Natural yard care makes a healthier home, reduces water waste, maintenance and costs, ecological impact and creates healthier plants so you can enjoy a beautiful, relaxing yard. Winter is a great time of year to build your soil, plan your garden, and plant new plants - steps 1 and 2 of natural yard care.

Follow five steps to natural yard care throughout the year:

• Build Healthy Soil & Use Mulch
  Healthy soil lays the foundation for a healthy lawn and garden and is a key to long-term plant health. It also helps plants hold and use water more efficiently, which can reduce water use. Place mulch on the surface of your soil to reduce evaporation, limit weed growth and soil erosion, and to reduce temperature changes in soil. Learn more about Soil and Mulch.

• Plant Right
  Proper yard design and plant selection can significantly impact natural resources used in your yard and home. Planting right can also help you create a yard that is healthier for you, your family, your plants and the environment. Learn about Planning and Planting and how to remove some of your lawn to create more planting beds for low-water-use plants. Visit the city of Tacoma’s EnviroHouse to learn more about sustainable landscapes or read about the EnviroHouse Sustainable Landscape.

• Water Smart
  Being water-wise doesn’t mean you need a brown lawn. Watering wisely actually leads to healthier, stronger plants while reducing water use. Automatic irrigation systems can help make watering more efficient, but only when used correctly by seasonally adjusting watering times, and by installing devices like a rain sensor, which prevents watering during rainfall. Read more about Watering Wisely for information on automatic and manual watering, as well as plants’ water needs.

• Think Before Using Pesticides
  Prevent problems with pests and protect health, the environment and drinking water by using less toxic controls if pests or weeds appear. Learn how to use Integrated Pest Management.

• Grow a Natural Lawn
  Grow a healthy lawn using less water, fertilizer and herbicides. Learn about mowing, watering, fertilizing, de-thatching, aerating and managing lawn pests by reading up on Natural Lawn Care.

A typical garden hose uses six to eight gallons of water per minute. A hose nozzle attached to the end of your hose automatically shuts the flow of water off if you don’t need it to be running. Using a hose nozzle is easy and can save a lot of water that otherwise would be wasted. Plus, hose nozzles usually have multiple spray settings so that you can more easily get water where you want it, the way you want it.