Good news! You no longer have to choose between enhancing your garden whilst helping the environment. Instead, you can do both at the same time with the clever suggestions you will find below. Read on to discover what they are.
Be clever with water
The first way that you can enhance your garden while also being kinder to the environment is to be clever with water. This is because water is an essential part of maintaining a garden, and without it, your plants and flowers will not thrive and bloom as they should.
However, water is also a finite resource that uses up other resources like energy in its purification and transportation, which can negatively impact the environment as a whole.
Happily, there is something you can do about this. Instead, to be able to access the water you need for a beautiful garden, while minimising this impact, you need to get clever. This means using grey water instead of using brand new clean water from your faucets, otherwise known as white water, you can use grey water.
Grey water is water that has already been used for a relatively clean task, such as showering or washing laundry. This water can be used in most parts of your garden without any trouble at all, and it also means you help the environment and save money while you are at it. You may even want to set up a way of harvesting grey water so it can be used later. However, it is crucial to remember that black water (from toilet plumbing) should never be reused because of the risk of contamination. In addition to grey water, many people also collect rainwater in barrels around the property, and then reuse it for watering their garden when needed.
Get a compost bin (& use it)
Additionally, if you want your garden to thrive and you want to be good to the environment, getting into composting is hugely valuable. Composting is where you save clean organic matter, such as food scraps or fallen leaves, and then let it break down into a compost that is full of rich nutrients that can help your plants grow.
To be effective at composting, you will need to get a scraps bin inside your kitchen. This is a smaller bin where you can store all the clean organic waste like vegetable peelings, and egg shells, ready to be taken out to your compost heap. Just be sure it has a lid to prevent any small flies. You’ll also want a compost pile outside, which you can make yourself. Lastly, you’ll want to know how to properly maintain it, something you can find out in the video below.
Choose recycled garden furniture
Another way to enhance your garden while doing good for the environment is to choose recycled garden furniture for your outdoor space. Choosing items like benches and dining sets that have been made from recycled plastic not only gives you hardy, beautiful garden furniture, but it also means that lots of plastic does not end up in landfill, which is so much better for the environment. The great thing about recycled garden furniture like this is that it fits in perfectly with its outdoor surroundings, giving you the best look while also being better for the planet.
Create an environment for wildlife
You might not think so, but a traditional garden with a lawn isn’t always the best for the local ecosystem. This is because it’s not a particularly good environment for a lot of wildlife, as it provides neither the cover nor the nutrients they need.
The good news is that it is possible to make your garden a more wildlife-friendly place. One way is to ditch the grass lawn and replace it with wildflowers instead. A wildflower lawn is great for insects as it provides lots of pollen and nectar. It’s also good for smaller animals like shrews and voles because the taller plants create more coverage in which they can safely live and build their homes.
You may also consider building specific environments such as bug hotels, bird boxes, or hedgehog houses. The great thing about these is that they can usually be built from scraps you mostly have, and they are designed to encourage these types of animals to live in your garden space. Of course, all these things enhance your garden because you get to enjoy either their beauty, like the wildflowers, or the animal visitors bring to your outside space.