Kansas Healthy Yards and Communities

Kansas Healthy Yards and Communities is an environmental initiative of Kansas State University Research and Extension (KSRE). The program's mission is to encourage citizens with yards and who are part of a community to enhance their quality of life through earth-friendly gardening practices. It is centered on 9 healthy yards practices: build and maintain a healthy soil; right plant right place; water wise; mulch; grasscycle and compost; fertilizing; managing yard pests; stormwater runoff and pollution/water quality; and songbirds and butterflies.  The program is a product of Cooperative Extension leadership and stakeholder involvement. Extension specialists and county agents collaborated with industry professionals and homeowners to draft an assessment (homeowner quiz) that would give homeowners a place to start improving their yards. Homeowners can take the assessment online at www.KansasGreenYards.org, at a garden show event, or at their local Extension office. Participants “score” their gardening practices to see where they can make improvements. They can then turn to a collection of more than 200 short how-to videos to learn how to put the practices into place. The website has been live since June 2009. Since that time it has attracted 18,333 unique visitors who viewed 94,369 pages on the site (average of 3.69 pages per visit). The Kansas Healthy Yards and Communities program encourages sustainable practices for homeowners as well as landscape professionals in Kansas. The program reduces nonpoint source pollution when homeowners change the way they manage landscape additives and waste (fertilizers, yard debris, etc.). Additionally, sustainable yard practices encourage less water and pesticide use, reduce soil erosion and enhance human quality of life. The development of this program has provided opportunities for industry collaboration and homeowner engagement, facilitated by Cooperative Extension. The healthy yard practices included in the program have been encouraged for many years, but Kansas Healthy Yards and Communities provides a mechanism for homeowners to actively engage in learning to improve their gardening practices, whether they prefer to receive that information in person or online at their own convenience.