Certified Earth-Friendly Gardens

How earth friendly is your garden? The things you do in your garden affect far more than just your own property. Our checklist will help you evaluate your current gardening practices and will suggest additional practices you can adopt to make your garden more earth friendly and sustainable.

Sustainable Landscapes

There are many definitions of landscape sustainability. We define it as gardening practices that are not harmful to ourselves, native plants, animals, or the environment as a whole.

Earth-Friendly Principles and Practices

To help us reach our goal of creating earth-friendly gardens, here are some key principles to keep in mind:

  1. Select Appropriate Plants
  2. Nurture the Soil
  3. Practice Responsible Pest Management
  4. Protect Wildlife
  5. Conserve Water and Protect Water Quality
  6. Conserve Energy and Protect Air Quality
  7. Reduce Waste
  8. Grow Food

These eight principles are interrelated. For example, plant selection influences the amount of green waste produced by a garden, and responsible pest management protects wildlife and water quality. By adopting each of these eight principles, you help the environment and you will be able to certify your garden as an official Earth-Friendly Garden. Once certified, you will be eligible to purchase your own Certified Earth-Friendly Garden yard sign and you may be selected for an on-site visit from a team of San Diego Master Gardeners who will consult with you regarding your garden and any sustainability questions you may have.

Meeting Certification Requirements
To certify your garden, you only have to check off the minimum number of options for each section. In other words, your garden will not be disqualified from certification if a particular option is not checked off. Also, there is no obligation to provide your information, certify your garden, or purchase a yard sign.

Don’t be discouraged if you are not already doing everything on our list. By going through the checklist, you’ll discover how a few changes can make your garden even more earth-friendly. Click here to learn more about how to use this survey as a resource.

Please note that most people take at least thirty minutes to complete the list.

Take the survey here!