Green Gardening

by | Jan 20, 2020 | Environment

I have often been asked what it means to garden in a ‘green’ way. For me it is a natural way to garden and I have been gardening this way for many years.

When I talk about ‘green’ gardening it isn’t anything complicated. It is about making small changes to how you look after your garden and how you grow that makes all the difference!

‘Green’ gardening is being aware and sensitive to the environment in which you live. Growing your plants and vegetables in a sustainable way. Looking after the wildlife in our gardens, both big and small! It’s not just the birds that we feed but the smallest of bugs, our earthworms and of course our bees, butterflies, frogs and hedgehogs. It is about creating a balanced and diverse garden. Where we can, we should encourage friendly predators into our gardens to keep all those unwanted pests at bay rather than turning to chemical sprays and pellets. What’s a predator? Well a blackbird, a ladybird or a hoverfly. Even a hedgehog and who wouldn’t want a hedgehog snuffling around your garden?

Stopping the use of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and fungicides is an important step. You might think that to stop using slug and snail pellets will mean that your beloved hostas or marigolds will become a feast a snail will find hard to resist. But fear not! There are plenty of environmentally friendly ways to fight back, which are just as effective.

In fact they may be more fun. I will quite happily admit that I have been out with a torch at midnight on a balmy summer’s evening picking snails and dropping them into a bucket for disposal in the fields close by. In fact when my son was younger we used to collect as many as we could find and put them in a plastic wheelbarrow and cart them to our local school fields. Just don’t tell anybody!

If this seems like too much hard work then grow your favourite plants in pots and put copper tape around the top or put copper rings around them. Snails hate it. You could even make a beer trap. Not a bad way for a slug to go!

You probably already feed the birds and have a compost heap. If you do then you are already making changes and don’t forget your water butt or even a garden hedge or pond.

In fact when you look at your garden you may not have realised it but you may already be well on your way to a greener way of gardening!