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9 Gardening Tips
1. Right Plant, Right Place
Plants suited to your site will require minimal amounts of water, fertilizer
and pesticides.
1. Use plants suited for site conditions:
Low lying areas, select moisture loving plants
Shady areas, select plants with low light requirements
Sunny, dry locations, select drought tolerant plants. As a general rule,
many plants with a silver or grey color tend to be drought tolerant plants.
2. Group plants according to their water needs.
3. Plant drought tolerant plants together and avoid scattering throughout
lawn areas. This way you can irrigate the lawn area separately from the
plants that thrive in drier locations.
4. Determine how much grass you need for children, pets and recreation,
Select the grass type suited for your environmental conditions. Use low
maintenance ground covers, shrubs and mulch under trees with heavy
shade where the grass is not doing well. Most grass varieties will tolerate
light shade, but struggle in deep shade.
5. Plant trees and shrubs to shade air conditioners and the east or west
walls of your house to conserve energy. It will save you money! Plant
trees at least 15-20 feet from the house. They will cast a larger shadow on
the house than when planted close to the house. .You are less likely to
suffer damage from trees in windy, stormy weather.
6. Use deciduous trees or shrubs that drop their leaves in winter on the
south side of your house to passively heat your home during cold weather.
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7. Remove invasive exotic plants from your yard! This will help to keep the
dastardly Chinese Tallow, Skunk Vine, Kudzu, Air Potato, Old World
Climbing Fern, and Tropical Soda Apple from seeding and spreading into
other areas.
8. Reduce pruning labor and time by selecting plants with desired heights
at maturity for particular locations. A plant that reaches a height of 8-10
feet will not be happy in place suited for a 2 foot high plant. This will also
cut down on yard waste.
9. Preserve and plant native plants whenever possible. They are adapted
to Florida’s unique climate and especially our hot humid summers!
2. Water Efficiently
Irrigate only when your lawn and landscape
need water. Efficient watering is the key to a
healthy Florida yard and reducing runoff.
1. Water your lawn and other plants only when they show signs of stress.
Grass turns a bluish gray color, leaf blades fold in half and areas from
footsteps don’t stand back up.
2. Calibrate your irrigation system to apply _’ to 1 inch of water per
application.
3. Design or modify your sprinkler system to water lawn areas separate
from plant beds.
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4. Check for broken sprinklers and adjust crooked sprinklers to keep spray
patterns distributed evenly.
5. Use micro irrigation in plant plants if you can.
6. Connect an automatic rain shut off device to your irrigation system. It is
REQUIRED by law on all newly installed systems.
7. Mow your lawn grass so it has a height of 3-4 inches after it is cut. The
longer the shoot, the longer the root so the turf will be healthier and more
drought tolerant.
8. Put a rain gauge in your yard to track rainfall and avoid unnecessary
watering
9. Design and maintain a yard that thrives on rainfall. Use irrigation only as a
supplement to rain fall.
3. Fertilize Appropriately
Fertilizers can be hazardous to the environment and your yard. When
over-applied, fertilizers aggravate pest problems and make plants grow
excessively. Excess fertilizer can run off yards into groundwater creating
water quality and ecological problems.
1. Use slow release fertilizers so they don’t leach through our sandy soils quickly.
30% water insoluble nitrogen is desirable, it can be labeled as sulfur coated urea
(SCU), ureaform (UF), polymer or resin coated urea.
2. Fertilize with light applications 4-5 times per year.
3. Use ferrous sulfate (chelated iron) instead of nitrogen to make your lawn green
in the summer
4. Mulching
Mulching retains soil moisture, moderates soil temperature and helps prevent
erosion and weeds. By using mulch, you’ll use less water; have healthier plants
and fewer weeds.
1. Keep a 2-3 inch layer of mulch over the roots of trees and shrubs and in plant
beds.
2. Leave at least 2 inches of space between the mulch and
plant’s trunk or stem.
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3. Replenish mulch once or twice a year.
4. Create self mulching areas under trees where leaves can stay where they fall.
5. Use by-product mulches whenever possible. Eucalyptus, Melaleuca and
Australian pines make great mulches.
6. Free mulch is available from the Solid Waste Authority (SWA).
5. Recycling
In a Florida yard, grass clippings, leaves and yard trimmings are recycled rather
than thrown away. They provide natural nutrients for the landscape.
1. Leave grass clippings on the lawn after mowing
2. Use fallen leaves and pine needles as mulch under trees and shrubs. It’s
FREE too!
3. Create and maintain a compost pile with yard waste and kitchen scraps. NO
animal products
6. Managing Yard Pests
It is unrealistic to strive for a bug and disease-free landscape. Pesticides
provide effective treatment of serious pest problems, but they should not
be used routinely or indiscriminately. Unwise use of pesticides can result in
pest resistance and can harm people, pets, beneficial organisms and the
environment.
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1. There are many beneficial organisms that prey on plant pests. When
pesticides are broadcast sprayed over the entire yard, it kills everything!
Limit this broadcast spraying so that beneficial insects such as ladybugs,
assassin bugs, green lacewings, big eyed bugs, earwigs, frogs, lizards and
birds can thrive in your landscape.
2. Use environmentally friendly controls first. Prune and remove heavily
infected plant parts or hand remove plant pests. Change cultural practices
to provide less stress on the plants. Stressed plants are more susceptible
to pests and diseases.
3. If you must spray, use insecticidal soaps, horticultural oils, isopropyl
alcohol and Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Note: Bt is harmful to butterflies.
4. Reminder! Only 1% of insects are considered pests on plants! The rest of those insects
are good guys and help to pollinate our food crops.
7. Reduce Stormwater Runoff
What is stormwater runoff? Stormwater runoff is rainwater and excessive
irrigation water that carries non point source pollutants off of yards, roads
and parking lots to our lakes, rivers and estuaries. Non point source
pollution includes pesticides, fertilizers oils, tire particles and trash that is
carried from all over and cannot be pinpointed to any single cause. Rain
and irrigation water carries soil, debris, fertilizer and pesticides from your
yard into neighborhood storm drains that lead to bays, rivers and lakes.
These substances can harm water quality, habitats and living organisms.
Reducing runoff from your property minimizes these problems.
1. Where possible, direct downspouts and gutters to drain into plant beds
or lawn areas.
2. Decrease soil erosion by planting groundcovers where lawn grass
doesn’t thrive.
3. Use mulch, brick, gravel, flagstone or other porous materials for
driveways, walkways and patios
4. Sweep grass clippings, fertilizer and soil from driveways and streets
back onto the lawn.
5. Avoid piling yard debris near stormdrains, it can wash down them during
heavy rains.
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6. Remove trash from street gutters near your house (even if it is NOT your
trash)
7. Create swales (low areas) to catch and filter stormwater.
8. Terrace sloping areas to slow down stormwater runoff.
9. Be a responsible pet owner - pick up after pets. This will help reduce
bacterial and nutrient pollution entering our water bodies
10. Clean up oil spills and leaks on the driveway by soaking up fluids with
cat litter and sweeping up. Avoid washing with soap and water and flushing
it down the stormdrain.
11. Pour fertilizer into spreaders over mulched areas not on the driveway where it
might later be washed down the storm drain.
8. Protect the Waterfront
Waterfront property owners have an important responsibility to keep
fertilizers and pesticides out of the water body. Polluted water with toxic
chemicals has a harmful effect on aquatic animals and can bring down the
value of the waterfront property.
1. Remove invasive exotic aquatic plants by cutting, pulling or raking.
Remove excess dead plant material from water to keep it from adding
excess nutrients
2. Decrease wave action and increase wildlife habitats by placing clean
native limestone in front of seawalls
3. When feasible, plant native aquatic plants in front of your seawall.
4. Avoid pruning mangroves and other native vegetation without first
checking on proper guidelines and permits
5. If possible, plant a border of low maintenance plants between your lawn
and the water’s edge to absorb nutrients and provide habitat for animals.
6. Establish a 10-30 foot no fertilizer, no pesticide zone along the shoreline
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9. Provide Wildlife Habitat
With more than 1,200 kinds of animals, Florida ranks third in the nation in
wildlife diversity. Providing adequate food, water and shelter can increase
the number and variety of species that visit your yard.
1. Plant trees, shrubs and vines that provide cover, nesting areas or food
for birds, butterflies and other wildlife.
2. Make available a water source such as a bird bath (be sure and keep
this clean) or small pond for wildlife
3. Provide wildlife shelters such as bat houses, bird houses or in rural area
areas- snags (dead trees)
4. Avoid routine spraying of pesticides- they kill many things, including the
beneficial insects.