If you are dedicated to living a sustainable existence and reducing your carbon footprint, gardening is an excellent way to bring your principles to life. Eco-friendly gardening helps you save money, reduce waste, improve your health and preserve the planet for future generations while offering a beautiful space for you and your family to enjoy. Here are five great tips to help you create an enviable environmentally friendly landscape that will inspire others to follow your lead.
1. Grow Your Own Organic Foods
Planting a small organic vegetable or herb garden will save you money and supply your household with healthy, safe food. For true sustainability, save and plant your own seeds. If more people utilized their back yards for growing edible plants, there would be fewer toxins contaminating our soil and groundwater. Besides, any expert gardener will tell you that home-grown vegetables taste better than any chemical-laden produce you can find at a grocery store.
2. Set High Recycling Goals
You might be surprised at how many things you can recycle for use in your garden. Yogurt containers are perfect for starting seeds. Old tires can become wall planters. Halved beer barrels make great planter boxes. Use Eco-friendly mulch options like shredded newspaper or pine needles. A little non-toxic paint can make almost anything attractive including old, worn garden decor that you were tempted to throw out. You can even give broken garden tools a new life by transforming them into yard art.
3. Rainwater is Free, Use it
You can reduce both your water consumption and the amount of energy used by water treatment facilities by harvesting rainwater and using it to water your garden. Large buckets and barrels make great reservoirs. The downspouts from your home’s gutters can assist you in collection.
4. Become a Compost Master
Food, paper and garden waste can be great sources of safe, non-toxic fertilizer for your landscape, and setting up a compost heap reduces the amount of waste you contribute to landfills. Be sure to research the proper procedures for making compost at home. Some organic materials are not suitable for composting.
5. Employ Chemical-Free Pest Control
Pests that attack your garden are a nuisance, but you don’t have to poison the earth to control them. To save roses and non-edible plants plagued by aphids, mix chopped garlic into the soil. Some plants, such as onions and marigolds, actually serve double-duty as pest monitors. You can also purchase beneficial insects like ladybugs to add to your garden. These harmless little predators will eat many common garden pests before they can decimate your flowers and vegetables.
Be Proud, Green Gardener
With a little creativity and conscientious work, your garden can be the most sustainable in town. When you place environmental concerns at the top of your list, gardening is more than just a hobby or a chore. Not only are you making your own little corner of the world a healthy, Eco-friendly sanctuary, you are playing a part in improving conditions on every corner of the earth.
Author Profile: Alec Holland writes for HealthyLawns.net, a lawn and garden resource for homeowners. He is also an avid gardening coach and enjoys helping new homeowners become confident gardeners.