If you want to be part of saving the environment, these tips for the climate-friendly gardener will help tremendously. There is no reason you can’t have both beautiful front and rear gardens without ruining the environment. In fact, you can improve your soil and create an almost self-sufficient garden by using these climate-friendly gardening practices.

Use a manual push mower or a portable mower to cut down on carbon emissions when cutting your grass. A manual push mower is also thought to be better for grass because it cuts it longer and clips it off differently than a gas mower. Its also good for your physical well-being. Don’t forget to sharpen the blades once a year and use a little WD40 on the rotating areas.

When you plant native trees and shrubs strategically around and within your garden, you can create an environment that you have more control over than you may have thought. For example, if you have a super-hot sunny area, you can plant trees to bring some needed shade so that plants don’t burn in the sun. Doing this in areas around the garden could create micro-climates enabling you to put plants in areas that you couldn’t. Maybe position a bench under the tree for shade. If its possible plant hedges instead of installing fencing around your garden as this will help wildlife immensely, especially birds.

One problem with current gardening practices is the desire to grow too many non-native plants. You need plants that are meant for the environment you live in. Pay attention to how your climate is changing over time, because what worked ten years ago might not work now.

Using native choices, plant a lot of different types of plants for your needs. You can reduce soil erosion with properly placed shrubs, trees, and cover plants. You can plant pollinators, water collectors, and beautiful flowering plants that help ward off pests.

You don’t want to have to keep replanting every single year four times a year. Instead, plant perennials strategically so that each year at the right time of year you have new plants without messing with the soil and digging all the time.

For your food gardens and any soil that you’re preparing, it’s important that you don’t leave your soil uncovered. You can cover it with natural mulch, compost, and straw. Or you can grow ground covering such as legumes which will add nutrients to the soil.

When you are planning your garden, try to think about the type of maintenance that you’re going to have to do to keep the garden going. Plant and design with that in mind so that you can work with nature instead of against it.

When you do work with nature, you also naturally conserve water. For example, having higher grass will improve the roots so that you don’t need as much water. Planting under shade. Collecting rainwater using half barrels or water butts will help you conserve water to.

Why not! Just think, root crops such as carrots, potatoes, onions, swedes, beetroot, parsley, ginger, turmeric, etc. Then there’s fruit crops like strawberry’s, apple, blackcurrants, grapes, lemons, mangos, rhubarb, etc, and don’t forget herbs like fennel, thyme, basil, sage, mint, chives, coriander, etc and you can freeze most of these to cook later.

Creating your own compost and adding it to soil and plants improves the soil’s ability to stabilize carbon. It also increases plant growth – therefore absorbing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Its great for insects too.

An activity to do with your children perhaps – build a bug hotel or an insect retreat possibly out of garden or recycled wood or even balsa wood or for the more adventurous a bird or bat house or one for the insane – a bee hive!

Plants will grow when they have the right nutrient-rich soil, the right amount of water, sunshine, and care. Wildlife will thrive when given the right environment. This happens naturally in nature. There are 2000-year-old food forests that still produce (with very little if any intervention) food that feeds people.
Nature is wonderful and knows what it’s doing, even long after we’ve gone. It’s up to us now to figure out what we can do to help rather than interfere.
Let your garden COME ALIVE!