As more people become environmentally aware eco gardening has become ever more popular. There are several key factors to keeping your garden green in the eco sense as well as the foliage sense. The first and probably easiest of these is to recycle or conserve water. A couple of well placed water butts can collect water, which can help to not send flowers a-wilting in dry spells. It is sensible to place them under gutter run offs to make the most of the rainfall. If you are very careful about detergents you use for cleaning etc you can also recycle “grey” water from baths etc. Control your watering correctly – watering very well only when really necessary is much better than “little and often”. This can be a good help if you were planning a home grown fathers day gifts for instance as some plants grow in hotter periods and will need the water.
Another good tip is to make sure you put the right plants in the right place, for instance it would be helpful to send flowers that require lots of water to shadier areas of the garden. Mulching is your friend, it not only keeps moisture in, but it can keep pests out and you can even get something attractive to mulch a pot with a lovely rose tree in or something equally hardy.
Composting is another easy eco activity, especially as many local councils will deliver composters at little or no cost. You might also like to consider a wormery – if you aren’t too squeamish of course. Obviously an eco gardener doesn’t use chemicals – there are many plant combinations, which will combat pests for each other or many garden inhabitants who can help. For instance lots of things designed to attract birds to your garden might not help your soft fruit, but it could help keep your caterpillars down.
Be aware of where your stone, timber or other garden landscaping materials are sourced from, it would be a shame to undo all your good work by not buying local for instance. Finally, involve the kids, they love nothing more than getting muddy and the time spent with you will be a bonus, plus you will be teaching them where produce comes from and giving them a love for the environment without them even knowing it. Two birds, one stone and all that!
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On the piece about organic gardening I was glad to see a mention of the importance of putting plants in the right position in the garden. It’s such a simple thing but so important. Sketching out a plan of the garden before planting will help with this.