If not for the active companies and citizens pursuing the eco-friendly Green campaign all over the globe, the path towards environmentally-friendly living wouldn’t have risen from the shadows, to the center of social awareness in recent years.
Ironically, the gardeners and the green thumbs out there turn out to be the major culprits in bolstering a not-so-eco-friendly world. But nowadays, responsible eco-friendly goods and tools are now progressively displayed in the shelves of yards and gardens across the world; leaving behind small yet helpful environmental footprints behind.
Breaking traditions
When you think about eco-friendly gardens, the first thing that pops into your head is compost and various other organic solutions for plant pest control. There really is no denying it: compost tops the list of Earth-friendly lawn essentials. But the fact of the matter is, compost is not everything when it comes to creating an eco-friendly garden. Rather, it’s only the first element in a bigger, more meticulous set of Mother Earth-conscious garden essentials that a green living advocate must apply.
From pest control, disease control, watering system, to the gardening tools, a number of gardening means and measures have their respective Earth-friendly counterparts.
- Pest control
The traditional insecticides are potent tools used in fighting off diseases, pests and weeds – a fact that at the same time makes them more environmentally hazardous. In fact, this has been an issue particularly because only 3% of bugs found in gardens are actually dubbed as pests. Others are either beneficial to, or neutral with the plants. And most insecticides are non-selective, meaning they get rid of any and all bugs in the plant including harmless ladybugs and honey bees, one of nature’s most effective pollinators.
Solution
A more reliable method is to select pesticides that work specifically to deal with the pest you want to eliminate. Also go for the kinds that work on pests that are actual threats to the health of the plant, by sucking up vital nutrients and leading to the plant’s destruction.
A recommended pest control component that does this job is imidacloprid. What makes this particular pesticide an acceptable, eco-friendly option is that it is applied to the soil, allowing it to flow through the plant’s vascular system. This particular function makes it harmless to non-pests, compared to the ones that are sprayed directly onto the plants’ leaves. This product reacts only when the bugs begin to chew on the plants’ tissue, making it a less lethal, more selective type of pesticide.
Click here for a list of identified organic pest control solutions
- Disease control
The same as man-made effective, yet environmentally harmful pesticides, disease control products also leave an alarming amount of damage to the environment.
Solution
Moderate plant disease-fighting solutions can be found in garden stores nowadays. These products often contain ingredients such as milk, baking soda and cooking oil.
- Weed control
For the longest time, herbicides – solutions that eliminate weeds – have posed a significant threat to the plant and the environment. Although these herbicides come in selective and non-selective variants, they’re still far from being eco-friendly.
Solution
Concentrated weed control chemicals are often used for extensive vegetative control. However there are less potent options that could be considered, each one leading up to pretty much the same degree of effectiveness.
For instance, instead of acetic acid (20% concentration) there’s household vinegar (5% concentration); though lacking the necessary punch (potency and concentration), vinegar works well as a selective herbicide. Also, the recent discovery of corn gluten as an organic pre-emergent weed control has been much appreciated in the market for its additional 10% nitrogen that applies natural nutrients to plants.
- Mulch
Those bags of mulch that you use to stuff your vegetable garden with can be harmful to the environment. Actually, the US Mulch and Soil Council recently discovered that mulch is made of ground pallets and pressure-treated wood that in the long run leak considerably hazardous chemicals.
Solution
The said breakthrough has led to the inception of the Product Certification Program, applicable to the kind of mulch used. The MSC Certified Product label is designed to assist consumers in determining which products are free of chemicals, and have met the standards of Mulch and Soil Council.
Click here to know more about the contents of MSC approved mulch
Garden Maintenance
Having an earth-friendly garden doesn’t stop at deviating from your tried-and-tested chemicals and reverting to less hazardous solutions. This should be paired with harmless maintenance procedures that do not spend too much of Mother Earth’s resources, but rather use them with strict deliberation in terms of the environmental effects.
- Watering Plants
Watering is best done manually with hose pipes; for large gardens, drip irrigation could be an option to save more water. Remember not to leave your garden spray turned on the whole day. Having rain barrels is equally useful, as they can be used to water your plants instead of using clean water from the tap.
Click here for the five essential tips on how to save water in the yard
- Responsible chemical use
May it be synthetic or organic, responsible use of chemicals is a must. And believe it or not, everything starts with reading the label and following the guidelines enumerated by the manufacturer. Next, consider applying your chemicals during the latter part of the day, thereby leaving unharmed most pollinators, which are active throughout the day starting early in the morning.
Click here to know about the top 10 mistakes people make when using garden chemicals
- Tools that spell change
Assuming that you’re one of the lawn product die-hards, you wouldn’t have noticed that most of them are actually endangering the environment. Think about gas operated lawn mowers and leaf eaters. Good thing that electric landscaping equipment is now available; what’s more, these tools can be recharged anytime - thereby resulting in lower energy consumption.
- Conserve and recycle
Cliché as it may sound, being environmentally concerned often boils down to practicing sound environmental stewardship for the earth’s natural, valuable resources. One of these resources has started to become more unavailable each day in all parts of the world. We speak here of water.
Likewise, decorative pots could be given an extra tinge of style by replacing the brick-red usuals with ordinary household items that would instead reach the garbage can. Suggestions include plastic milk jugs, paint buckets and other non-biodegradable containers could be used as resourcefully chic alternatives.
Incoming search terms:
- payal sinha
