10 Easy Ways to Create an Eco-Friendly Yard That Protects Puget Sound

Maintaining a beautiful, healthy yard doesn’t have to come at the expense of the environment. In fact, small changes to your lawn and garden care routine can make a big difference in protecting local waterways like Puget Sound and supporting wildlife such as salmon. By adopting sustainable practices—from choosing the right fertilizers to planting drought-tolerant species—you can reduce pollution, conserve water, and build a thriving landscape that’s both vibrant and eco-friendly. Here are ten practical tips to get you started on a greener yard journey.1. Avoid using weed and feed products, which broadcast herbicides on every inch of your lawn. Instead, choose a “slow-release” or “natural organic” fertilizer, which gradually releases nutrients into the soil to prevent runoff.

2. Plant drought-tolerant plants such as rosemary, lavender and sedum that need little water once established. Efficient water use keepswater in the rivers, creeks and streams for salmon and other fish,especially during crucial summer months.

3. Think twice before reaching for herbicides. You can control weeds byhand-pulling them or by building healthier soil to allow the grass or plant you have there to out-compete weeds. Pulls weeds when they’reearly and young.

4. Plant a tree, or two or three. Trees catch rain and allows it evaporate before reaching the ground. This reduces runoff, the main source of pollution in the Puget Sound. Learn more from the Puget Sound Partnership: https://makingwaves.psp.wa.gov/index.php/2023/05/03/preventing-stormwater-pollution/

5. Build healthy soil, which helps absorbs more runoff and filters out pollutants. Amend your soil with compost, whether home-made or purchased from places like Cedar Grove (which recycles most King County residents yard waste into compost).

6. Mulch garden beds annually with compost, leaves, bark or wood chipsto cut down on weeds and watering.  Mulch also helps prevent erosion.

7. Choose the right plants for the right spot to reduce the need for excess watering, pruning, and fertilizing. Consider native plants.

8. Water plants deeply but infrequently. This helps grass, trees and plants grow deep roots and prevent disease. After soaking the roots,let the top few inches of soil dry before you water it again.

9. Install a few rain barrels. Seattle, King County and othercities provide discounted rain barrels that you can install near yourdownspout. The barrels allow you to catch rainwater into 55-gallonbarrels to water your plants at a later time.

10. Mulch mow, as we do at Ecoyards. Leave grass clippings on your lawn. It not only saves time and yard waste, but returns water and nutrients to your lawn.