Schools' Garden -sustainability
Gardening is not always beneficial to the environment. Overuse of pesticides and herbicides, addition of fertilisers and use of non-recyclable plastic plant pots, the use of power tools and water wastage as well as peat-based composts, all contribute to carbon emissions and environmental degradation. Increasing carbon in the atmosphere drives climate change which affects the wildlife in your garden in a number of ways.
In the Schools’ Garden you can find many examples of sustainable gardening practices, including rain water harvesting and composting garden waste.
If you want to make your gardening hobby greener, try upcycling materials for use as planters rather than buying new; use ‘no dig’ principles to reduce loss of organic matter from the soil. Through using mulches, weeding by hand and growing green manures, back breaking digging can become a rarer occurence and you will be helping to save the planet at the same time.