The sun is staying out later, the jasmine vines and jacarandas are starting to bloom, and that nagging feeling that you really should go through the hall closet is getting harder to ignore. Welcome to spring cleaning season, Angelenos. But this year, let’s clean up the garden, too, while keeping things eco-friendly.
Small swaps in how you clean and what you do with your yard can make a real difference for our city’s waterways. Here’s your guide to doing it right.
The Humble Hero: Vinegar
Before you reach for the heavy-duty stuff, consider the bottle of white vinegar sitting in your very own pantry. Mixed with baking soda, it’s a powerhouse for scrubbing tough indoor grime. This mixture, a favorite of elementary school science fair volcanos, works wonders on grime-filled grout, mineral buildups around faucets and sinks, and stovetop residue. Since it’s non-toxic, you don’t need to worry about accidentally brushing any harsh chemicals down the drain and into our stormwater system.
But never fear, gardeners: vinegar’s usefulness isn’t an indoor-only phenomenon. Outdoors, it doubles as a natural insect deterrent. Dilute your vinegar with water in a spray bottle and spritz that non-toxic goodness along your garden’s borders, patio edges, doorways, and windowsills to help keep ants and other pests at bay.
What’s Hiding in Your Gardening Shed?
Spring is the perfect time to audit what’s lurking in your gardening shed or garage. Tap into that spring cleaning impulse to clear out any old synthetic fertilizers, chemical weed killers, or toxic pesticides. But these bottles don’t belong in the trash and they definitely shouldn’t be washed down the drain toward our waterways.
Instead, bring any mysterious (or not-so-mysterious) chemicals to one of our city’s S.A.F.E. (Solvents, Automotive, Flammables, Electronics) Center, where hazardous household products are disposed of safely and responsibly. You can learn more about the S.A.F.E. Centers at our blog here.
Get Ready for Spring Showers
Spring showers are a gift in LA. Though we all are grateful for rain, it’s important to be prepared when the rains do come. Here are a few outdoor tasks to add to your list this season:
Clear the storm drains near your home. Take a walk around your block and clear any debris that’s accumulated near the storm drains. Old plant matter or litter can clog up your neighborhood’s drains, or even be swept into the drains during a particularly gusty storm.
Set up a rain barrel. Spring is the ideal time to set up a rain barrel! Rain barrels capture water that drains off your roof, which you can then use to irrigate your garden, thus offsetting your potable water use and lowering your bill in the process. For every inch of rain that falls, a barrel collects about .6 gallons per square foot of roof. On a 1,500-square-foot home, that’s up to 900 gallons from a single storm.
Installation is fairly straightforward, but do remember to elevate your barrel slightly for better water flow, keep it tightly covered to prevent mosquitoes from breeding, and never drink the captured rainwater (it contains pollutants that aren’t safe for people or pets). LA Sanitation offers a free “Do Not Drink” sticker for your barrel, which you can request here. The Metropolitan Water District also offers rebates for rain barrels 50 gallons or larger, and the Department of Public Works’ Keep LA Beautiful program periodically offers free rain barrels to LA residents. You can also learn more on LA Sanitation’s Rainwater Harvesting Page.
Add a layer of mulch to your garden beds. A fresh three-inch layer of mulch locks in soil moisture, suppresses weeds, moderates soil temperature, and reduces runoff.
Small Choices Make a Big Impact
Spring cleaning doesn’t have to mean swapping out one set of harsh chemicals for another. From the kitchen counter to the garden bed, there are gentle, effective alternatives that are better for your home, your plants, and the waterways that connect all of us here in LA.
Got an eco-cleaning tip or a rain barrel success story to share? We’d love to hear it! Reach us at LAStormwater@LACity.org.
