Gardening Greener: How To Decrease The Environmental Impact Of Your Gardening Tools

When people take up gardening it is always with good intentions; however, many people do not realise the negative environment they can cause by simply gardening. But this doesn’t have to be the case, there are ways to make your gardening efforts more environmentally friendly. 

Go Electric 

We’ve all heard about the environmental benefits of electric cars but have you considered swapping out your petrol or diesel-based gardening tools such as lawnmowers for electrical equivalents? Not only will this mean that you will be using less energy-intensive tools which means you will be doing your bit to reduce your impact on the environment but you will be saving money by doing so at the same time! Charging up your electrical gardening tools is cheaper than buying fuel for petroleum-based equipment, particularly these days when the price of fuel is sky-high!  

Create A Compost Bin And Use Compost To Fertilise Your Garden

Buying or building a compost bin to put in your garden could be a great way to make your garden greener. You can compost scrap food such as fruit and vegetable leftovers, egg shells and tea bags. You can also stick grass cuttings, small branches and leaves into the compost bin. Once you have left these items to compost for at least two weeks you can use the compost to fertilise your garden. 

Reuse Old Items

If you have chipped a dinner bowl there is no reason to throw it out! Put the bowl outside and fill it with water for wildlife in your garden to enjoy; just make sure to change the water at least every few days. Or maybe you have an old chainsaw that you have hollowed out and removed all the mechanics, this could be an amazing space for small animals like hedgehogs to take shelter. By reusing items that you would have otherwise thrown away you are reducing your personal need for new material being used to make new items, which reduces environmental impact. 

Let Your Garden Grow

Instead of cultivating an elegant garden without a blade of grass out of place, you should instead encourage your garden to be at least a bit overgrown as this is where biodiversity flourishes. Bees, birds and butterflies will all benefit from your garden being a bit overgrown because when you think about it they flourish in natural environments like forests that are often allowed to grow without limits. Less maintenance in your garden also means that you will be using mechanised gardening tools less often which means that you will be saving energy. 

Source Plants Locally

Instead of buying plants that are imported from other countries you should instead source plants or seeds that were sourced locally, this reduces the environmental impact of the plant arriving in your garden. You can even share your gardening success with your friends and family by giving them seedlings or cuttings from your plants for them to grow in their garden. 

Conclusion

By making several simple and easy changes to your gardening practices you can make your garden more sustainable and can lessen your impact on the environment.