Environmentally-Friendly

If you want to get your mum a gift that will last a lifetime, then consider giving her a Gift Of Trees. Your gift will help improve biodiversity, help counter greenhouse gas emissions, provide habitat for native fauna and help reduce soil erosion and salinity. And it won’t clutter up Mum’s house!

Trees for Life is a community-based, environmental organisation founded in South Australia in 1981. Its purpose is to protected SA from becoming drier and more eroded by planning and implementing revegetation programs.

The program has over 10,000 members, including 1,500 volunteer growers. Over 27 million seedlings have been propagated so far which is a great achievement.

Because I believe in protecting the environment and that planting trees is a key way we can help, every Natural Form customer spending $60 or more will have a tree grown in their honour through Trees for Life.

No doubt you have heard this before - add mulch to your garden to reduce water wastage. I have heard it many times and have followed the advice, too, but found it very interesting to read the Precious Water blog when they gave a story about seeing the value of mulch.

Not everyone likes the look of bark pieces on their garden beds, and that’s ok as that isn’t the only form of mulch available. Other forms of mulch include:

• rocks or large pebbles
• pea straw
• ground cover plants
• twigs and sticks
• leaves (autumn is a great time for leaf mulch!)

There are also synthetic options (purpose made or using things like old carpet) but they do not break down to provide nutrients (of course, the pebbles don’t either!) and may not allow much water through to the soil for the plants. Plus there is the envirinomental cost of producing them, too.

There is nothing like walking into your own garden, picking a tomato or piece of fruit and eating it right there and then. The flavours are strong, the texture is lovely and you know it is safe from pesticides and chemicals.

Of course, growing your own fruit and veggies is cheaper than buying them in the shops so finances make it a good idea, too.

Further, have you ever thought about the environmental cost of buying food from the shops? It takes water and energy to grow, store and transport the food - especially when out of season food is transported from a long way away. The more food you grow at home, the smaller your environmental footprint.

This section of our blog will continue to give you tips on how to grow foods at home, but let me just say that growing organically isn’t that hard and is worth a go.

Anybody who enjoys their garden wants to get rid of the weeds that always pop up - and getting rid of weeds also means more water and nutrients are available for the plants you want, too.

Here are some environmentally friendly ways to reduce weeds in your garden so you don’t have to grab the chemical weed killers:

• pour boiling water over the weeds
• manually pull the weeds out! If you pull out a weed or two every time you walk past the garden, this isn’t even a big job
• keep garden beds mulched - it won’t stop weeds but it does make it harder for them to grow so there are fewer to pull out!
• grow ground covers between your larger plants - again, it hinders weed growth and also acts as a living mulch
• try some companion gardening - certain plants encourage each other and discourage pests including weeds

By the time you have peeled a potato, trimmed the carrots, removed leaves from the cauliflower and used some eggs, you have created a fair amount of food waste in your kitchen.

For many years, this waste was just thrown in to the rubbish bin with plastics, metals and other rubbish, but there is a much better option. Of course, this option has always existed but it hasn’t always been encouraged or talked about as much as it is now.

Recycling food waste reduces the amount going to landfill and can return nutrients to the soil so it makes sense. But how do you recycle food?

You can either give the scraps to the worms to eat in a worm farm - they will produce plant-perfect food and liquid fertiliser for you - or put it into a compost bin to top up your garden beds.

We will cover both options in greater detail soon

As much as I love the idea of a green, lush garden, this post is really about having an environmentally friendly garden!

Here are just a few tips on making your garden green…

• Plant as many trees as you can; a single tree will absorb one tonne of carbon dioxide in its lifetime. Remember that trees don’t have to be towering gum trees, even a dwarf apple tree or a bonsai tree helps absorb carbon dioxide!
• When selecting plants for your garden choose plants that are native to the area that you live in, or an area with a very similar climate. Non native plants often require more watering and care than an appropriate plant.
• Cut back on the amount of lawn you have as this needs a lot of water to maintain it in a good condition. Increase the size of gardens, swap to ground covers or use mulch in place of some grass; if you do have grass, choose the varieties that need less water and mowing.
• If you have paved or concrete areas in your yard, find out how you can use the rain that falls there - maybe slope the paved area so water runs onto the garden or collect the water and pipe it into a tank
• Put water loving plants together and closer to the house rather than mixed in with plants that don’t need as much water. This saves you time and water, and makes it easier to get grey water form the house to the needy parts of the garden, too.

It seems really obvious, but outdoors is a great place to be green. And most of the time, it is just as easy to be green outdoors as it is to waste resources outdoors - we just need to think a little bit and change some habits.

This section of our blog will include my ideas and tips for being green outdoors - some are things I already do and others will be things I learn of and want to share.

What green things do you do in your garden? Do you think much about green outside of your house and work/office?