Texas A&M – The Earth-Kind® Program
Taking Care of the Environment and Achieving Beautiful Landscapes
Sep 26, 2009
Texas gardeners want a visually attractive landscape and productive vegetable gardens. Most gardeners also care about protecting the environment as much as possible in the challenging conditions that growing plants in Texas sometimes present. What they need to achieve both of these goals is information. That is where the Texas A&M AgriLIFE’s Earth-Kind® Program is an extremely valuable resource.
As emphasized on the website, “Earth-Kind Landscaping uses research-proven techniques to provide maximum gardening and landscape enjoyment while preserving and protecting our environment.”
The Earth-Kind program provides information to gardeners on applying effective organic principles in combination with traditional gardening to meet the following objectives:
- Conserving water and energy
- Reducing fertilizer and pesticides
- Decreasing organic materials added to landfills
Earth-Kind® Programs for Texas Gardens and Landscapes
Earth-Kind is part of the AgriLife Extension Service begun in the mid-1990s by Texas A&M University in a department called Aggie Horticulture. The program offers over 100,000 publications including fact sheets, guides and databases just for Texas gardens and landscapes.
The easy to use website organizes information in topic areas relevant to gardeners and landscapers with a sophisticated search capability to find detailed, well-researched information. There is a test for the home owner to understand how well his landscaping practices support the Earth-Kind desired environmental practices and about the Texas Master Gardener Program.
An entire section is devoted to planning a home landscape and pest management. There is a searchable database for selecting plants specifically for each growing region of Texas. With individual Earth-Kind gardening articles that address garden planning, drip irrigation, mulches and many more that are easy to read and understand, this is a must remember resource.
Earth-Kind® Roses
Earth-Kind roses are one of the most significant contributions to sustainable gardening in Texas. These roses are easy to grow even under difficult conditions like alkaline or clay soils. They are disease resistant, drought and heat tolerant once established, and need less fertilizer than hybrid roses. From the perspective of a Texas garden, it really does not get any better than that.
There are 21 varieties of Earth-Kind roses available in 2009 with more being added as they meet the stringent criteria of the program. Earth-Kind roses come in white, pinks, and peach colors. For each variety of Earth-Kind rose, the website provides information on the development of the rose, its growing characteristics, care requirements, and a color photo.
Texas gardeners and landscapes want to responsible stewards of the land. More is being learned each year about the most effective, environmentally-sustaining processes to accomplish this goal. In addition to the website information and publications on the Earth-Kind program, there are also podcasts, newsletters, and Earth-Kind TV.
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