Tips for Eco-Friendly Gardening

Reducing your carbon footprint is something that is becoming more and more important today, with many starting to change their lifestyle choices and become a little more environmentally friendly. Eco-friendly gardening is a huge step forward in reducing your carbon footprint and it also makes everyday life a lot easier. Take a look at these eco-friendly gardening tips to help you become a little bit greener in the garden!

Create a Compost Heap

By dedicating an area of your garden to becoming a compost heap or pile, you are able to create your own compost and save money at the same time. Ensure your chosen spot is in a warm and sunny area of the garden as the heat is essential for compost. You also want your compost heap to be positioned on top of some soil, this helps the compost to form properly. You can use all kinds of materials from garden waste, fruit and vegetable peel and even cardboard to create the right environment that will encourage plenty of compost friendly bugs to come and work on your compost heap.

Recycling Plastic

One great way of keeping your gardening eco-friendly is by reusing your plastic containers and packaging. Instead of spending money on plastic plant pots, recycle your used plastic pots and containers to plant seeds, grow smaller plants and even store essential items in your greenhouse or shed. Containers like yogurt pots and vegetable packaging can be ideal sizes for planting seeds to grow, as you can then switch the containers around when the plant starts to grow bigger.

Companion Planting

Keeping your garden aesthetically pleasing is really important for many individuals and it doesn’t need to change when you start to implement eco-friendly gardening in your garden. Companion planting is ideal for eco-friendly gardening, as having a selection of plants gathered together often helps to put pests off your garden. If your garden contains crops, you may want to plant a selection of marigolds together next to the area, as this particular plant wards off flying insects and keeps them away from your freshly grown crops.

Greenhouse Gardening

Not only does a greenhouse add character to your garden, but they are ideal for greener gardening. By using recycled containers to store essential items in your greenhouse you are already helping to reduce your carbon footprint. You then have the choice of using organic products and growing your own fruit and vegetables which is perfect for saving yourself some money and living a healthier lifestyle too. You can then use key features such as greenhouse staging to enhance your greenhouses performance and improve the quality of your freshly grown produce.

Prevent Pests

There are two pests in the gardening world that cause more issues than anything else and they are slugs and snails. There’s nothing worse than growing a delicious selection of fresh fruit, to then find them nibbled and destroyed by some irritating pests that have left their slimy trail as a reminder of their visit. There are a few very useful tips to remember when it comes to preventing these pests from causing any more issues. One of the most common tips is to sprinkle some sprays to the area, but this is not actually very eco-friendly. Instead, try to take greener approaches such as lining the area with some copper tape, as this keeps them from entering due to the fact that the copper kills then when they crawl over. You could also use a special jelly to help eliminate the pests, as both of these tips don’t contain any harmful chemicals to humans. The last thing you want is some poisonous spray on your beloved cabbages!