How to Get Started in Sustainable Gardening

June 29, 2021

For many, last year was a time of change and transition. Longer time at home and less travel spending resulted in a new focus on domestic hobbies.

According to CTVnews.ca/Canada, “Experts say the pandemic has accelerated the urban-to-suburban trend as more employers shift to a work-from-home model and young, first-time buyers look beyond the city for more affordable properties. “ The move from polluted cities and small condos opened up the opportunity to invest in making their home a serene garden paradise ¹

The invigorated focus on wellbeing welcomed many newcomers to gardening and urban landscaping. The added benefit, a new appreciation of natural ecosystems.

Whether you decided to revitalize your yard with a kaleidoscope of colour and textures or dip into the land of edibles your decision to design eco-friendly landscaping with sustainable garden practices will give you purpose. If you are new to gardening, consider this an environmentally friendly gardening crash course.

Start composting

Your kitchen scraps are not a place for the garbage bins. It is possible that you live in a region where composting is a part of your city recycling programs. If this is the case the only investment you need is a waterproof container to transfer your scraps to the bin.

If you have space, start a compost pile and take full benefit of your organic matter. As a new gardener, you may wish to take advantage of these nutrients to support your garden but just lack the know-how. Don't let this stop you. There are plenty of resources available on getting started with composting. Consider your soil mix, get a good compost starter, create a turning schedule, and consider how to conserve heat to ensure success.

Here are a few videos to help you get started.

Composting for Beginners | The Dirt | Better Homes & Gardens²

Why your compost may not be breaking down³

Eliminate or minimize the use of chemical fertilizers⁴

Chemical fertilizers can find their way into our waterways from the soil. The result in changing the pH level of water can have a devastating effect. Disruptions in the ecosystem can affect the microbes that produce oxygen or even encourage the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Soil is delicate. Incorrect use of chemical fertilizers can even destroy the soil nutrient balance. With yards and plant holders, chemicals are not needed where organic options are readily available. Here are a few worth considering.^5-6-7

Composted Manure When we think of organic fertilizer many of us imagine composted manure. The reason: it is a complete fertilizer containing many of the nutrients needed to help plants thrive. Especially when applied to plant roots or as a top dressing for flower beds can revitalize the plant.

There are plenty more fertilizer options for the savvy gardener.

Bone Meal made of ground animal bones and great for adding phosphorus and calcium which is a need of your bulbs and trees and shrubs. Just remember to apply it to the bottom near the plant roots.

Cottonseed Meal a by-product of cotton where seeds are crushed to extract the oil. Slightly acidic, the nutrients are then mixed into the soil by plants that love acid systems like, azaleas, mountain heather, rhododendrons, hydrangeas, camellias, daffodils, blueberries, and nasturtiums.

Alfalfa Pellets made from alfalfa hay, contain protein as well as valuable vitamins and minerals. Mixing into the soil flowering shrubs and perennials is a formula for success.

Bat Guano can be purchased in many garden centers as a powder. Rich in phosphorus, it is needed in the soil of growing plants to store and transfer energy produced by photosynthesis for use in growth and reproductive processes. When your garden is suffering from slow growth, increasing phosphorus may be the answer.

Fish Emulsions made up of partially decomposed and pulverized fish, are best applied as a spray to the leaves in late spring and followed with deep watering. Plants can absorb food from leaves, so liquid fertilizers are readily absorbed. This is excellent for outdoor annuals, bedding plants, vegetables and herbs. Don't worry though the odor dissipates.

Attract Plant Pollinators

Pollinators, like bees, and other flying beneficial insects transfer pollen from one plan to another resulting in greater productivity gains in edibles and better quality nutrient levels for all. There has been a lot of press around diminishing populations of bees. Our increased interest in planting non-native and sterile plants may be part of the cause.

One fact to help you make decisions. Bees eat two things: nectar, loaded with sugar is a bee’s main source of energy and pollen provides proteins and fats.⁸ - DavidSuzuki.org

Not all flowers are the same to a bee. They especially like blue, purple, violet, white and yellow. So, consider attracting bees by companion planting a variety of flower shapes and bloom colours!

Choose native plants

We already mentioned the benefit of native plants to pollinators but there is another important benefit to consider. Native plants have adapted to the sun cycles and require less watering if they are found in your local climate naturally. You’ll find that growing them will be easier and the plants will be heartier. You may find that you do not need to tend to them as closely for nutrient issues. This means they are less likely to pollute water systems with soil runoff from unbalanced care needs.

Consider this, native plants and insects thrive and support each other. In a natural ecosystem, your decision to choose native plants will give small animals, insects and microscopic organisms what they need to develop a symbiotic system of support and a beautiful garden for you to enjoy.

Don’t wastewater

You’ll find a theme to consider in environmental gardening is water runoff. When plant soil is unable to bring the nutrients to a plant through the soil, excess water moves out of the soil and can find its way into our streams, lakes, and oceans.

It is not intuitive that water from the soil can result in environmental issues. In fact, it is completely reasonable to assume all things that come from nature are good for nature. Urbanized gardening is not always natural. The fertilizers, different exotic plant needs, and neighboring contaminants, like old paint or weathered sealants can leach into the water upsetting the natural pH balance. Acidification of our waterways kills carbon-capturing microbes, and this unarguably needs to be minimized whenever possible.

Of course, overuse of water is also a factor. Getting the water to your home takes energy which contributes to its own cycle of greenhouse gas pollutants to consider. Limiting water waste is just as important.

Design a terrace garden

A healthy soil mix can prevent this runoff but so can attending to your garden landscaping. Making the decision to terrace over rolling hills will keep the water close to the soil for a longer time, it's this extra time that can be the difference to plants with absorption issues.

To terrace a slope, simply level off sections to flat areas for plants to grow tall. The added benefit, in the long run, will be the ease it offers for plant maintenance. With this there are no negative effects to choosing your gardening mindfully.

Harvest rainwater

The effort needed to place a rain barrel in your yard to collect rainwater is as easy. It requires only one thing. Proper placement. To increase the collection of water, consider ways to use piping to collect the rainwater from areas of your roof or yard to one central space.

This collected water can be used to water your plants or wash your dishes, rinse your car, or wet down dusty alleyways. When you take a moment to consider all the ways tap water is overused, you will come up with many ways to repurpose rainwater.

Another lesser-known trick to conserve water in your lawn is to leave your grass clippings. Grass is 75-85% water making it an ideal natural sponge for holding water close to the soil. A lawn kept moist and healthy grows greener.

Upcycle

Each year people purchase 17.1 Billion globally in garden and Landscaping materials. Attention to what these materials are made of is important. Plastics for example are excellent for upcycling. Imagine how you can use a durable plastic item in your garden as part of a materials project. Be a conscientious gardener. Start by reading the fine print to see how much recyclable material is part of your landscaping decor, instead of purchasing new.⁹

If you have an imagination, you can look to the items in your home that are designated for a landfill and give them a new life as part of your deck, or even as a planter.

For example, you can repaint and reuse old pots and cans or build walls and garden barriers out of discarded metal, plastics, lumber, stones, bricks, or glass bottles. You can also support your community by reaching out to local artists that use recycled material in their art to find a masterpiece, worthy of your garden project.