Going green before green was cool

Going green is now mainstream and seems to be the latest craze. It certainly is a popular selling ploy. Many other landscape professionals and I were green before green was cool. When I was in college the first time around, if you talked about being green, you were a hippie and disregarded as way out there. After I graduated with my degree in ornamental horticulture and started my first landscaping business, my partner and I focused on installing water-efficient landscapes using dry creek beds, less water-thirsty plants, mulch and drip irrigation. At that time, few people had heard of drip irrigation, but a drought helped our business thrive.

The landscape industry has been green (no pun intended) as an everyday practice for decades in Carson City and surrounding areas. What is green anyway? Green is about recycling, reusing and reducing our use of natural resources. Green is about becoming more sustainable. Here are a few green practices in our area. Christmas trees are recycled into mulch at the landfill and made available to the public for use in their yards. Arborists grind up stumps and cut trees, providing mulch to their clients. Construction people recycle boulders and rocks for landscape use and retaining walls.

Consider how the green industry has advanced water-saving techniques with automatic irrigation systems, some of which are satellite data-driven. Drip systems have come a long way since I started with laser tubing: systems that soak your lawn from underneath the soil, misters and much more. Irrigating with reclaimed water is the norm in parks and golf courses.

Home gardeners often practice green concepts: planting and eating from their vegetable gardens and fruit trees, using least-toxic methods of pest control, composting, going organic and letting the sun power their outdoor lights. Every time we plant a tree and maintain it, we are working toward sustainability. Trees provide shade that can reduce air-conditioning costs and power needs. They clean the air and provide food and shelter for animals. When we plant more water-efficient plants and less lawn, we become more green, while saving money, using less fertilizer and less fuel powering a mower.

Join the green industry make strides toward sustainability. Be a green gardener in 2009. Many thanks to certified arborist Molly Sinnott for the idea for this article.

For information, contact me, (775) 887-2252 or skellyj@unce.unr.edu, your local University of Nevada Cooperative Extension office or at www.unce.unr.edu. "Ask a Master Gardener" at mastergardeners@unce.unr.edu

n JoAnne Skelly is the Carson City/Storey County Extension educator for University of Nevada Cooperative Extension.