How To Green Your Gardening
A
garden can be a haven, an oasis, and a wonderful source of food for you and
your family. It can also be beneficial or hazardous to your health depending on
your approach. Here are some tips to keep it green.
1.Stay Off Toxins
Stay
off the pesticides, weed killers, and chemical fertilizers. These are toxic
substances that are harmful to your health and that of your family and your
pets. Many of the toxins have been linked to cancers. In addition, these
substances can leak into and contaminate our groundwater and local streams.
More and more municipalities are banning the use of
pesticides in public areas and in many cases, private residences as well. http://www.guelphcivicleague.ca/articles.php?a=13
2.Use Recycled Materials
Take the 5R recycling approach to your garden as well as your home. Check out the recycled planters, raised-garden kits and lawnchairs that are now available. http://www.greenbuildingblocks.com/search_products/search_results.go?taxonomy=bc&category=16&subcategory=167
3.Collect Rainwater
Put
a rain barrel under your waterspout in order to collect rain runoff. Use this
free gift from Mother Nature to water your lawn and garden or to wash your car.
Put a screen on top of it to keep out insects and debris. During the hot summer
months when your neighbors grumble about the rationed garden watering hours,
you'll be laughing because you'll have your own secret supply.
4. Use Water With Care
Here are some smart watering tips to make the most of our precious water resources:
- Use soaker or drip hoses: they use about 50% less water than sprinklers
- Water early in the day to avoid evaporation
- Aim your watering towards the roots rather than the leaves
-
Add mulch and
compost around the roots of your plants. This will reduce evaporation and help
your plants retain the water they receive.
5. Choose Native Plants
It's easy to get carried away when browsing through the glossy gardening magazines that showcase all the newest, most exotic plant varieties. Take a reality check. Do you have all the time in the world to spend in your garden? Exotic and man-made hybrids usually require a lot of care and are easily targeted by pests. Native plants, on the other hand, tend to be easy-care and require less water than their exotic counterparts. Unless you have a lot of time on your hands, it's smart to go native. Local plants are far easier to grow and you'll be much happier with the results. They also require less fertilizer which means fewer trips to the garden store.
By planting native plants you'll also be paying back to Mother Nature. Humans have stripped the original landscape bare then planted a mishmash of plants from all over. This has created a hardship for local birds and wildlife who need local plants for food, nesting materials, and shelter. Our migratory bird populations have been decreasing dramatically over the past few decades. By planting native plants, you can help them survive. An added bonus is you'll have the enjoyment of birdwatching in your own back yard.
6. Attract Bees and Butterflies
Migratory birds are not the only wildlife who are in trouble. You may have heard that the population of North America's bees is decimating. This is serious news as bees are instrumental to the ability of plants to pollinate. Crops, including what you're growing in your garden, require bees in order to reproduce. No bees = dramatic crop losses. So fill your garden with plants that attract these little friends. Also stay off the pesticides-one of the likely causes of their demise.
7. Join a Community Garden
If you don't have the space at home to have a garden consider joining a local community garden. If you're a new gardener, this is a great way to learn from others. Many community gardens have a communal compost: this is a great opportunity to learn how to make that precious black gold. Even if you do have your own yard, community gardens are a wonderful place to start for new gardeners. A little plot you can call your own is just the right size to start off with and your experiments are more likely to be successes with the support from fellow gardeners. Community gardens are also a delightful way to meet new friends and build your gardening community.
8. Grow Your Own Food
Few things are as satisfying as growing your own food. Take a look at your lawn: do you really enjoy mowing it every week? How about turning at least a part of it into food production. (Nothing attracts the interest of neighbors like turning your front lawn into a strawberry patch.) Cherry tomatoes are extremely easy to grow and take up little space. Even apartment dwellers can grow lettuce and herbs in containers on their balcony.
A sustainable food economy means there is enough local food production to feed the population without trucking it in from outside sources. The Lower Mainland is blessed with some of the best soil in the province. Take advantage of that fact and contribute to the local food economy by growing your own food. And hey, by planting some zucchini plants you'll be able to feed the neighbors too. J
Once you're growing your own food you'll likely be less willing to dump toxic pesticides in your garden or to tolerate toxins on the food you buy from the store. Growing your own food and caring for plants helps you to understand the basics that we all need to survive. Plants like us need clean water and air, and an uncontaminated environment. We live in an ecosystem with helpful friends and neighbors. Birds happily eat the insects that would otherwise ruin your tomatoes, worms break down your kitchen scraps and turn them into rich compost, and bees pollinate your plants so that your fruit trees will bear fruit.
9. Make Your Own Compost
The easiest way to have a successful garden is to feed your plants plenty of compost. Recycle your kitchen scraps by digging them into the soil around your plants, or put them in a composter. You can buy this black gold, packed full of nutrients, but why spend your hard-earned money when you can make it for free? I admit, there is a knack to making excellent compost; this is where your fellow community gardeners or garden store can help you out.
Vancouver City sells convenient apartment size worm composters that you can put under the sink or on your balcony. The worm versions are faster as the little critters will work all day and night to make the compost for you. See the GVRD's guide to worm composting http://nsrp.bc.ca/tem/pdf/Guide_to_Compos_Worms_GVRD.pdf
or the North Shore Recycling Program's guide. Perhaps the best place to learn about composting is from City Farmer. http://homepage.mac.com/cityfarmer/PhotoAlbum23.html
10. Stay Off the Peat
Some gardeners use peat for moisture retention in their garden. This is not a sustainable choice as peat takes hundreds of years to regenerate. Instead, make mulch from collecting leaves and clippings from bushes and trees around your home. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/895522.stm
11. Go Solar
Enjoy your creation in the evening twilight hours with soft solar lighting fixtures strategically placed throughout the garden. Choose solar over traditional lighting in order to reduce your energy usage. Most home improvement stores have economical solar choices.
For more hands on gardening advice I'm sure you'll have fun visiting City Farmer, a non-profit society that promotes urban food production and environmental conservation.