What you can do in your garden

• Grow wildflowers and herbs that encourage beneficial insects.

• Use organic methods of pest control. For example, put a mixture of soap and water on plants to fight garden insects). If every lawn owner did this, 2.5 to 5 million pounds of toxic chemicals would be removed from the environment every year.

• Plant native grass, shrubs and trees in your yard. Trees not only provide food and animal shelter for birds and other creatures, they also provide shade and filter the carbon dioxide in the air. Since they are used to the local environment, they require less care (meaning less water and pesticides).

• Feed the birds.

• Put up bird houses and baths.

• Pull weeds instead of using herbicides.

• Learn about natural insect controls as alternatives to pesticides.

• Ignore caterpillars and most native leaf chewing insects. Let birds and insect predators take care of them.

• Use beer traps for slugs instead of baiting with poisons.

• Is your lawn larger than it needs to be? Consider returning a portion of it back to its natural state. Birds and wildlife will appreciate it.

• Leave your grass clippings on the lawn instead of in a garbage bag.

• Use a push mower for your lawn instead of a gas or electric mower. It's good exercise and saves energy.

• Plan landscaping to create shade in the summer and warmth in the winter.

• Water your lawn or garden early in the day to avoid excessive evaporation. Watering deeply and infrequently instead of sprinkling makes better use of water.

• Use soaker hoses and drip irrigation for the most efficient watering.

• Use organic fertilizers. Simple manure helps condition your soil and fertilizes at the same time.

• If you use pesticides, herbicides or fungicides, don't throw leftovers in trash, down your drain or into a storm sewer.

• Compost your leaves and yard debris or take them to a yard debris recycler. Burning them creates air pollution and putting them out with the trash is a waste of landfill space.

• Use mulch to conserve water in your garden.

• Plant things that don't require so much water.

• Take extra plastic and rubber pots back to the nursery.

• Large expanses of lawn are not good habitat for other creatures and they usually must be maintained with chemicals and extensive watering. Dig up some of your grass and plant native shrubs or trees instead.

• Plant short, dense shrubs close to your home's foundation to help insulate against cold.

• Start a compost pile.

Compost those leaves

Americans throw away approximately 24 million tons of leaves and grass a year; so much that leaves alone account for 75% of the solid waste in the fall. For a green alternative to throwing away your leaves and organic kitchen garbage, try composting.