5 Easy Steps to Create an Eco-Friendly Garden

Eco-Friendly Garden

I've heard the same refrain over the years: You can't have a beautiful garden that isn't environmentally friendly. Many people think that native plants are too wild-looking, and that taking a light-hearted approach to cleaning or maintaining a garden can lead to a messy, untidy landscape. I argue that everyone can take small steps to encourage more biodiversity in their place.

1. Give proper laws

The move is less about being environmentally friendly and curbs the wild look that sometimes comes with natural gardens. Simple sculptures, stone paths, a two-chair seating area, and neatly pruned evergreens like the boxwood (Buxus cv., Zones 4-9) shown above are all important "care notes." Joan Nassauer. They are essential elements in letting others know that the garden's appearance is intentional and helping them embrace the unconventional "mess" of an eco-friendly garden.

2. Make your containers work harder

Pots and planters on my deck aren't just for decorative purposes; They also contain plants that provide food for bees, butterflies and ruby-throated hummingbirds. In addition, I use the patio as a kind of nursery. I often buy small perennials that I plan to enjoy in pots during the season and then plant in the garden in the fall. This reduces the energy-consuming and disposable annuals I use.

3. Build some pollinator houses and wooden walls

You can provide all the pollen and nectar on the planet, but if you don't provide pollinators with shelter and a place to overwinter, they won't make your garden a home. To make pollinator houses, I use commercially available reusable wooden pallets and fill the bricks with small cardboard tubes and stems of garden perennials such as meadow rue or joe pie weed. For the same purpose I also create artistic wood plank walls in areas of the garden.

4. Leave the leaves

I use the whole leaves that fall from the trees in my garden to make mulch, and I even add some leaves from my neighbor's trees. With this natural mulch approach I've never had problems with plants failing to emerge in the spring or getting "clogged" to the point of death.

5. Build a bird sanctuary

Native plants provide food for insects, and those insects provide food for birds. Dragging garden debris behind the perimeter of the garden provides habitat for many species of beetles, wasps and other bird food sources. Abundant trees and shrubs in the landscape serve as shelter for winged visitors, while bird nests are key to cavity nesters. Tube feeders and an open water source in winter encourage healthy bird populations.

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