Have you been trying to eat healthily with more organic foods while protecting the environment? If you have, then you know how expensive organic food can be. Fortunately, you can avoid or reduce your trips to the grocery by creating your own organic and sustainable garden. You can reduce the carbon footprint by incorporating a sustainable and healthy lifestyle for you, your family and generations to come while having fun. Luckily, if you’re new to this, you can hire someone or use the following simple tips to nurture and protect the planet.
Use 100% organics
Toxic pesticides and chemical herbicides extract a toll on you and the environment. When controlling pests and weeds, use organic methods, such as pulling weeds with your hands and using beneficial insects for pest control. Similarly, instead of feeding plants with inorganic fertilizers that pollute and contaminate water and the soil, use compost waste from food peelings, leftovers, and animal waste.
Harvest water
Harvesting water enhances sustainability as it maximizes moisture, reduces soil erosion, and minimizes dependence on town water, hence saving you money. Collect as much water from the rain, storms, and greywater or save and reuse. You can do this by using mulch to cover plants instead of hard landscaping; mulch has porous surfaces that allow the soil to soak in water. Collect rainwater using barrels, swales, or connect roof gutters to tanks.
Choose plants wisely
Different plants thrive in particular locations, while others fail to due to climate. Depending on your area, check with garden experts to determine plants that can thrive. Find more native plants and perennials locally adapted instead of annuals, and embrace diversity with your plants to balance the ecosystem.
Choose plants that can tolerate harsh conditions, such as extreme rainfall, seasonal flooding, or drought depending on your area. When plants such as vegetables are high-yielding and hardy, you use fewer supplements, additives, effort, and water, achieving sustainability.
Maintain your garden
Caring for your garden significantly impact its sustainability. Embrace traditional methods of suppressing weeds and aerating the soil by cultivating between plants. Protect your soil by creating a sustainable design like contour farming, planting shelter belts, crop rotation, and placing plants accordingly. If you’re going to practice intercropping, hire a tree pruning service to ensure sun-loving plants get enough sunlight.
Reuse resources creatively
Create a zero-waste garden to achieve sustainability. What you call waste, green garden outputs, and kitchen scraps, can be converted into compost and reused outdoors. Instead of filling up dumps and garbage bins, recycle back everything that was one living to bring new life into your organic garden. Similarly, repurpose and recycle household items, such as pots and landscaping supplies, to give them life outdoors and avoid wastage.
Achieve sustainability by protecting the environment against carbon fumes by creating an organic garden. It is simple, fun, and saves you costs such as paying for irrigation, chemicals, and fertilizers. Use sustainable maintenance techniques such as using mulch and compost to create the best kind of soil, harvest water, and choose the perfect plants for your area.
Photo by MabelAmber
