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Reduce your footprint - plant your backyard

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We often hear about the need to reduce our carbon footprint and be green. But how can we, as individuals, do our part to help? Thinking about your plant selection and surrounding habitat, recycling, composting and conserving water all help reduce your carbon footprint and improve your garden, so we all win!

Here are 10 tips to support our environment and enhance your backyard:

  1. When planting go fusion. Include a few natives to enhance your garden. Natives are an easy way to make your backyard both water smart and beautiful.
  2. Grow your own fruit and veges.  Not only do they taste better, they haven’t flown across New Zealand or the world in some cases, to get to your table.
  3. Plant more green life. Plants improve your air quality. Plants help remove carbon from the atmosphere and produce oxygen for us to breathe.
  4. Plant deciduous trees. They’ll provide shade in summer and, when the leaves drop in winter, will let the sun though providing natural heating.
  5. Flora for Fauna. Make native animals, birds and insects feel at home in your garden. Watching native fauna enjoy your garden is a great way to relax.
  6.  Keep your pets flora friendly too. Train your pets to stay off certain areas of your garden, but be sure to provide them with a play area and some shade.
  7. Compost! Last night’s dinner, mixed with garden clippings, could bring life to your garden. Composting is a great way to reduce waste and improve your soil. Think of compost as free mulch!
  8. Save your energy! A 25 foot tree reduces heating and cooling costs by at least 8-12% per annum. So get planting now for the future savings.
  9. Be Wise about Water. Only water when and where your garden needs it. Group pot plants by water needs so as to not over water them.
  10.  Nurture your soil - healthy soils hold more water and are the building blocks of a great garden. Compost and mulch are your natural solutions.

Please get out in your garden to work on what you can do to reduce your carbon foot print and enhance your garden.

 

First published in Weekend Gardener issue 387. Written by NGINZ. Reproduced with permission of Weekend Gardener.


4-May-2014

 

Reduce your Footprint - Plant your Backyard

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