Green improvement: Converting your home's landscape into a "greenscape" by switching out a resource-and water-hogging lawn and plants with native or low-maintenance vegetation and natural materials. If you pick plants that suit your property's soil type, climate and sun exposure, they'll thrive and will require fewer resources and work. The Environmental Protection Agency offers a helpful guide to get you started: "Green Scaping, the Easy way to a Greener, Healthier Yard."
How to go green: There are many ways to make your yard more eco-friendly, but one is to cut down on the size of your lawn. Consumers pump a lot of water, work and harsh chemicals into their lawns to make them the lush green we all crave. Instead, why not move away from that golf-course look and plan a landscape that's equally as beautiful, but less demanding. Neighbors of mine don't have a single blade of grass on their front "lawn." Instead, the yard is filled with wood chips or mulch, and planted throughout the yard are beautiful bunches of daffodils and tulips in the spring. Later in the season, lilies and a vegetable garden provide greenery.
If you love your grassy lawn, retire your gas lawn mower to the garage and try a manual push reel lawn mower instead.
Cost: The cost varies widely depending on the size and scope of your project. But, mulch is anywhere from just over $3 to $4 for a 2-cubic-foot-bag and a reel lawn mower costs about $100. The average vegetable garden will run you about $70 a year, says Neal Templin of the Wall Street Journal for Yahoo Finance.
But, he cautions, it's easy to get carried away and invest too much cash in your garden, so plan your landscape carefully. Bulbs like daffodils, tulips and lilies are cost effective, since they come back every year. Lettuce is quite cheap, as it's easy to grow from seed.
Savings: If you normally hire someone to mow and maintain your lawn each week, you could save about $1,000 to over $4,500 a year in weekly lawn service costs.
Bonus: You won't wake your neighbors each week with your lawn mower and can surprise them with fresh flowers or veggies for their table!
See previous Earth Week post on reducing vampire power and the next post, on adding attic insulation to reduce energy costs. —Lauren Baier Kim