Green Gardening Solutions

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Not all gardens are ‘green’due to the use of chemical insecticides, wildlife-unfriendly paving, and water use. If you want to make your garden more environmentally friendly or if you’re interested in turning an urban space into a haven for wildlife, look no further than these top tips.

Put Down the Pesticides 
Attract bug-eating birds to your garden with a bird bath and a hanging feeder with nuts. Birds love to eat leftover crusts of bread too, so don’t throw these in the bin. To deter slugs and snails, you can make barriers of grit or crushed eggshells around plants. If you must use slug pellets, choose those that are not harmful to children or wildlife. Think about which insects you want to attract to your garden. Instead of using pesticides filled with chemicals that can upset the fragile balance of your garden’s ecosystem, why not plant some bright flowers like sunflowers or marigolds to attract ladybirds and lacewings. These insects eat crop-destroying aphids, including the dreaded blackfly.

Save Water
Install a rain catcher to reuse rainwater and cut down on your water bills. There’s plenty of rainfall during the year, and this can be utilized in your garden at no cost. Try to water your plants either very early in the morning or late in the evening so the water doesn’t evaporate quickly.

Start Composting

Composting is putting back into the garden what you take out when you cut flowers and pull weeds or vegetables. You can cheaply buy or build a compost bin for the garden and fill it with raw kitchen waste and old newspapers. Make sure you keep a balance between brown and green waste; brown waste includes cardboard and leaves and green waste is old vegetables. If you do this correctly, your compost heap won’t smell or attract vermin and will provide rich new compost to benefit flowers and vegetables. Compost makes a great mulching material and holds much-needed moisture around the roots of plants. 

Ponds

Ponds are a popular choice for gardens because they offer an important wetland habitat for insects, fish, birds and mammals. Badgers, foxes and common birds like to drink and bathe in ponds and they are favored by frogs and toads. Amphibians are great for your garden because they eat all sorts of unwelcome pests that attack plants. If your pond is in a shady site it will attract different wildlife to if it is dug in a sunny spot. Make sure that your pond stays clean to attract as much wildlife as possible. All Pond Solutions offers a large selection of pond filters. 

Author: Tom of All Pond Solutions