You've got till Monday (May 3) to order your New Hampshire-raised, disease-free rainbow or brook trout from the Merrimack County Conservation District to stock your pond with. Pick-up will be Saturday, May 8, between 1 and 1:30 p.m. at the MCCD office in Concord for 6-8 inch trout. The 10- to 12-inch trout will be delivered directly to your pond. Contact MCCD at 223-6023 or visit the website www.MerrimackCCD.org for details.

Have you been craving a worm bin for your home? Well, if you want to get a jump on composting before summer or are simply fascinated with biodegradation, The Little Nature Museum’s first program of the season, “Vermiculture: The Wonderful World of Composting,” will be a good place to start.

Here's a free way to interact with marine life -- on land.

The Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation is bringing back its free marine touch tank on the Isles of Shoals Steamship Company dock in Portsmouth, beginning Memorial
Day weekend (May 23-24) and every day when school's out, beginning in late June.

According to a press release from Blue Ocean Society, "Located at 315 Market Street, the

If you haven't already heard of the Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA), you should take note: The Epsom-based association is dedicated to helping people, municipalities and businesses advance their recycling efforts.

One of the big ways the NRRA can help is by offering backyard compost bins for just $40. If you've shopped around at all for compost bins, you might note that this is A VERY GOOD DEAL! (Full disclosure: This editor purchased a bin through NRRA last spring and has had great success with it.) More information on the bins:
• 80 gallon capacity

According to NHDES, whether you want to or not, you should be thinking about your septic system in the spring.

Property owners are responsible for maintenance, and septic tanks should be inspected annually and pumped every two to three years.

If accumulated solids aren’t regularly removed from the tank, they’ll enter the leaching field, and ultimately the system will fail, says DES.

A failed system dumps pollutants such as nutrients, chemicals, bacteria and viruses into the ground or surface water. And if you have a well? well water for your drinking water supply.

We’ll try to get this over with quickly. Scooping your dog’s doo doo isn’t just a courtesy: According to DES, pet waste can be a big source of water pollution. When left in the open, it can be carried by rain or snow runoff directly into nearby water bodies or into storm drains (which empty into water bodies).
Untreated animal fecal matter and wastes can become a source of harmful bacteria and nutrients in water: People who swim in it or drink from it are at risk of getting sick.
So reuse those plastic bags, or find another receptacle. However you do it, please scoop!

Who doesn’t like to save money instead of going to the car wash? Well, some of us. But for the rest, here are a few tips to make sure that your car washing experience is good for everyone, not just you.
• Wash on the grass to avoid letting polluted runoff enter storm drains and bodies of water.
• Try to use non-toxic, biodegradable and phosphate-free cleaners. If you can, avoid using degreasing products, solvents, and tire cleaner products. If you have a question about a particular product, call DES at 271-3503.

Only about 5 to 15 percent of the bugs in your yard are pests. “Good bugs,” like the ground beetle and the green lacewing, help control pests, says the EPA.
Be sure you need a pesticide before you use it, the EPA advises. Ongoing pest problems most likely are a sign that your lawn or garden isn’t getting what it needs to stay healthy, and correcting the underlying problem could go a long way in eradicating pests.
Here are some preventive tips from the EPA:
• Maintain healthy soil with compost and mulch.

Says the EPA: Most trees and shrubs get all the nutrients they need from the soil, but annuals, vegetable gardens and lawns sometimes need additional nutrients from a fertilizer.
The EPA recommends that you look for products with “natural organic” or “slow-release” ingredients. Unlike “quick-release” fertilizers, the EPA says, natural organic or slow-release fertilizers feed your plants slowly and evenly. The result? Healthier plants with strong root systems and no excessive “top growth.”

This is probably not what you want to hear, but those ancient, motor-less push mowers are good. That’s because they don’t burn fossil fuels or emit greenhouse gases.
If you do use a power mower (it’s okay – we know you’ll get the electric model next time), try to use a mulching mower. Instead of throwing away the grass clippings, you can let them sit right on the grass and enrich the soil.
According to the EPA, the clippings quickly decompose and release valuable nutrients back into the soil to feed the grass, reducing the need for nitrogen by 25 to 50 percent.

Watering too much or too little is the cause of many common plant problems, says the EPA. You can have healthier plants and save money on water bills by learning to give your lawn and garden what they need, and no more.
According to the EPA, most plants do best if the soil is allowed to partially dry out between waterings. If the grass loses its shine, or if your footprints don’t show up on the lawn, it’s time to water.

According to New Hampshire’s Department of Environmental Services, you can reduce your cooling and heating bills by as much as 30 percent by landscape planning.

And – you knew we were going to say this, didn’t you? – the way you landscape your yard has a big effect on the environment.