Florida Yards and Neighborhoods Program

I recently took a drive into town to my local IFAS Extension (Institute of Foods and Agricultural Sciences) office to take some plant and insect samples in to be identified by the master gardener and to talk to Fred Burkey about their Florida Yards and Neighborhoods program.

Mr. Burkey referred me to Pat Bonis, their Florida Yards & Neighborhoods Extension Program Assistant. I was able to talk with her at length and she was very informative about the program. I came home with printed booklets about how to convert my lawn and landscape into a Florida-friendly yard.

The material can be viewed online here.

You will be able to find guidelines on how to bring your yard into compliance from a handbook, and a workbook. Then you will be able to go over a checklist to see how well your yard scores. You have to have at least 36 points or "inches on the yardstick" to be able to have your property personally evaluated by their local agent and master gardeners to have your yard certified a Florida-Friendly Yard.

As their website states, "FY&N encourages homeowners to water efficiently, mulch, recycle, select the least toxic pest control measures, put the right plant in the right spot, fertilize only when necessary, provide food, water and shelter for wildlife, protect surface water bodies (i.e., bays, rivers, streams, ponds, etc.) and minimize stormwater runoff."

You may also be interested in the online interactive website for Florida over at floridayards.org.

You will be able to select the correct plants for your property and use the interactive yard.The site states "This online tool will take you through the steps needed to transform a yard dominated by lawn into one featuring beautiful beds with Florida-friendly plants and Florida native plants that require little or no fertilizer or irrigation."

So far my property has unofficially met the minimum required inches to be included in this program. I will be continuing to make improvements and I am hopping to schedule a first evaluation for the fall of 2007.