Native Landscaping for the Frugal Enivironmentalist

What comes to mind when you think of landscaping?

Probably something like heavy equipment, ornamental plantings, laying down weed barrier and highly processed wood chips as mulch and heavy crushed stone or masonry mined and transported across the country.

That's about what runs through my mind when I think about it.  But none of these things have what could be called a stellar record for reducing environmental impact.  You need petroleum to run the Bobcats and trucks to haul the ornamental invasive plants around.  Those invasive plants then escape the landscaped areas and impact the surrounding environment by suppressing native species and destroying native ecosystems.  While the stone and masonry itself is not to damaging to the environment the processes by which it is harvested, processed and transported is damaging. 

With all this in mind how was I to create the landscaping that I wanted without causing any undo environmental impact.  I chose to use one of the oldest methods know to environmentalists and I recycled.

Using the humble brick, a shovel and a garden rake my girlfriend and I  laid out the basic design of a flat curve running from the back deck to the fence on the edge of the yard.  We did this using bricks that had been pulled up from a old patio on the property.  Later in the year near the end of February I will broadcast seed of native grasses and native flowers into this landscaping form.  When sprouted these plants will provide a eye catching, beautiful landscaped area full of native Texas plants and recycled bricks without spending undo amounts of money and having very little environmental impact.

This landscaping will also serve as a line between the raked, mowed and otherwise manicured part of the lawn; separating it from the space where we let the needle and leaf fall form a natural mulch.  This will create a "wild" part of the property which will add diversity to the house and help reduce its environmental impact.
  
Until next time my fellow environmentalists

Josh