15 Tips For Organic Self Sustainable Gardening Methods and Practices

ByRobinson

Are you already growing your little horticulture sustainable garden of joy? Or you just moved into a new house with a backyard and are thinking about planting a few vegetables just for fun?

If in this case gardening is something new to you, maybe then is the concept of sustainability as well.

So at this Robinson Love Plants blog on sustainable gardening we’ll walk you through:

Contents

What Are The Benefits Of Sustainable Gardening? Definition:

It’s rather simple.

Sustainable gardening allows you to grow and produce without interruption and thus provide healthy and organic food as a consistent source of nutrition. We tie the expression to gardening and nature. We hear the term more and more, meaning it’s growing in popularity! 

The research done by Homemaker Guide shows that most vegetables that we buy in supermarkets are in fact, genetically modified. Some say that GMO food is harmful to both humans and the environment.

That’s why ever more people who have the ability turn towards growing sustainable vegetables.

What Is Sustainable Gardening?

Sustainable gardening is like having an eco-friendly garden. The extra touch is that you put additional work to develop gardening practices and techniques that don’t cause damage to soil and everybody who lives on it.

What Are The Benefits Of Sustainable Gardening

You ensure nourishment for yourself and your family. Isn’t that cool?

When you grow a sustainable garden, you support the proper balance of natural ecosystems. You also have a lot of fun gardening and enjoying the healthy and delicious fruits of your labor.

There is a broad list of principles that we need to follow to achieve the best practices for organic sustainable gardening.

It is important to say before we continue that there are a lot of shared gardens, usually in the peripheries of the big cities. So if you live in a flat, but you are interested in getting started with sustainable gardening in apartments, this checking out your possibilities, there can be an excellent way to go.

How Sustainable Gardening Can Help Hunger?

Healthy homegrown produce is one sure way to fight hunger throughout the world.

What Do You Need For Sustainable Garden?

To learn the basic concepts and rules.

1. Compost Everything Organic

This is a critical part of a sustainable garden and has the most significant impact on it. When you make compost to enhance how healthy soil is. By using a homemade fertilizer, you add nutrients that benefit your own health down the road.

To compost is rather easy.

Just store food leftovers such as apples, coffee, leafy plants, eggshells, and etc.

Place the pile somewhere sunny so that everything ferments.

Make sure you get the right balance of composting elements. The ratio should be fifty-fifty, half soft green materials and half woody materials, advised London-based gardening professional Desiree Thomson.

Next time you eat an apple, think before you throw leftovers to garbage. The best thing is to upkeep a separate container for organic waste only.

2. Get Some Worms

If you opt for home compost, worms can be your best friend. They produce a by-product called “worm castings” or “vermicasts”. These attract microorganisms and fungi to benefit your soil.

Learn: What is the difference between Perlite and Vermiculite?

3. Check Soil And Test It

What type of soil does your garden have? Is it sandy, chalky or more like clay?

Different species require different types of soil as greenery can be crazy-picky. Therefore, the types of plants you would want to sow in your garden should match with the type of soil you have.

Send it to the lab and then use just organic fertilizer following the instructions. Keep in mind that adding too much fertilizer can, in fact, do more harm than good. Some plants can grow excessively, and this can lead to diseases.

4. Save Seeds

Remember that you don’t have to buy.

Dry and save the seeds from veggies or next year.

Talk to friends and neighbors. Check what they grow and ask for seeds.

Join or organize seed exchanges. If you buy seeds, make sure those are organic.

Remember that seeds need warm temperatures to sprout and grow, so the best time to plant is in spring.

You can always start seeding inside your home, 2-3 months before spring and when the time comes, just move the already grown plants outside.

Do yourself a favor and plan where each plant will go and label them.

Use biodegradable wooden plant labels.

Sketch your garden and numbering the different types of plants.

Make notes of everything. If you notice that some plants are not doing well in a certain area, next year plant them elsewhere.

Also, if you grow the same crop in the same place over and over, the same species extract the same nutrients from the soil. This way they eventually run out.

That’s why you should move crops from time to time in different areas and thus improve the overall condition of the soil.

5. Conserve Water

​ It is vital to water plants only when needed. The quantity of water varies based on the size and stage of growth.

When about to plant for the first time, water as soon as you sow the seeds in the dirt.

From there on, water daily for a week.

After the week one passes, water 2-3 times a week. To have a fresh green-grass lawn in front of your home is wonderful but keep in mind that it needs about an inch of rain per week.

If you use irrigation systems, it is better to opt for drip irrigation than sprinklers because the latter spend less water.

Collect rainwater in barrels. You can make a rain barrel by yourself or buy it online or in one of the specialized garden centers.

Also, divert rooftop water from downpipes into a tank or a large pot.

The aim of eco gardening is to use rainwater only. Some gardeners use mulch to retain water longer, avoid evaporation, and drainage.

Learn:
How to Make Your Own Distilled Water for Plants?

6. Grow Native Plants

When we love fruit or vegetable, of course, we want to enjoy it all the time. But nature doesn’t work that way. There is a reason why plants thrive in certain areas and parish in others.

Learn:
Which Fruits & Vegetables Can You Grow? These 7 Plants Grow Anywhere!

Nowadays it’s possible to create artificial conditions to allow any vegetable or fruit to grow in most countries, any time of the year. Unfortunately, that’s quite destructive for nature.

If you want to help the environment and to grow a sustainable vegetable garden, make sure to plant only vegetables that grow naturally in the climate where you live. This way you use less water and soil fertilizers.

7. Some Plants Benefit From Others.

Make sure you are familiar with the term “companion plants” and symbiosis.

For example, you can plant trailing plants next to shade-loving ones, bird-friendly ones besides those vulnerable to insects, and the list of combinations will go on.

8. Select Plants According To Seasons

Educate yourself on everything there is to learn about the plants you want to grow. What does greenery need?  What type of soil? What is the preferred season? What is the amount of sunlight and water plantlife needs?

Some plants prefer thick shade, while others all-day sunlight. Plan your sustainable garden according to what you already have. More often than not, plants need partial sunlight the least.

9. Build Raised Beds

They allow the soil to drain faster and warm much faster in the spring. Also, raised beds help you separate plants based on what each needs. Raised beds, allow you to also separate patches, grow a variety of species, and build some protection from pests.

10. Plant Trees

Besides the fact that trees provide excellent shade and great curb appeal of your garden, they absorb and store carbon into the ground. Instead of cutting a tree, it’s best to care for one dying.

11. Involve Animals

If you live in the countryside and you have sheep, goats, cows, and so on, use their manure to make a nutrient-rich fertilizer.

For example, chicken poop can be used as compost. In case you or neighbors have pigs, ’employ’ them to eat the weeds.

They will be more than thrilled to do so.

12. Use Renewable Resources

Try to get the gardening materials that you can recycle or reuse. For example, use wool ties instead of plastic.

13. Use Less Fossil Fuels

Plow soil manually where possible. It is a great exercise that burns calories while at it. Furthermore, pull weeds by hand instead of the use of chemical sprays, notes Organic 4 Green Living.

To have lights in the garden is both useful and looks good. Try getting LED options instead of ordinary lighting to save energy. Also, consider buying an electric lawnmower.

14. Plant Maintenance

We understand that it can be downright frustrating to have insects damaging your veggies.

However, keep in mind that this can be beneficial; thus, it is useful to distinguish good and bad ones. If you are spraying with pesticides can cause harm to the environment. It is essential to know which plant disease is terrible and which harms aesthetics.

15. Stay Organic

Avoid the use of chemicals in your garden and opt for organic pest control. Yes, it can be slow and hard to fight weeds and pests, but in the end, you get healthy produce.

Final Words On Sustainable Gardening

leading sustainable

https://unsplash.com/photos/-rl4m0icZo4

There you go, we went through some of the leading sustainable gardening tips. Now you are ready to start your environmentally friendly garden!

We certainly hope that we managed to inspire and encourage you to at least think about it. You can contribute to the protection of the environment and make much healthier food for you and your family. Hope this was the one article to help you among the many blogs on sustainable gardening out there!

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