Show-Me Yards & Neighborhoods

A watershed is the area of land that drains to a particular body of water. A raindrop falling on a parking lot at the University, the rooftop of the Daniel Boone library, or a yard on East Campus will all eventually find their way into Hinkson Creek, which drains roughly 60% of the city of Columbia . Chances are, if you live in Columbia, the raindrop falling on your yard will wind up in Hinkson Creek too. The big question is: What shape is that raindrop in after leaving your premises?

Many of the things we put on our yards don’t stay on our yards, particularly after a hard rainstorm. Fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, de-icing salts, lawn trimmings, and soil itself often migrates from our yards unintentionally. Considering there are now nearly 90,000 of us living in the city, even small amounts of pollution from each of our homes can add up to quite a bit, especially since most will eventually flow into Hinkson Creek.

A dozen things you can do for your watershed...

1. Mow high…typically to 3 or 4 inches	7. Check streets & sidewalks after applying lawn products; sweep excess into lawn
2. No litter (or oil, or old paint)!- storm sewers drain to streams	8. Plant native plants
3. Clover is okay; it provides nitrogen to your lawn	9. Put large mulch circles beneath trees and around beds
4. Increase the amount of tree cover in your yard	10. Install rain barrel(s)
5. Sharpen mower blade at least once a year	11. Install a rain garden to catch roof runoff
6. Compost grass clippings and/or leaf litter at home, use for your landscaping	12. Naughty dog!- Clean up pet waste

So what else can you do? Well, lots of things. A good first step is to join our Show-Me Yards project. Our advisory committee has assembled a checklist of good yard management practices, and has assigned points, actually “inches”, for each one. Check out the good management practices compiled by our committee, below, and their value in inches. If you achieve an entire “Yard” by accumulating 36 inches of good practices, you're doing a decent job managing your stormwater.

A good second step is to be tolerant. A monocrop of a single species of grass does not occur naturally in nature. It will not occur in your yard, either, without intensive management, which usually means intensive use of synthetic chemicals. Likewise, there will always be a certain number of "pest" insects in your yard. Before reaching for the pesticide, determine if they are really doing any damage.

Mow high- 3 to 4 inches or highest setting	5”
Sharpen mower blade at least once per summer	2”
Never mow more than 1/3 of the height of your lawn	2”
“Don’t Bag It”- Leave clippings on lawn. Mow over leaves in the fall.	3”
Overseed bare spots in early spring or early fall	2”
Measure your yard (one adult pace = approximately 3 feet)	5”
Use organic herbicide/pre-emergent (such as corn gluten or 20% vinegar)	5”
Use a rain gauge to track rainfall and avoid unnecessary watering	1”
Install a rain barrel	5”
Install a rain garden	8”
Percent of yard in tree cover with no bare soil underneath (2” per 10% of yard, 10” max)*	*
Identify pests before taking action	3”
Reduce use of lawn chemicals by changing cultural practices, and apply according to directions	5”
Have a soil test done. Apply nutrients per recommendations.	8”
Check streets & sidewalks after applying lawn products; sweep excess into lawn, not the street.	3”
Properly dispose of old lawn care products at household hazardous waste collection site	4”
Clean up pet waste on lawns	2”
Compost or mulch yard waste, grass clippings and/or leaf litter at home	3”
Include native plants (1” per 10% of yard, rounding up)*	*
Mulch circles beneath trees and around beds	3”
Replace synthetic landscape fabric with natural fiber such as newspaper.	2”
Attend Show-Me Yards workshop or take an online tutorial at http://www.clemson.edu/cyn/nine.aspl	6”
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