A Green Guide To Gardening

GREEN GUIDE •TO GROWING YOUR OWN• Through making small changes, your garden can become more eco-friendly. This not only benefits the environment, but it can help you save money too. ASSESS YOUR ECO-RATING Take a look at your garden and judge how eco-friendly it currently is. Here are just a few of the things you might want to remove or change before you go green: IS ENERGY BEING WASTED? HOW IS THE SOIL? Gas-powered patio heaters are unnecessary Dry border soil that's continually sprayed and damaging to an eco-garden. with weed killer has little to offer wildlife. HOW IS WATER USED? IS WATER BEING WASTED? Look for where water is being wasted, like off the top of your roof for example. Cut back on energy-intensive mains tap water. WHAT ARE YOU GROWING AND WHEN? Instead of heating a greenhouse through the winter, make the switch to frost-tolerant food crops like spinach, carrots and radishes. GOING GREEN Encourage creatures like hedgehogs by placing piles of logs in quiet parts of the garden. They'll help deal with slugs and snails. Ponds will attract frogs and toads that can keep harmful insects at bay. PLASTIC BOTTLES CAN BE REUSED IN YOUR GARDEN AS WARM, PROTECTIVE COVERS FOR SEEDLINGS. Your compost should have an Construct a compost bin in an area that isn't exposed to equal balance of soft green materials (vegetable kitchen waste, grass clippings, manure) and woody brown materials (paper, cardboard and wood chippings). extreme temperatures and moisture. Ideally, it should be placed on an earth base to allow drainage and access to soil organisms. EVERYDAY PLASTIC PACKAGING, LIKE YOGURT POTS, CAN BE RECYCLED INTO POTS AND CONTAINERS FOR PLANTS. A smaller lawn will save you fuel and electricity, and will reduce noise pollution. You'll also feel more inclined to use a reel mower once you have less Plant some bright flowers to attract beneficial insects to your garden. Flowers such as candytuft, sunflowers and marigolds will help attract insects like ladybirds and lacewings. lawn to contend with. SOLAR LIGHTS WILL STORE ENERGY DURING THE DAY AND LIGHT YOUR GARDEN AT NIGHT. Bird feeders and nesting boxes will encourage A plastic water butt will recycle rainwater and lower your mains water usage. bug-eating birds to visit your garden. CREATE SPACE FOR GROWING YOUR OWN FOOD AND HERBS GROWING YOUR OWN Many of your favourite fruit and vegetables can easily be grown at home in pots, growing bags, vegetable patches and greenhouses. Offering warm temperatures and protection from adverse weather conditions, greenhouses are popular choices for gardens. An increasing number of greenhouses are made from polycarbonate. This is because the panels are: TOUGH EFFECTIVE DIFFUSERS The panels are tougher than glass and are Light diffuses through the polycarbonate, making it further-reaching. It can effectively retain heat. virtually unbreakable. TO GROW THE BEST-QUALITY PRODUCE, YOU NEED TO KNOW WHEN THE RIGHT TIME TO PLANT AND HARVEST YOUR CROPS IS. WHERE TO GROW AND TOP TIPS WHERE TO NAME TOP TIP GROW IT Water the plants evenly and regularly to avoid them developing blossom end rot. TOMATOES POTATOES Select a sunny, frost-free site. Do not crush the foliage as the plants will smell, attracting a pest called carrot fly. CARROTS Installing a horticultural fleece will keep the GARLIC bulbs safe from birds. Keep the soil moist by watering around the plants and not over them. CUCUMBERS Plant in a heated greenhouse to increase the speed of flowering by several weeks. STRAWBERRIES To grow a bumper crop, feed plants with liquid fertiliser when they start to flower. CHILLIES Parsnips can be attacked by carrot flies, so grow them under insect-proof mesh. PARSNIPS Adding lime to the soil can help prevent club root, which causes roots to swell. TURNIPS WHERE TO GROW KEY: Hanging basket Border Large Growing Bag Pot Green- Veg Contain- Pot house Patch ers TIME OF YEAR TO PLANT AND HARVEST JAN FEe MAR APR MAY JUN AuG SEP OCT Nov DEc JUL TOMATOES POTATOES CARROTS CUCUMBERS STRAWBERRIES CHILLIES PARSNIPS TURNIPS PLANTING KEY: Plant Harvest GREEN WAYS OF GROWING YOUR OWN GREY WATER Domestic waste water, from the kitchen, washing machine, bath or shower, can be used to water plants. Grey water varies in quality and can contain contaminants like detergent and soap. AROUND 24,000 LITRES OF WATER COULD BE COLLECTED FROM OUR ROOFS EACH YEAR PEAT-FREE COMPOST We are using peat faster than nature can produce it, so switching to peat-free compost is beneficial to the environment. Harvesting peat causes habitat destruction, loss of biodiversity AT PEAT FREE and the release of fossil carbon stores. IN 2013 751,586M³ OF PEAT WAS SUPPLIED TO THE UK HORTICULTURAL MARKET ALONE. COMPANION PLANTING This process involves strategically planting different flowers together to ward off predators and share environmental benefits. For example, planting marigolds next to roses will help to mask the smell of the latter, helping to deter aphids from the area. THIS REDUCES THE NEED FOR PESTICIDES. SOURCES https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/local-authority-collected-waste-for-england-quarterly-estimates http://www. bbc.co.uk/gardening/today_in_your_garden/ethical_peat.shtmlhttp://www.bbcwildlife.org.uk/sites/birmingham.live. wt.precedenthost.co.uk/files/Insect%20Hotel.pdf https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/Profile?pid=313 https://www.rhs.org.uk/science/gardening-in-a-changing-world http://www.thompson-morgan,.com/how-to-grow-tomatoes https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/vegetables/tomatoes https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/vegetables/potatoes?type=v https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/vegetables/carrots?type=v https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/vegetables/garlic?type=v https://www.rhs.org.uk/education-learning/gardening-children-schools/family-activities/Grow-it-!/grow/garlic https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/vegetables/cucumbers?type=v https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/fruit/strawberries https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/vegetables/chilli-pepper?type=v https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/vegetables/parsnips?type=v https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/vegetables/turnip?type=v https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/346091/Peat_usage_2013_data_sheet.ods