Six easy ways to make your garden more eco-friendly

Gardening is a very popular pastime, and as the world has become more environmentally conscious, eco-friendly gardening has also grown in popularity. As awareness grows, more and more advice is being shared about how to make your garden as environmentally friendly as possible. Whether you garden to save money, to help the planet, to eat healthier food, or just for pleasure, you can take some simple steps to make your garden friendly to the environment. Below are some ways you can create an eco-friendly garden in no time at all.

Plant Native Plants

Many people love to plant all types of flowers and shrubs that come from many different parts of the world. However, while this may result in a beautiful garden, it can also introduce pests and diseases to the rest of your plants. Additionally, non-native plants usually are not equipped to handle the weather and climate conditions of your particular area, and often these plants require much more water than native plants. By growing plants that are native to your region, you're not only helping to improve your local ecosystem, but you're using less water and reducing the likelihood that disease will spread through your garden.

Use Green Equipment

Not all gardening equipment is created equal, so be sure to avoid using tools like petrol-powered mowers. Use organic fertilizer wherever possible, as some of the man-made fertilizers can do more harm than good to your plants. Avoid using harsh chemicals, even when it comes to pesticides. For any chemical agent you use to discourage pests, there are usually natural alternatives that do just as good a job.

Get a Water Butt

A water butt is simply a water collection bin that you place beneath roof eaves, gutters, and other places where rain water will fall. Instead of letting the water deposit into one place, collect it and use it for watering your garden. This helps you save money and it conserves water for the rest of your community, as well. Additionally, water butts are usually very inexpensive and easy to set up, and they can often be obtained from the city or other governmental authorities and offices.

Green Waste Recycling Bin

Use a color-coded recycling bin that is labelled specifically for green waste. Most people choose to have a green colored bin for their green waste, but you can use any color you like. Sites like ImRubbish.co.uk provide customized waste bins in different colors and with different signs, symbols, and text on the front, so you can mark it for one purpose only - collecting green waste. This waste can be used again, so whether you grind it up on your own and create your own compost or have a green waste company collect it, make sure you're recycling it and not just throwing it out with the standard rubbish.

Add Vegetables

If you don't already have vegetables in your garden, you should consider adding them. After all, your flowers are getting lonely! Perhaps your flowers are impartial to their neighbors, but you should certainly be planting vegetables in your garden alongside your beautiful flowering plants. Not only will it help you cut your grocery bill down to size, but you can actually help the planet, as well. Growing, harvesting, transporting, and packaging commercial produce means that a lot of carbon is being pumped into the atmosphere. When you take production out of the equation and grow your own veggies, you're helping to remove that carbon from the atmosphere, at least in some small part. Of course, home-grown veggies are much better tasting, and better for you, too.

Your Garden is For the Birds

It's not a cut to your gardening skills, it's a valid suggestion for helping you create an eco-friendly garden; invite the birds! Placing bird baths or bird feeders around your garden can encourage birds to join in your gardening activities. When they come to your garden, they spread pollen, helping your plants grow, and they also act as a natural pesticide, eating the bugs that are eating your plants. Plus, who doesn't love to sit in a garden with beautiful birds singing away?

Making your garden eco-friendly is not only easy and fun, it helps the environment, and it can help make you healthier, as well. Solar powered items are also a great option for reducing energy costs and shrinking your carbon footprint. The goal should be to manage your garden using the most natural means and methods possible. Wherever you can avoid chemicals, man-made products, and machinery, do so; you, your family, and the planet will all be better off.