Green Landscaping Practices for Commercial Properties

The modern day commercial properties have considerably more opportunities than ever before to maximize resources, decrease use of water, and save energy, all while creating aesthetically pleasing and eco-friendly environments. Of course, achieving all of these goals requires the property owners to look at the practices as well as the products that their ground care staff uses.

Following environmentally friendly landscaping practices and achieving a healthy soil mostly means reducing the number of chemical applications. The usage of synthetic pesticides is also a major concern of many municipalities throughout the country. Several communities are setting up reduction strategies so that they can help in promoting green landscaping, whereas others have banned such products entirely.

Communities and states are also strictly regulating lawn fertilizers. The restrictions are applicable to fertilizers which contain phosphorous – and in a few areas, high amounts of soluble nitrogen – in a bid to protect the water supplies from causing harm to nutrient pollutants.

One eco-friendly commercial landscaping practice, which has gained widespread attention entails topdressing the lawns with compost. What you need to know before you consider this practice is that compost is mostly untested and unregulated, while some composts may not be suitable at all for certain lawns. Plus, heavy metals and pesticide residues found in few of the composts create major concerns for the end users.

If you own a commercial property and are looking to follow green landscaping practices, we have a few ideas:

Water Conservation

Some of the enterprises have taken serious measures to curtail water usage in order to overcome rising prices, shortages, and meet the call for environmentally friendly landscaping practices. The landscaped areas are now coming under scrutiny, in a bid to find some savings on water usage.

Efforts for conserving water may include incorporating pressure reducers and drip irrigation on systems in order to lower the water volume; using composted materials on soil in order to retain the moisture; and shutting down the irrigation systems in months where more rainfall is experienced. In fact, some of the commercial properties have even installed irrigation systems which monitor rainfall.

Commercial property owners also need to monitor the water that leaves the grounds. Problems can be caused downstream due to runoff (for example, chemical pollution) and the surrounding community may be affected.

Site and Stormwater Drainage

If you own a commercial property, the best thing you can do is design a system which captures and filters stormwater. This system can consist of anything from vegetated swales and infiltration planters to stormwater wetlands and detention basins.

Soil Health and Earthwork

Another idea is to test the drainage and evaluate the soil. You can remove and store the topsoil prior to grading. The soil needs to be protected from compaction. And if any soils are compacted, they should be aerated. Furthermore, soils need to be fed naturally and as such, you should avoid any synthetic fertilizers.

Materials

As far as the materials are concerned, you should only use recycled content and salvaged items. You can also consider reducing and recycling the landscape construction waste. What’s more, the lighting should be designed carefully in order to minimize the energy use. Light pollution can be reduced by using solar power as well.

To implement green landscaping best practices, it is recommended that you get in touch with Command7. Give us a call at 855-214-2168.