We can all be eco-warriors
Do your bit to combat climate change with these easy steps
SPRING is so close you can almost taste it. In our garden, crocuses and other spring flowers are busting out. It’s an uplifting season, full of happy anticipation with something new every day. This is also a time to think seriously about how we garden. Britain will host this year’s UN Climate Summit. So it’s timely for all of us to run a carbon health check in our gardens.
We can all assess our gardening methods, favouring those which store carbon. We can also think about greenhouse gas emissions and then change the way we garden to reduce them.
If all gardeners alter just a few current practices, it could make a massive difference.
Wildlife-friendly gardens will always be better at storing carbon. Nature conservation and reversing climate change go hand in hand. We’ve owned our current garden for almost 18 years. In that time, wildlife has steadily increased. The blend of wild and exotic planting has also worked well.
FERTILE SOIL
TO BE carbon neutral a garden must store as much carbon as it emits. In daylight, plants absorb carbon and emit oxygen. But a garden’s main ‘storage tank’ for carbon is the soil.
Healthy soil contains minerals, water and carbon-rich humus. Humus is decaying organic material, teeming with microbes, fungi and invertebrates such as earthworms. Boost humus levels by dressing soils with compost. As well as improving fertility, that stores carbon. So plants and the climate will benefit.
If you make compost from garden ‘waste’, you will store even more carbon. Fallen leaves and plant debris also become humus, thanks to earthworm activity.
Recycling with compost reduces the need for bought-in fertilisers. This shrinks your carbon footprint and cuts costs.
Avoiding over-zealous trimming, weeding and tidying also helps wildlife. Besides earthworms and other invertebrates, fungi and microbes convert plant debris to humus. Their presence also supports more visible wildlife such as birds, shrews, voles and hedgehogs. Try to have something in flower at all times of year to sustain pollinating insects such as bumble bees.
LUSCIOUS LAWNS
FINE lawns are the heart of so many gardens. But many are dosed with selective weedkiller and mineral fertiliser.
Such lawns are neither ‘green’ nor carbon neutral. Both herbicide and chemical fertilisers are potential pollutants. Lawns can be self-sustaining, particularly on soils with natural fertility.
If your lawn drains freely and lies above healthy soil, extra feed is unnecessary. Mow regularly, but without collecting the grass. The ‘mowings’ quickly shrivel to become humus.
That has worked for my lawns and pathways since 2005. Our grass is never weed-free. But it looks uniform and green. Lawn daisies are a springtime delight.
We also have a tiny flower meadow. It contains wildflowers such as cowslips, bedstraw, scabious and purple knapweed.
The meadow and much of our garden already stores carbon. But our groomed flower borders don’t. Those receive bought-in fertiliser each year. So we’ve built compost bays for garden waste — our next step to carbon neutrality.