|
| |
Sustainable Gardening
Organic Micro Farms Growing Healthy
Eco Friendly Food
What is Sustainable Gardening anyway? In an ideal world, all the inputs, or whatever you put into your garden would equal the outputs, or whatever it produces. This is sustainable gardening. It’s hard work to be completely sustainable, but here are some things we can do to help even the balance. - Composting like crazy to add humus to the soil using locally sourced, collected or grown materials, or materials otherwise classed as waste.
- Grow green manure cover crops to build up the organic material in your soil. The few grams of seeds that you may have to initially buy will pay back in a big way.
- Plant a mulch bed. Greywater redirected out of the waste stream from laundry and showers can be used for this safely.
- Raise chickens, ducks, rabbits or other animals to provide mulching and composting materials, as well as fertilizer.
- Save seeds from heirloom stock.
Did You Know? By saving your garlic to plant again next year you will eventually end up with a variety perfectly adapted to your conditions? Garlic is one of the few types of plants that have this adaptive ability.- Capture rainfall from your roof that otherwise would create runoff and potential pollution.
- Salvage the moisture from snow by creating swales to direct the water as it melts. The swales can either lead into a pond or other water storage or right to plantings that need more moisture such as a reed or willow bed.
- Mulching with locally sourced materials to minimize your carbon footprint. This can be anything from fall leaves and pine needle mulch to stuff salvaged from the recycle center such as old carpet.
- Use soilless mixes that don’t come from across the globe or destroy ecosystems in their harvesting. Make your own special mix consisting of sieved compost and other locally obtainable materials.
- Grow willows, hazels or other pole producing plants in hedgerows to make into gates, fences, hurdles or bean poles.
- Plant windbreaks or shelterbelts to help retain moisture, reduce wind erosion and provide habitat for wildlife.
- Use soil conservation techniques wherever possible in your garden.
- Join an organic farm program like the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) sustainable farm at Compostellae.
These are just a few ideas of how to make your garden, and your life, more sustainable. Can you think of more ideas? Upload up to four pictures of your idea or tip and share with other visitors to this site.
Sustainability in your Garden
How do you garden sustainably? Share your tip or hint here.
What Other Visitors Have Said
Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...
Pond Edges
If you've got a garden pond , sometimes when there's a drought - when isn't there? the water level drops and the rubber liner will be exposed. There ...
Pathway Sheet Composting
Raised beds have long been advocated as an economical use of your garden space – but what about the pathways in between them?
You mulch the raised ...
Rustic Wooden Boxes
I make these wooden boxes out of scraps of lumber, plywood and whatever else I can scrounge in my job as a self employed carpenter. Why waste perfectly ...
Milk Jugs
I've used milk jugs, or other containers to water some of my more special plants. I place the container at the base of the plant I want to water, and ...
go to Drought Smart Plants home page
Composting
Vermicomposting
Green Manure Cover Crops
Backyard Chickens
|
|
Sustainable Gardening
The Unbroken Circle in an Organic Garden
Learning how sustainable gardening all meshes together in a fascinating and miraculous web is all consuming for those of us that like to see how things work. Click on the pictures to explore...
Whether you're starting a garden or you're an experienced organic vegetable grower, here are a few easy ways to get started on sustainable gardening.Raising some backyard chickens for eggs and compost, learning how to make compost tea, and composting are all useful skills. Follow the composting instructions and these useful composting tips for the best compost ever.
Find out some ways to improve your soil with composting, making new gardens with lasagna gardening. Solarization is an easy way to harness the suns power. See how your sustainable your garden can be.
Learn about the 'stinking rose' - garlic and how to make garlic braids from your organically produced crop.Still got questions? Ask the Horticulturist!
Still looking for something? Check out the Sustainable Gardening Site Map for a list of all pages under this topic.
Like Drought Smart Plants
on Facebook:
|
