Conservation Gardening - Part 1

Or Healthy, Sustainable, and Cost-Saving Ways to Garden

The buzzwords ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’ are currently to be found in every garden magazine. It’s a great trend, because who does not want to be environmentally responsible and live in more healthy ways? Usually however ‘green’ means more expensive, but this does not need to be the case and we’ll show you how.


Conserve & Reuse

A very easy way of living more sustainably is to keep from adding to the landfill. You can do so by reusing and conserving whatever you can. Here are some examples.

1. Reuse existing hardscape:
Hardscape that became unsightly over the years can become a new focal point by using one or more of the following options: Always the first choice – especially if you have a nice old brick or flagstone patio – is to get it cleaned. Sometimes that is all that’s needed. Resetting pavers on their sand bed also does wonders while preserving the great ‘used’ look. If you have a cement patio you can get really inventive and use one or more of the methods below to freshen up your patio:

• Acid-stain your patio – the younger the cement the more exuberant colors this method creates, but even old cement can take on a nice new shade, just a bit more subtle (see the picture to the right - this was a 50-year old cement patio)
  
• Cut into shape – cut rectangular cement patios into a new curvy shape. Outline with another material like a flagstone border.
• Break it up and use it as pavers with groundcovers planted in-between – a very natural and beautiful look.
• Or break it up and use the pieces to stack up a retaining wall (see the picture on top.)
• You can also use your cement patio as a perfect base for a new tile, brick, or flagstone patio.

2. Reuse existing plants:
Established and healthy existing plants that don’t look great anymore may become the foundation of your established looking new landscape when pruned and cared for correctly:

• Reduce in size
• Retrain shrubs into their natural shape – no more ‘green blobs’.
• Interplant with new plants for a quick established look. A word of caution: Hire a professional for great results. Renovation an older plant is sometimes a difficult pruning job done over several years.

3. Reuse your plant debris:
Keep your yard waste in your own garden: Old leaves, pruning debris, in short all organic materials from the garden can go right into your compost pile and will after some months provide the ideal basis for new growth. They will have turned into beautiful, nutrient-rich compost that will feed your plants naturally.

And the best is you can use your compost as mulch: Add it about 3” deep to your planting beds twice a year. It looks great and it will feed your plants as nature intended – slowly and constantly. No digging in needed.

As you may have noted, the composting is the ‘double green’: You save the transportation of yard waste to the city’s facilities and you avoid the production and transportation of mulch and fertilizer to use in your yard. An additional bonus: It’s guaranteed organic – especially good to know when growing your own vegetables.