10 Sustainable Gardening Tips

Most of us living further out from the city have gardens and lawns filled with various herbs, plants and flowers. But, have you ever wondered about the sustainable and organic methods used to maintain your garden? We have provided a list of 10 very easy tips you can follow at home, to make gardening more enjoyable, thoughtful and lesser environmentally damaging. 

Fun fact: food that is produced in sustainably grown gardens are richer in nutrients and better in taste! It’s time to give back to the Earth.

1. Compost green waste: instead of discarding your waste, for example: food, dead leaves, flower heads, and grass clippings, you must compost them and use it as organic fertilisers. This is nutrient-rich and  healthier for soil and plants grown. Composting is also a good way to reduce your carbon footprint and it brings you closer to a zero-waste lifestyle.

2. Keep the native plants: keeping the pre-existing, naturally occurring plants, as they are already acclimatized to the climate, rain and soil in your region. These are low maintenance plants which require less effort.

3. Plant trees: these are a great source to maintain soil health as it stores carbon from the atmosphere into the soil. This will also help cool down your home during summers - in a natural way!

4. Organic fences: use twigs, wooden scraps, saplings, branches to create natural  fences for your garden or plantation area. This looks extremely attractive and unique, adding a different aesthetic to your garden.

5. Stop using herbicides: chemical herbicides are extremely harmful to the environment, as it destroys soil quality and accumulated across the food chain, thus, should be replaced with alternatives. Weeds can be removed by pulling them out gently, just like the traditional method!

6. Saving & storing seeds: flowers and vegetables give out multiple seeds before drying out. Storing these in cool, dry places can save you money from buying new ones for the following year! The quality is high as well.

7. Wooden plant tags: instead of using papers to make your tags, use leftover twigs or icecream sticks to label your plants. This is a fun, creative and cost-effective method!

8. Avoid using gas lawn mowers: using manual lawn mowers reduces your carbon footprint greatly, as  a gas-powered lawn mower used for around an hour is equivalent to driving a car for 45 miles, in terms of air pollution created.

9. High tolerance, low water plants: having these is one of the best ways to save and conserve resources, as they require very less maintenance. Plants include Monterey cypress, honey bush, etc. These are visually appealing and having a few in your garden would be ideal.

10. Seaweed: this is excellent for a majority of plants, as seaweed have many essential nutrients needed for healthy growth. After purchasing them,  they need to be dried  and stored, after which it should be crushed and used in soil.

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