6 Ways to Make Your Garden More Sustainable

With spring coming, many of us are thinking about our gardens. Whether you’re planning a new one or wondering about refreshing one that you’ve been tending for a while, here are some tips that will help you make your garden more sustainable.

1. Grow food By planting food-bearing plants in your garden, you increase the amount of food you eat that has zero food miles. Food miles are how far food travels to get from where it is grown to where it is eaten. Decreasing your food miles increases sustainability because food is often transported in ways that emit greenhouse gases (for instance, by truck). Even just a few herb plants in pots will decrease food miles and, probably, help you save money.

2. Plant native plants… Planting plants that are native to your area is sustainable for a whole host of reasons. These plants will be well-adapted to your region’s climate and will therefore need less water. In addition, they will provide a welcome home for your region’s pollinators and other animals, and they help preserve biodiversity by preventing monocultures from spreading. Read our article on native plants to learn more.

3. Or at least plants that need less water If you can’t plant native plants, you can at least grow things that have water needs that are suited to your environment. If you live in an area where droughts are common, please don’t try to have a lawn—you’ll need a ridiculous amount of water to properly take care of it, and if you don’t provide it with this water, it will shrivel up and look unsightly. Instead, look for plants that are labeled as drought-resistant or drought-tolerant. You can also collect rainwater or use graywater from showers and cooking to water your plants.

4. Plant a tree Trees are one of our natural carbon sinks. They take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in their bodies and the soil. Therefore, planting trees is one of the best ways to combat climate change, right up there with being an activist and using renewable energy. If you can’t plant a tree on your own land, try asking if you can plant one on someone else’s land or land that belongs to a local government. Please make sure to plant trees that are native to your area and have appropriate water needs.

5. Create a compost heap If your area doesn’t have a compost program, you can start composting at home, using food scraps and yard waste to create rich soil amendment for your plants. Food waste in landfills is a huge cause of methane emissions, so eliminating some of it helps fight climate change. Watch this video for an overview of several ways to start composting at home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO4HdrIXnVU

6. Don’t use pesticides or herbicides If you have pests that are eating your plants, or weeds that are choking out the plants you intended to grow, you may be tempted to start using pesticides or herbicides. However, pesticides can end up killing beneficial insects as well as bad ones, and herbicides can have a negative impact on your own plants as well as on weeds. If you struggle with managing bugs, try spraying castile soap and water on plants—this is gentler on the plants and beneficial insects. For weeds, you can try mulching your garden. In addition to keeping weeds down, mulch increases the soil’s moisture retention, adds organic matter to the soil as it breaks down, and helps prevent erosion, which is handy if your garden is on a slope.