Landscape For Life Index
Click on the links below for information on the following sustainable strategies and practices.
Landscapes Give Back
The carbon cycle
The water cycle
The nitrogen cycle
Getting Started
Landscape For Life site assessment
Checklist for choosing a new home site
Checklist for garden construction and renovation
What to ask when you’re hiring a landscape designer or contractor
Soil
Get to know your soil
Slow food for healthy soil
Fertilizer: tips for a green garden
Compost: homemade humus for healthy soil
Organic mulches and how to apply them
Green manures and how to use them
Sustainable solutions for “problem soils”
Sandy soils
Clay soils
Wet soils
Acidic soils
Alkaline soils
Compacted soils
Shallow soils
Saline soils
Contaminated soils
How to prevent soil compaction
Avoid contaminating your soil with pesticides
Sustainable potting mixes
Gardening in raised beds
Water
Create a water-thrifty landscape
Select plants adapted to local precipitation patterns
Mulch your planting beds
Irrigate with alternatives to potable water
A guide to water-thrifty irrigation
Smart strategies for managing stormwater
Create a rain garden
Limit impervious surfaces
A guide to green roofs
Protect and restore vegetative buffers along wetlands and waterways
Use materials that do not pollute stormwater
Sustainable water features
Plants
Identify and remove invasive species
Grow plants adapted to the conditions in your garden
Grow natives
What’s your ecoregion?
Landscape for wildlife
Protect and restore your landscape’s biomass
Green your lawn
Landscape to increase your home’s energy efficiency
Creating summer shade
Blocking winter winds
Reduce the urban heat island effect
Reduce the risk of catastrophic fire
Materials
Reduce the amount of material necessary
Reuse existing and salvaged materials
Avoid wood from threatened tree species
Choose certified wood
Purchase other certified products
Select local materials and products
Use concrete alternatives
Select materials that do not pollute stormwater
Use the least toxic pest controls
Choose no- or low-VOC products
Use materials with recycled content
Design so materials can be disassembled and reused
Human Health
Grow a food garden
Limit your exposure to pesticides
Limit your exposure to VOC pollution
Reduce light pollution
Design for well-being
