Gardening and sustainability: how to create an eco-friendly garden

Gardening sustainably is a fantastic way to encourage a healthier and happier garden, whilst also doing your bit to help with biodiversity and improve conditions of your local environment. It can help to support cleaner air, encourage native plants, and build homes for birds, insects and bees in and around where you live.

No matter how big or small your garden is, following sustainable practices can lead to an eco-friendly haven. Here’s how you can achieve a thriving and sustainable garden in a few simple steps.

What is sustainable gardening?

The aim of sustainable gardening is to have a positive impact on nature. This means minimising your impact on the environment while doing what you can to support it. There are plenty of actions both big and small that you can follow to garden more sustainably, including:

• Being mindful when sourcing plants - are you choosing plants that are suitable for your garden? Will they thrive naturally and help support pollinators? Have they been responsibly grown or imported? Have you travelled a long distance to collect them?
• Avoiding harm wherever possible - have you used chemical pesticides or fertilisers? Are there different methods you could adopt that promote a healthier garden such as the "no dig" approach? Have you moved to peat-free compost?

• Be proactive in creating a positive impact - does your choice of plants contribute to biodiversity in your area? Are you able to increase the amount of green space? Have you reserved areas for wild growth or have reduced the frequency you mow a lawn?

Within each of these categories, there are numerous paths you can take.

Why is sustainable gardening important?

As climate change accelerates, it’s down to all of us to do what we can to support nature, making sustainable gardening more important than ever. The RHS Gardening in a Changing Climate report found that around 50% of respondents had noticed changes in public gardens and changed their gardening practices in response to perceived climate change. Your garden is the space where positive changes can happen. 

Gardening sustainably will:

• Improve the health of your garden - by avoiding chemicals, supporting biodiversity and choosing plants appropriate to your environment, your garden will be much healthier.
• Attract and protect wildlife - planting native trees, shrubs and flowers to offer plenty of shelter for small animals, helping attract wildlife to your garden and ensure they have a safe, green space - especially in urban areas. 
• Encourage pollination - sustainable gardens also encourage pollination through methods like rewilding, providing water and avoiding pesticides. This helps ensure the survival of pollinators like bees, helps plants grow and supports food production. 
• Improve mindfulness - gardening regularly and spending time in a flourishing green space have been shown to have a positive impact on mental health. For more information, take a look at our guide on how gardening can improve your mental health.

How is climate change impacting gardens?

As a result of climate change and unpredictable weather patterns, the plants and wildlife in our gardens are being affected. Insects like the Wasp Spider are migrating from the south coast to cooler climes further north, while the Woodland Trust has reported plants flowering by almost a month in advance. In the last five years, the vast majority of people the RHS surveyed have seen plants dying due to waterlogging or frost.

Unpredictable weather can cause plants and trees to bud or flower before pollinators are active, and completely destroy crops of tomatoes, cucumbers or lettuce. Ultimately, climate change has very real effects on gardens that we can already see, and these are likely to become more pronounced in the future.

As these changes continue, the effects will become more dramatic and plants and wildlife that have adapted to the UK environment will struggle to grow which will have a knock-on effect for fauna that depend on them.

How to create an eco-friendly garden

Fortunately, no matter what kind of garden you have, there’s lots we can do to do our bit and help out the environment. We take a look at these in more detail below.

1. Resilient plants and shrubs

With changing weather conditions making it harder for more sensitive plants to grow, it’s a good idea to plant hardy, resilient plants and shrubs. These should be sympathetic to your environment and they’re non-invasive. Some ideas include:

• Lavender - these drought-tolerant plants are easy to grow and work well alongside other shrubs and perennials. English lavender usually has a long lifespan and is hardy. It’s also great for pollinators like bees and butterflies.
• Euphorbia - extremely useful garden and house plants with plenty of different cultivars. Their flowers are normally vibrant and long-lasting and can create great ground cover.
• Bergenia -  Bergenia are easy to grow, evergreen perennials. They support pollinators and are a great year-round addition to your garden.

As you incorporate more plants and shrubs into your garden, keep in mind that it's not just about building a garden that’s resilient against climate change. We should also be doing what we can to minimise pollution where possible. This can also mean planting hedges and trees, which absorb carbon dioxide and make great homes for small creatures - especially in urban areas. We’ll look at this in more detail below.

2. Plant trees

Planting trees is one of the most eco-friendly impacts you can make on your environment. Their benefits include: 

• Absorb carbon dioxide - on average, trees can absorb between 10 and 40kg of CO2 per year through photosynthesis. The exact number will depend on a number of factors, but still shows the importance of growing trees where we can. 
• Provide food and shelter for thousands of species - without trees, we may also lose species of wildlife, too. 75% of bird species use trees as their habitats, and so by planting more, we’re ensuring that all species of animals have plenty of shelter and food to enjoy. 
• Improve soil health and prevent flooding and erosion - by slowing down and absorbing rainwater, taking moisture out of soil and reducing water streaming into towns and villages. 

The type of trees you can plant will vary depending on your garden and the type of soil you’re using. The Woodland Trust recommends planting two-year-old saplings, as their small roots will adapt to your soil quickly. You can read their full guide on tree species and their growing conditions here.

When planting trees, you do need to make sure you’re looking after them properly. When they’re young, they may need extra water, and you’ll also need to clear weeds away from their stems. It’s also a good idea to add mulch around the trunk to insulate their roots and help retain moisture. As they grow, it’s important to prune broken or struggling branches and cut competing shoots. 

Many Henchman customers swear by our tripod ladders for trimming trees. They provide a secure, steady base from which to keep your trees in tip-top condition.

3. Grow hedges

Like trees, hedges also play a key role in sustainable gardening. Simply replacing your fence with a hedge can make a world of difference in your eco-friendly garden, such as:

• They capture carbon dioxide - and improve air quality. 
• They slow wind speeds - preventing erosion and aiding plant growth. 
• They provide ‘corridors’ for wildlife to travel in safety - think of these as a motorway for animals!
• They’re home to predatory insects - keeping the numbers of pests, like aphids, down.
• Provide nesting spaces for birds.

Planting a hedgerow is easy and is similar to planting trees or shrubs. They provide a much more sustainable alternative to a fence while still providing privacy and being relatively easy to maintain. Read our guide on Using Hedges as Fences for more information.

4. Grow your own food

Growing your own food provides many benefits - it’s therapeutic, rewarding, inspires better eating habits and ensures you spend plenty of time outdoors. And, of course, you’re doing your bit for the planet in more ways than one. 

Our food travels an average of 4,076 miles, according to foodmiles.com (if you use their calculator tool, you can break this down by food type and country!). Growing food right outside your kitchen means it doesn’t have to travel up and down the country to reach your plate, so no carbon emissions are released into the atmosphere. 

There’s also no plastic packaging involved (in Europe, 900 billion packaged food items are consumed each year) and food waste is also reduced - especially as you’ll be excited to try something you’ve grown yourself. 

To start growing your own food, you’ll need to prepare a spacious patch with good soil and in a location that will receive a good amount of sunlight. Depending on the time of year, you can grow a variety of fruits and vegetables each season, but we recommend starting with what you love to eat the most. 

We write monthly gardening guides that feature what to grow and when. Read our recent guides here:

• Gardening in June
• Gardening in April
• Gardening in March

You can also read our step-by-step guide to growing your own veg, featuring handy tips from gardening charity Life at No.27. 

 5. Reduce water usage

We don’t need to tell you that water is essential in gardening, but we can tell you that there are ways of reducing usage to help with your eco-friendly garden - especially during heatwaves. 

You can start with small switches like using a watering can instead of a hose and watering plants early in the morning or late at night, to ensure the water doesn’t evaporate during the warmest times of the day. 

Another idea is to collect rainwater with a water butt, which can then be used for plants, cleaning greenhouses and even washing your car. Mulching soil also helps reduce water use, as the soil retains more moisture, ensuring your plants are well-watered even during long periods without rain. 

6. Rewilding

Rather than keeping a garden prim and proper with tidy lawns and regularly removing dead leaves and fallen stems, embrace the mess and watch your garden reap the benefits. This is known as Rewilding - a concept that involves reverting to the ways of nature, allowing plants and wildlife to flourish as is natural to them. 

Depending on your gardening style, this may sound like a scary prospect, but don’t worry - we don’t mean never cutting your lawn or letting your hedge grow unkempt. 

There are however little things you can do - or not do - that can actually help the planet. For example, leaving dead leaves on the ground for at least a few days allows the soil to retain any remaining nutrients. Small animals will then also have more places to hibernate beneath in colder months. Holding off for a month or two before cutting grass allows insects more time to reproduce. You can also plant wildflowers instead of having a plain lawn to encourage biodiversity.

While we all want our gardens to be neat and tidy at all times, holding back on some maintenance tasks can help green up your gardening and protect wildlife.

7. Reducing chemicals in your garden

Chemicals such as pesticides can impact wildlife, our own health and your plants’ growth - they’re regulated in the UK for this reason. There are ways of reducing - and, in some cases, avoiding altogether - the use of pesticides in your garden, but please note that some of these can take time. 

• Stay on top of your plants’ health - for us humans, cleanliness helps keep the germs at bay. It’s no different for your plants. Removing dead plants and leaves, keeping pots clear of litter and debris and regularly cleaning your tools can help reduce pests and ensure your plants stay healthy throughout the year. 
• Keep weeding - as annoying as weeds are, removing them by hand helps minimise their growth - even if it is a slower process. 
• Crop rotation - many diseases build up in the soil, so rotating crops helps minimise this build up as certain plants do not stay in one area at a time. This makes it harder for these diseases to ‘grip’ onto their favourite plants. 
• Plant seeds at the right time - many aphids come out during summer, so planting flowers and shrubs at the start of the season means they will be able to withstand these insects when the time comes. 

You’ll need to be patient when implementing some of these methods. But the results are worth it. 

Gardening and sustainability with Henchman

Here at Henchman, our goal is to keep our customers safe and sound - and this applies to our planet, too. Gardening sustainably should be a priority for all of us as we continue to combat the effects of climate change, and the tips included in this guide can help us create greener spaces that support wildlife, protect plants and shrubbery and stay looking beautiful throughout the year. 

We work with charities such at Life at No.27 to help encourage green thumbs up and down the globe. With more and more people getting involved in gardening, together we can increase and maintain natural spaces in the UK and beyond. Read more about our partnerships here. 

For more information about our products, including our Fully Adjustable Tripod Ladders and gardening accessories, browse our website today.