Meadows and Hugelkultur

User: bobnris@bobnris.com

Vendor: Drive Green - Green Energy Consumers Alliance

Action: 2586 - Ecological Landscaping

Over the years, we have gradually decreased the amount of lawn that we mow by allowing the meadow to grow naturally. The meadow now takes up about 3/4 of our property. Wildflowers are abundant as are butterflies, dragonflies and birds that have found a home here. We continue to mow an area adjacent to the house along with some paths around the perimeter and through the meadows to the trails & compost bin behind our house. Several years ago, we experimented with hugelkultur, a horticultural technique which creates raised mounds composed of various biomass materials resulting in high density planting that requires little to no irrigation, even in the driest of seasons.  This technique, along with using the water retrieved from our dehumidifier and that collected from our rain barrels has allowed us to conserve our water usage in gardening.