How to Make Your Garden "Green"
Okay, so maybe this title is a little confusing - after all, your garden IS green. So, how could you make it greener? Believe it or not, you still can! Making eco-friendly choices, even when it comes to gardening, can make a significant impact on the rest of the world.
You can make lots of choices for your garden to make it more sustainable. These tips will help lead you to a happier, healthier garden and planet!
Plant Native Plants
Yes! You heard that right. It’s essential to use plants that are native to your region as a sustainable practice. These plants are accustomed to their region, climate, and weather patterns. Animals and wildlife rely on native plants to sustain their ecosystem. Native plants will grow more easily and sustain longer than foreign or exotic plant types. Overall, it’s not just comfortable but essential to growing plants that are native to the area. You can find local plants here!
Grow Your Own Food
Going green means living off the land -- literally! Try experimenting and attempt to grow your food. You won’t have to worry about pesticides or packaging waste; you can just eat whenever you grow and leave little waste. Any extra can be used to produce more or at a later time. Save your scraps from cooking and replant them in your garden. Talk about a full circle!
Make Your Fertilizer from Compost
We’ve previously talked about the importance of composting and saving your scraps. Not only can you reuse the scraps for replanting, but the leftovers you don’t, can be stored and later used for compost to make fertilizer.
Natural fertilizer is healthier for you and the plants since it doesn’t involve harsh chemicals. All you need is a small waste basket to collect scraps of organic material that can later be used as fertilizer. It’s an opportunity to recycle organic material.
Any vegetables or herbs you want to regrow? Take the ends and replant them! Research a little bit if you are new to growing vegetables. It’s a fun way to save money and create a small sustainable garden.
Reduce Waste
Making a sustainable, eco-friendly garden involves reducing the amount of waste you overall use. For example, avoiding plastic decorative items or cluttering your garden with purchased items that will end up in landfills. Keep your garden simple and practice: renew, reuse, recycle. Need tools? Maybe you have something in your house you can reuse.
We recently had an article about reusing household items for cleaning products, but the same can go for your garden. Decorate it with natural things you find or already have. Keep plastic and chemicals out of your garden. If you want a garden, reduce waste at all costs to stay eco-friendly. We have a great article on how to become zero waste - check it out for more tips!
Creating a lush garden is not only fantastic for your mind and body for self care, but it’s great for the environment. Plants attribute to clean air by purifying their environment. The more we can take care of plants and, when possible, plant our own, the better we can contribute to our planet's wellbeing.
