nd, 2007 with 3 comments.
Read more articles on Green Home and Water Conservation and Green Construction.
I just received the latest issue of Natural Home Magazine yesterday and am quite pleased with the selection of interesting articles!
Two in particular caught my eye since they focus on rainwater recycling. It was interesting to see that one of them was even written by our ‘Eco-Friend’, Carol Steinfeld.
If all that isn’t cool enough for you, I’m happy to report that both of these articles are available online for your viewing pleasure!
1) Curb Pollution with a Rain Garden: Singing in the Runoff
2) Conserve Water and Reduce Runoff: Raindrops Keep Falling
Enjoy!
Technorati Tags: rainwater, rain water, water conservation, rain harvesting, rain garden, runoff, rain barrel, wastewater, carol steinfeld, cisterns, reservoir
Written by Bentley on February 22nd, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Water Conservation and Gardening.
There’s no doubt that the Worldwide Web has revolutionized our ability to share and obtain information. One of the downsides of surfing the web, however - even with with Google’s increasingly powerful search algorithm - is that it can be a fairly tiring experience at times. Very often, you need to visit a number of different sites in order to find sufficient information on a given topic. As such, it’s always nice to come across a resource that is absolutely jam-packed with top quality, relevant information!
As you probably know by now, we just love telling you about these sorts of resources!
I actually came across Oasis Design not long after we started EcoSherpa and even added them to our directory - but as is often the case, I made a mental note to explore the site further and well…you know what happens from there.
For whatever reason they popped into my head again today so I decided to pay them a visit and write this long-overdue post. The timing of the mind ‘pop’ was actually very good due to my increased focus and interest re: household water management. If you visit the Oasis site you will see that this is clearly a topic they know a great deal about! In fact this seems to be their primary focus. That being said, you will also find a decent amount of info relating to ecological design and sustainable living in general.
I should probably mention that a fair amount of their info (in the form of articles and books) is for sale, but definitely don’t let that scare you off! There is a wealth of free info, and the products for sale look to be excellent resources.
A little more about Oasis (from the site):
Oasis Design is a wellspring of original content and designs which you won’t find elsewhere. We specialize in the nuts and bolts of sustainability—practical systems for living well, in harmony with nature and each other. These include designs for managing water, wastewater, energy, money and other resources. Our goal is to live really well, on a small amount of well-managed resources, and help others do the same. We don’t need resource wars…we just need to make the most of our fair share. There are several hundred pages of free information here on our web site, as well as an additional several hundred in our books and articles.
Technorati Tags: greywater, graywater, ecological design, water management, rainwater harvesting, rainwater storage, oasis design, sustainable living, wastewater, composting toilets
Written by Bentley on February 20th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Water Conservation and Interesting & Notable.
I recently caught a five second local TV news blurb relating to hikes in regional water prices. Unfortunately it was one of those annoying “tune in at 11 to get all the details” tidbits so I had no clue what they were talking about, and of course as per usual did not tune in at 11.
Luckily I did however remember to check out the website for the station and was able to learn more.
It seems our regional water system is due for an upgrade and it’s going to cost a bundle!
The cost of water in Waterloo Region is about to increase dramatically.
It’s expected that the cost to upgrade the Region’s water system, including the sewage treatment system, will cost more than $800 million dollars over the next decade.
The average household should see an increase of $22 dollars this year to their water bill, but it may double in the next six years.
I think we can expect to see this sort of thing a LOT more in coming years - whether it’s due to water shortages or system upgrades or anything in between, as many people have suggested, I think water is going to be the next ‘oil’.
Anyway, the timing of the announcement is interesting since I have been formulating my plans for serious water conservation this year. I’ve already been cutting back as much as possible, but once spring arrives I intend to kick things into overdrive!
You may recall my post about Val Yule the so-called “Water Woman‘. Well reading about her methods provided a lot of inspiration for me.
Once I have a place to put it (ie my gardens etc) I intend to start collecting as much of my water waste as I can.
Some ideas I have for water conservation in general:
- Collecting dishwashing water rather than letting it drain
- Catching rinse water in some sort of tub which can then be poured into a larger storage container
- Keeping buckets in the shower to collect waste water
- Installing a water saving showerhead and potentially replacing our toilets with water conserving models
- Setting up a serious rain collection system
- Plus a few other top secret methods I don’t care to elaborate on (wink wink)
I have big plans for the gardens so I will need a fair amount of water. I’ve been very aware of our water use these last few months and can see a lot of potential for collecting large quantities that will be suitable for outdoor use.
Hopefully these regional water hikes will jolt people into action on the water conservation front! Should be interesting to see.
Rest assured, I’ll be writing more posts about all of this in coming months!
Technorati Tags: water bill, water treatment, water supply, water conservation, water saving, waterloo region, water hikes, grey water, greywater, rain barrels
Written by Bentley on February 9th, 2007 with 2 comments.
Read more articles on Water Conservation.
