Sustainable Landscape Management

This capstone unit synthesizes sustainable garden and landscape practices, emphasizing integrated pest and disease control, organic lawn care, high-impact conservation projects, and common pitfalls to avoid. Students will apply site-based planning for routine maintenance and special situations to prepare for advanced coursework or workplace implementation.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze garden and landscape sites using at least three sustainability criteria (soil health, water-use efficiency, biodiversity) to develop a prioritized routine care plan
• Apply integrated pest and disease management principles and organic lawn care techniques to control common problems while minimizing synthetic inputs, documented through case study maintenance plans
• Demonstrate planning and implementation of at least three high-impact, low-input landscape projects (e.g., pollinator garden, rain garden, native plant bed) including basic cost-benefit and environmental impact assessments
• Evaluate ten common nonsustainable landscaping mistakes and produce corrective action plans for two special-situation scenarios (e.g., slopes, drought-prone sites, contaminated soils) to ensure long-term sustainability