Having a garden can be wonderful, and it can also take a lot of work to look after and to ensure it is going to be cared for properly. When you add to that a desire to do your part for the planet, you will find that you need to be aware of a few key things in particular if you are going to make both of these things work. The fact is that you can easily care for your garden as well as being eco-friendly if you want to, though it might require that you are taking a particular kind of approach for it to work out.
In this post, then, we are going to discuss what kind of approach that might be. By the end of this, you should have a pretty strong sense of what you can do to work on your garden in an eco-friendly way, and it’s going to be amazing how much the following things can really achieve both of those ends at once.
Use Organic Materials
A lot of this comes down to the choice of materials that you go for, so this is something you are going to want to consider for sure. Generally you are going to be a much more eco-friendly gardener if you are using organic materials above all else, so this is something that is really going to be worth thinking about. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides have a way of harming the soil health and the local wildlife, so it’s much better to opt for natural alternatives where you can.
That means using compost, mulch and organic pest control methods whenever possible – and you will usually find it is indeed possible. Composting kitchen scraps and yard waste not only reduces landfill waste but also enriches your soil, so this is a win-win.
Choose Native Plants
You may have heard a lot about choosing native plants for your garden, and the fact is that it is indeed a great thing to do if you want to be able to work on your garden in an eco-friendly manner. When you have native plants in your garden, it means that they are going to be much better for the local ecosystem and environment, and this is obviously what you are going for all in all here. Native plants are adapted to your local climate, requiring less water and fewer chemicals to thrive. They also provide food and shelter for local pollinators, birds, and beneficial insects, helping to maintain biodiversity.
So if you are wondering which plants to go for, you should make sure that you are thinking about native plants, and that you are doing all you can to opt for these rather than any other kinds. You will also find that it makes your garden so much easier to care for on the whole, which can only ever be a good thing.
Source Flowers Carefully
If you also want to have some flowering plants in your garden, that is obviously perfectly fine – but you should make sure that you are sourcing those flowers as carefully as you can. This means getting your high-quality tulip bulbs from the best reputable sellers, for instance, so that you can be sure not only of the quality, but that they are coming from a sustainable source. It’s about making sure that the supply chain you are buying into is as sustainable as you are aiming to be. This is just another way to lessen your impact considerably, and it’s well worth thinking about.
Reduce Water Usage
Clearly, water is a valuable and precious resource, and you should make sure that you are conserving it as well as you can for sustainability purposes. This is the kind of thing that is always going to be important for you to consider, and you’ll find that you are much more likely to be able to keep a garden eco-friendly if you are being careful about your water consumption and minimizing the waste of it.
To that end, you may want to use rain barrels to collect water, install drip irrigation systems for efficient watering, and mulch your garden beds to retain moisture and prevent evaporation. If you can do that, you’ll find it helps greatly.
Those are some of the things that you may want to do in order to have a much more eco-friendly way to work on your garden.