What homeowners in the Bloomfield Hills, Eastover School district are doing to help the environment!

Each of the 120-2nd graders attending the Nature Scavenger Hunt, Marvelous Mulches and the Rouge River, on May 3, took home a core flyer, created by Lillian Dean and SOCWA "Tips for a Rouge-Friendly Landscape. Along with the flyer and cover letter explaining what the children had been taught that day about measuring grass height, how to correctly mulch a tree, how to identify and pull out the invasive Garlic Mustard and of course how to make compost and the benefits of using compost, a very important key question was asked of everyone, "which of the following will you do this spring? A list of questions were given.

Of the 120 or so packets sent home, around 43 were returned to the teachers and the responses are as follows:

• 13 people compost
• 15 have diverse native trees
• 20 have trees selected for the site
• 20 use natural mulch
• 19 have a vegetable garden
• 15 use compost as a top dressing
• 9 created a new garden by putting compost over newspapers
• 18 have a butterfly garden
• 10 have a rain garden
• 24 aerate their lawn
• 12 add compost to the garden
• 8 add compost to the lawn
• 23 mulch grass and leaves for the lawn
• 26 mow high
• 36 pull weeds by hand
• 24 use earth-friendly fertilizers
• 9 have rain barrels
• 29 cluster plants with similar watering needs.

Your comments are welcome. How many of these practices do you include in your gardens?