Spring gardening savings begin with Northwest Natural Yard Days

Local partnership promotes natural yard care product discounts, April 15- May 15

Beginning Saturday, people from Bellingham to Olympia can take advantage of savings of up to 25 percent on natural yard care products ranging from compost and bark mulch to water wands as part of the ninth-annual Northwest Natural Yard Days campaign.

The partnership between King County, the City of Seattle and 24 other agency members promotes environmentally friendly yard care by offering discounts on gardening products at 78 participating retail locations from Bellingham to Olympia, plus free classes at select nurseries.

"We continue to see an increase in the number of discounted products every year, and that encourages more people to practice natural yard care," said Gerty Coville, of the King County Solid Waste Division. "By adding nurseries to the program this year, we're providing King County residents with another source for good gardening information."

Carl Woestwin of Seattle Public Utilities, a Northwest Natural Yard Days sponsor, said gardeners can take a number of simple steps and become a pro at practicing natural yard care.

"Leaving grass clippings on the lawn by mulch-mowing adds nutrients to the lawn and saves a lot of time and work bagging clippings, since a typical city-lot lawn of 3,000 square feet produces about 1,200 pounds of clippings a year," Woestwin said. "Mulch-mowing with an electric mower cuts down on air pollution, too."

Northwest Natural Yard Days endorses the regional five steps of natural yard care:

• Build healthy soil
• Plant right for your site
• Practice smart watering
• Think twice before using pesticides
• Practice natural lawn care

For more information about natural yard care, contact the Natural Lawn and Garden hotline, 206-633-0224, or info@lawnandgardenhotline.org.

King County and Seattle have a variety of educational materials about natural landscaping available at no cost. The natural landscaping brochures and a full list of participating Northwest Natural Yard Days retailers are available at www.yarddays.com.