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As a gardener, you can help the environment by creating spaces for wildlife or producing your own food. You can help to save water, and recycle unwanted household items and food waste. Here are a few steps you can take to make your gardening greener.

Ditch the peat

Help protect environmentally precious peat bogs by choosing peat-free mulches, soil improvers and fertilisers. These are just as good or better than peat.

Peat-free products are widely available at high street stores and garden centres. Check that the bag says “peat-free” or ask an assistant.

Use pesticides responsibly and only as a last resort

Some pesticides can harm people, wildlife and the environment. Only use them as a last resort, and work with nature to control pests and weeds instead.

Get a water butt

Thousands of litres of water fall on the average rooftop every year. You can easily save on mains water by collecting some of this to use on your garden. Water companies and local councils often sell water butts at subsidised prices.

Compost garden and kitchen waste

A third of people in the UK who have a garden say they compost

Start a compost heap or get a compost bin and put your kitchen and garden waste to good use in your garden. Ask your local council if subsidised compost bins are available in your area.
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A survey by Yorkshire Bank reveals one in three British adults (33 per cent) are returning to live off the fat of the land like Tom and Barbara from the hit 70’s TV show, The Good Life.

The British public cites economic and environmental reasons for them becoming meaner and greener in the garden; one in three agree that they can save money by having greener fingers and one in ten even admit to using an old wellington boot as a water butt.

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Forests are of vital importance both to reducing poverty and tackling climate change.
More than 1.6 billion people depend to some degree on forests for their livelihoods, many of them the world’s poorest people.

Deforestation generates almost a fifth of carbon emissions. It is the third largest source of greenhouse gas emissions – larger than the entire global transport sector. The Eliasch Review recommended that deforestation should be halved by 2020 and that the global forest sector should be carbon neutral by 2030.

Douglas Alexander, International Development Secretary, said about the Review:
“With more than a billion of the poorest people on our planet dependent on forests to provide them with a livelihood, today’s report highlights the challenges we face in reconciling the short-term interests of individuals with the global challenge of tackling climate change.”

Forests are being lost at a rate of 13 million hectares a year because the environmental benefits they provide are not valued and they are worth more when converted to agriculture. Poor governance and lack of knowledge and institutional capacity are contributory factors.

See what you can do at home and in the garden to do your part.