Sustainable Living: 9 principles for a Florida friendly property

Tune in weekly to The Sustainable Living Show as we talk about the importance of how we promote a balance of people, profit, and planet. This week we talked with Lynn Barber and Julia Palaschak about the 9 principles for a Florida Friendly property.

About Our Guests

Lynn Barber has worked for the UF Extension for the past 18 years. She has given back hundreds of hours in environmental horticulture education to the community. Lynn’s home landscape has been on tour and featured in several newspapers.

Julia Palaschak specializes in residential irrigation efficiency and helping customers “save water, save cash”. She’s lived in her Sulphur Springs bungalow home for 29 years where she tends to more than 100 species of plants, including a street garden for seasonal vegetables.

9 Principles for a Florida Friendly Property

Principle 1: RIGHT PLANT, RIGHT PLACE

Know if your landscape needs sun or shade, more or less water, rich or sandy soil…. Place plants together that have the same needs.

Principle 2: WATER EFFICIENTLY

Design your system to use least water with best results. Drip irrigation varieties and adjusting all automatic systems for seasonal needs. Also having a working rain gauge to shut off if raining. “An inch is great, watering can wait”.

Principle 3: FERTILIZE APPROPRIATELY

You should ideally compost but choose another option only at appropriate times to reduce water run off (algae bloom).

Principle 4: MULCH

Make mulch deep to reduce weeds, hold moisture plus keep soil cool and protected. (Pull away from stems, trunks, and home edges).

Principle 5: ATTRACT WILDLIFE

Feed critters and insects as a wildlife oasis. All creatures work together to balance our environment (In urban environments).

Principle 6: MANAGE YARD PESTS RESPONSIBLY

There are plenty of predatory insects that feed on the regular insects that “bother” us. Using pesticides in everyday life is not discriminatory and kills them all. This includes effecting birds as they eat insects as well.

Principle 7: RECYCLE YARD WASTE

Use your leaves as mulch. Try to compost kitchen greens and don’t compost weeds or invasive plants (It may not heat up enough to kill invasives and seeds).

Principle 8: REDUCE STORMWATER RUNOFF

Secure run off areas with plant materials that filter. Also NEVER use fertilizers inappropriately in banned times of year.

Don’t mow so that green debris enters water. There should be a 10-foot buffer zone.

Principle 9: PROTECT THE WATERFRONT

Don’t mow so that green debris enters water. There should be a 10-foot buffer zone.

Listen to this weeks full show below: