Eco-friendly Garden Ideas, Products & Tips

The beauty of eco-gardening is that it teaches you what biodiversity really is by bringing it into your green space like never before. All our eco-friendly garden ideas are based around the idea of conservation of resources, which means you can expect to find a whole host of hints and tips when it comes to things like soil health and water conservation.

Once you see the results for yourself, you will not be able to resist investing in some stylish garden storage to keep the kids at bay!

One of the secrets we are unveiling is to embrace the natural pairings that Mother Nature figured out thousands of years ago. Companion pairing is all about how putting certain combinations of plants next to one another will help keep pests and bugs at bay without you ever having to turn to chemicals for a little extra help. Peas and apples are notable examples that you may not find next to one another on your plate, but that work wonders outside in the garden.

Next up on the checklist of eco-friendly garden ideas from the team here at Shedstore is composting. Using food waste and garden waste for composting, such as kitchen peelings, eggshells and banana skins, can create nutritious plant food for the garden.

Your homemade compost is a sustainable alternative to peat-based compost, offering cost-effectiveness, nutrient-rich qualities and contributing to environmentally friendly gardening practices. For example, using peat-based compost has a detrimental impact on peat bogs, which are crucial for storing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It is important to use peat-free compost to protect these irreplaceable ecosystems and reduce the depletion of natural resources.

When you picture eco-friendly garden products you might be thinking about some sustainably made wheelie bin storage, but there is far more to it than that. Cover crops help breathe nitrogen into the soil, support the health of worms and microscopic bugs, and can even help prevent erosion from persistent wind and rain. It is all about thinking of the soil as a living, breathing entity, rather than something you simply top up with compost when you need to. The results will speak for themselves.

Take a look at our fencing supplies and you will have half an eye on keeping your dog in the garden, there is nothing wrong with that! But there are also a whole host of little critters you want to invite into your garden as often as possible. Attracting bees, butterflies and other pollinators with a wide variety of different floral offerings, especially native plants that support local wildlife and increase biodiversity, is essential for a healthy ecosystem. Keep the chemical sprays to a minimum, vary up the species in your flower beds, and try to think of your own garden as so much more than an immaculate green lawn.

Every garden needs to conserve its resources, and that applies to water as much as anything. Mulch can be used to gradually feed larger plant species like bushes and apple trees. A selection of drought-tolerant plants around the edges will help reduce the need for watering and maintain balance and nutrition in the soil during the peak months of the summer. Sometimes looking a little beyond the standard annuals, we all know and love can make a world of difference to your garden’s overall health.

Native planting is something that is essential when you want a garden that does so much more than try to force a sense of balance with eco-friendly garden products.

Fuchsia bushes, for example, were imported from Japan centuries ago, which means they are not actually native to the soil conditions in the UK, they just happen to be able to survive. Opting for more plants that are adapted to local conditions will help you support local wildlife and bring the bees back into your garden.

While you may have some close board fencing to keep the neighbour’s dog out, your list of eco-friendly garden ideas also needs to focus on those tiny pests others choose to use chemicals on. A little salt to keep the slugs away from your lettuce and some honey and vinegar spray to defeat certain types of bugs, these are the eco-solutions that are much kinder to the overall health of your garden. Try them and you will be amazed by the results.

No list of eco-friendly garden products would be complete without a few ways to start controlling weeds without chemical herbicides. Bindweed is a good example because it grows everywhere and at a real pace. You can physically pull it out of the ground, you can backfill certain planters and gravelled areas with a semi-permeable mesh, and you can even pour boiling water on them to kill the roots at the source. All without a single synthetic chemical in sight!

Before you click off and take a look at our range of garden awnings or browse our fencing accessories, our list of eco-friendly garden ideas needs to touch upon organic fertilisers. The one we all know about but rarely use is manure. If it is from a large herbivore like a cow or a horse, it will provide all the nutrients, oxygenation and nitration the soil needs to thrive. It might not be as fashionable as a synthetic option, but it costs nothing, and it is what Mother Nature intended.

You can set up a system to collect and use rainwater with nothing more than a couple of pieces of guttering on the side of your greenhouse, followed by a water butt. By using water butts or large containers to collect rainwater from downpipes, you can conserve water, reduce metered water bills, and provide your plants with water that has a lower pH and higher nitrates.

The beauty of this approach is that you are catching something that will fall whether you like it or not, all so you can keep your pot plants, annuals, and veg plants topped up when the sunshine is at its most intense. This is ideal if you really want to strike the perfect natural balance.

As we get ready to round off our tips on how to build your new eco-friendly garden, we need to think about seasonality. Certain bushes and trees need pruning in the spring, others do much better when they are pruned in the autumn. Dead spots in the lawn are best seeded on either side of the intense summer heat. Compost should be turned in every six months to help improve airflow and to stimulate the production of new microbes. The more you think of your garden as a year-long project, the more you will get out of it.

Finally, an eco-friendly garden needs to be able to collect the water that falls on it and put it to effective use. Drip irrigation systems will keep your plants well-watered and avoid pooling water on them that will evaporate under the intense sunshine. Using recycled materials for structures, paths and containers not only promotes environmental consciousness and sustainability but also adds character and charm to your garden.  Feed them from water stored in rain barrels or butts and you will be able to sit out on your new garden decking while the garden almost runs itself!

The beauty of an eco-friendly garden is that it allows you to get back in touch with nature in your own personal way. Your green space will become a labour of love and feel like a work of art, rather than somewhere you spend a few weeks a year during the summer. Throw yourself into the world of building an eco-friendly garden and naturally reduce greenhouse gas emissions and you will find there is so much to see, do, and learn that it never grows old.