Urban gardens are not only good for your physical and mental well-being but also help to get you nutritious and healthy food options saving your costs and efforts. Sustainability is the key to an eco-friendly garden by the efficient use of the resources to nurture a healthy garden. Sustainability is not a tiring practice. You can get a beautiful garden by putting a little effort into implementing eco-safe strategies in your urban garden. This blog post incorporates efficient tips that can help you grow a sustainable garden that will ultimately contribute to a safe planet. Let’s learn about some easy-to-adopt sustainability tips.
Tips for Maintaining a Sustainable Garden
The goal of a sustainable garden is to have a lush green oasis as a place to relax while growing ornamental plants along with some edible ones to bring sustainability to your daily needs too. Here are our top tips and tricks that will help you grow a sustainable garden.
● Compost the Kitchen and Garden Waste
Let go of the traditional inorganic fertilizers and pesticides that intoxicate the edibles growing in the garden while contributing to global warming issues. Rather replace such chemicals by starting your compost piles using the kitchen and garden wastes. During composting, certain microorganisms and worms convert the kitchen and garden waste mixed in the soil and convert it to nutrient-rich soil that supports the growth of the plants. In this way, you can grow a zero-waste garden.
● Use Mulch in the Garden
The moisture retention capacity of the soil is a major issue that limits the growth of plants in the garden. Many people use plastic mulch in their gardens which is a major concern in the rising plastic pollution in water and landfills where they stay for thousands of years and damage human and aquatic lives. Skip the plastic mulch for the bark shreds and grass clipping and layer them over the grass to increase the water retention capacity of the soil and improve plant growth.
● Choose the Native Plants
Native plants are specific for each area as they can thrive in the local weather conditions and withstand the nature of the soil found in that area. Exotic plants require additional nutrients and growth requirements to mimic the atmosphere in their local area, so they can grow well. While native plants require the minimum resources and flourish in their native habitat. So, you can save the natural resources by growing the native plants in your urban garden.
● Use Rainwater for irrigation
Watering the large urban gardens increases your water bills and, in a way, you are wasting the natural water resources too by getting water to irrigate your plants from a nearby faucet when the rainwater is getting wasted. Instead, set up the rainwater barrels at different positions in your garden to collect the rainwater and use it to water your plants. Some functional tips for watering the plants include watering them as much as recommended as overwatering can damage the plants too and watering early in the morning so it does not evaporate quickly and you can make the efficient use of water.
● Create Habitats for Wildlife
Wildlife in the garden is the key to a sustainable garden. Natural pollinators are better attracted to the native plants and help in their reproductive cycle by spreading the pollen to the other plants. Create small habitats for attracting birds and insects to your garden and provide them with clean food and water to maintain their attention and bring a balance to the ecosystem.
● Wisely Use the Garden Tools
Garden tools are a crucial part of managing any type of urban garden. However, we do not always need them. So, if you are going to get garden tools, it is better to thrift them. Prefer durable metal tools over plastic ones that are going to break away easily. It will cost you more to get the new tools while non-degradable plastic bits will pollute the environment. Collaborate with an eco-conscious garden community where you can share the less-frequently-needed tools, trade extra seeds, and reuse each other’s garden supplies instead of buying them for a short usage and increasing the waste generation in your city garden.
Final Words
In conclusion, nurturing a sustainable garden is possible if we recycle the waste generated and switch to the eco-friendly gardening practices. Choose native plants for your garden, create habitats for the wildlife, discourage the use of plastic equipment in the garden, and adopt the water-wise practices. With the above tips, you can grow some eco-safe urban gardens.
