![\"\"](\"http:\/\/agrilife.org\/dickinsonbayou\/files\/2012\/09\/WaterSmart-1.jpg\" "\\"WaterSmart")
<\/a><\/p>\nFrom sprinkler to storm drain, from bayou to bay, the water used to maintain your yard remains untreated. What you do to your lawn and what runs off your yard determines the health of Dickinson Bayou and Galveston Bay. If you think your\u00a0 contribution to water pollution is insignificant, add our runoff to that of your neighbors and combine that with the rest of your watershed. The result is stormwater runoff pollution, one of the main sources of water pollution for Dickinson Bayou.<\/p>\n
A WaterSmart yard utilizes plants and practices that require less water plus little or no fertilizers and pesticides. With minimal grass cover and maximum use of native and adapted plants, the WaterSmart landscape is beautiful and easy to maintain and environmentally friendly. By converting your lawn one section at a time you can create a landscape that helps preserve the bay area and gradually reduces your maintenance time.<\/p>\n
WaterSmart Landscapes Fact Sheet<\/a><\/p>\n WaterSmart Resource Guide<\/a><\/p>\n Map of local WaterSmart Landscapes<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Certain varieties of plants are suited to the Upper Texas Gulf Coast Area and thus require less water and fewer fertilizers and pesticides. Many plants are native to this area and have been thriving here for centuries. Other non-native plants and heirloom varieties have been successfully adapted to the Gulf Coast.<\/p>\n Check out these lists of plants to use in the Dickinson Bayou Watershed:<\/p>\n Totally Tenacious and Texas Tough by Heidi Sheesley with TreeSearch Farms, Inc<\/a><\/p>\n Native host plants (food sources) for Southeast Texas butterflies by the Native Plant Society of Texas \u2013 Houston Chapter<\/a><\/p>\n Native plants that provide a food source for humming birds by the Native Plant Society of Texas \u2013 Houston Chapter<\/a><\/p>\n Top 100 native plants for Harris and adjacent counties by the Native Plant Society of Texas \u2013 Houston Chapter <\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Composting is an easy, free way to add nutrients to soil, improve soil structure and increase the moisture-holding ability of soil. Composting recycles organic material through controlled decomposition. Organic materials are grass and yard clippings, kitchen scraps (no animal products), wood shavings, cardboard and paper. As organic materials decompose they turn into a rich, dark humus material that improves all soil types.<\/p>\n Back yard composting<\/a><\/p>\n Cool and easy compost recipe<\/a><\/p>\n Hot and fast compost recipe<\/a><\/p>\n Troubleshooting your compost pile<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Information coming soon!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n YardWise<\/a><\/p>\n Texas Forest Service Tree Planting Guide<\/a><\/p>\n Texas Parks and Wildlife Wildscapes<\/a><\/p>\nNative plants<\/span><\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nCompost<\/span><\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nLow Volume Irrigation<\/span><\/h4>\n
Additional Resources<\/span><\/h4>\n