10 Ways To Make An Eco-Friendly Garden

With winters becoming wetter and longer and summers becoming hotter and shorter, we can be in no doubt that climate change is affecting everyday life in the UK. If you are concerned about climate change and its damaging effect on the environment. You can take steps like switching to renewable energy, lowering carbon footprint and making your garden more eco-friendly to help.

While we are not at a crisis point yet. Global experts suggest that we are less than 30 years away from extreme heatwaves, severe water shortages and an increased risk of vector-borne diseases. So it is perhaps no surprise that PM Boris Johnson has urged ministers to set “ambitious targets and plans” for the next UN climate change conference (COP 26), to be held in Glasgow later this year.

How To Create An Eco-Friendly Garden

For many of us, our gardens are a haven. They are a place to escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and get a little closer to nature. But they can be a prime source of environmental pollution. Pesticides, fertiliser, and herbicides can be particularly damaging to local ecosystems and extracting peat can destroy natural habitats.

Here’s our guide to sustainable gardening ideas and ten ways to make your garden green:

Plant Native Plants For Pollinators

One of the easiest ways to make your garden more environmentally friendly is by planting plants for common pollinators, such as honeybees, bumblebees, pollinating insects and butterflies. Best plants for pollinators include honeysuckle, foxglove, delphinium, hardy geranium, lavender, and comfrey.

Pack Away Your Gardening Gloves & Go Wild

Keeping the eco-friendly garden neat and tidy is a priority for many. But if you want to go green, you should let nature take its course. Leave at least one area of your garden to grow wild. The local wildlife will thank you and you may be surprised at how beautiful British wildflowers are.

Create Habitats For Local Wildlife

Habitat loss is a cause of concern in urban environments, and as such, our wildlife has nowhere to go. Creating a wildlife-friendly garden with hedgehog houses, butterfly houses, bug boxes and beehives will provide creatures great and small with everything they need to thrive in the modern world. That said, you don’t want to attract vermin to your garden. So keep bins and recycling boxes safely tucked away in an eco-friendly, wooden wheelie bin storage unit.

Conserve Water For An Eco-Friendly Garden

We all know that water is precious, saving it in the garden is just as important as in the home. One of the easiest ways to conserve water in the garden is to use an automated irrigation system. You can also save water by using a watering can rather than a hosepipe and collecting rainwater to water your potted plants and vegetable plot.

Grow Your Own Fruit, Vegetables & Microgreens

Growing your own food not only saves money but can also help save the environment. Vegetables such as carrots, onions, and potatoes are easy to grow at home, as are microgreens, berries, and apples. Devoting a patch of your garden to fruit and veg will instantly make it more eco-friendly. While you’ll never have to worry about GM crops or harmful pesticides again.

Compost Your Eco-Friendly Garden Waste

Composting is a great way to reduce your environmental impact as well as cutting your household waste. Install a wooden store in the corner of your garden. Use it to compost all grass cuttings, vegetable peelings, hedge trimmings, and organic matter. You can then later use to boost your lawn, soil, and plants.

Plant A Tree

Estimates suggest that we would need to plant 1.2 trillion trees to cancel out ten years of CO2 emissions. That’s roughly 160 trees per person for every person on the planet. You might not have room for 160 trees, but why not start with one? Every little helps, and if we all plant a tree, we can help fight climate change.

Ditch Garden Chemicals To Be More Eco-Friendly

With so many organic alternatives on the market, there is no need to use harmful chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides in your garden. Ditch the nasty stuff and treat your plants with a chemical-free fertiliser (ideally provided in a recycled and recyclable bottle). The environment will thank you for it, as will your garden insects!

Install A Pond or Water Feature

Installing a natural pond or water feature will make your garden eco-friendly in many different ways. It will provide a much-needed water supply for insects, birds, and local wildlife, and it will help you collect rainwater to water your plants. If you don’t have room for a pond, add a birdbath to your garden to make it more eco-friendly.

Create A No-Mow Zone In Your Eco-Friendly Garden

We’re British, we’re programmed to have perfectly manicured lawns, but fuel-powered lawnmowers can produce more CO2 emissions than cars. If you cannot bear to dig up your patch of green, limit the number of times you cut your grass each year, and when you do, use an electric mower, or better still, a manual one to reduce your carbon footprint.

If you’d like more tips and articles on all things wheelie bin storage, check out the rest of our blog.