Why Not Go Green At Gardening Too? It Pays!

When we say ‘Go Green’ it does not only mean planting green things in the surroundings; it also means saving environment from hazardous chemicals or inappropriate human activities. For this reason you might have gone green everywhere – at home, in kitchen, at office – just everywhere!

But did you imagine you could make your gardening green too? Yes, the ‘already enjoyable’ gardening can be made green by considering a few important things and taking suitable steps.

Going with the water flow? Stop!

Do you know that just an hour of watering activity consumes approximately 250 gallons of water? By limiting you watering activity to mornings (between 5:00 to 10:00 am) or to evenings (6:00 to 8:00 pm) you could save on evaporation. In fact, it is better to drip in a proper irrigation system to target only the areas that require watering or install sprinkler.

You could as well opt for rain water harvesting. Keep a barrel in the garden to collect rain water and use the water to irrigate your gardens. Rain water, in fact, is better than municipal water as the latter may contain chlorine or other dissolved minerals.

Go green by going organic.

Try making your own compost to enhance the fertility of soil. Instead of using chemical fertilizers or manures use self made compost. Mix kitchen garbage (vegetable waste, coffee grounds, tea leaves and fruit scraps), grass clippings, fallen twigs or foliage, and such other things with water and keep it in a bin for a few days – your compost is ready to use.

Also spread mulch over the garden – it will not only look beautiful but will also prevent moisture from evaporating and weeds from growing. Use cocoa mulch than fabric mulch. Cocoa mulch contains more natural nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium as well as it breaks down over time and enriches the soil’s texture.

Further, use your own organic weed or insect killers and get away of using chemical insecticides or weed killers. Pour in salt water (1 part salt and 1 part water) mixture or pure vinegar on the areas where those pesky weeds are growing. You could as well use soap water or dish detergent water on to the affected areas – although, this may not be as effective.

Potting soil – customize it.

Having your soil tested for knowing what it does need and what it does not need, you can save on excessive usage of anything – organic (or in case, a little of inorganic) weed killers or compost, nutrients like phosphates and nitrates. However, make sure not to add fertilizers just before rains or in frozen lands.

Got throw-away containers? Use them wisely.

Every type of containers, which you earlier thought of throwing away, could be used as planters. For instance, cut your plastic water bottles in half and use the cloche type part to cover young saplings from birdies. The plastic containers may make a brilliant transparent green house.

A few more tips:

• Prefer manually mowing the garden to mowing it with petrol-driven land mower. The process may be time consuming but may help at preventing pollution. (One hour of land mowing causes same amount of pollution caused by a car driven for 100 miles).
• Grow certain herb plants such as mint, oregano, chives or rosemary. These are drought tolerant plants and thus require less water.
• Allow birds, butterflies and bees to visit your garden by putting birdfeeders or bird houses. They will help your plants to pollinate.

Author Bio: Ruby Tyagi is a freelance Guest Blogger. She holds an experience of many years in field of Content Development. She consistently writes for various topics such as home decor and improvement; good housekeeping; environmental aid; topics on behalf of Blooming that offers a wide range of green things such as silk plants trees etc and on behalf of Genite that offers a wide range of home, office, education or business items such as pinboards and coat stands. Apart from writing she loves music and painting.