Climate-Smart garden

Consume less and smarter for the climate

If you look at the very reason for the climate problems, which are greenhouse gas emissions, then you can minimize emissions by thinking about how you consume. Goods that are consumed generate greenhouse gas emissions both during production and during transport. Life cycle analyzes are not really easy to find, but here are some thoughts about it.

Overall, it is possible to think second hand when buying something for the garden, which is more environmentally friendly than new production. It is also better to use something throughout its lifespan, preferably to repair it if it breaks, and finally to recycle it.

If you use instant turf in your garden you can get many benefits like less water, less care.

Natural stone is climate smarter than concrete

The stone industry and a concrete manufacturing company, together with the Australian Technical Research Institute, have made a comparison about the climate impact between Australian concrete products versus Australian natural stone and imported Chinese stone (2014). The comparison shows that Australian natural stone has the lowest climate impact. 

Because natural stone has a longer life than concrete, in some cases concrete products have a greater climate impact than imported stone, taking into account that one has to replace the concrete stone in order to maintain the function during the time that natural stone still holds. 

In addition, my guess is that the most low carbon to use as a wear layer is stone flour or gravel, especially if you take it from a nearby quarry. However, it is nothing I have found evidence for in numbers.

Climate-friendly wood used instead of stone?

In some cases you may be able to use wood instead of stone, and if you use local wood, the energy consumption is also very small. However, there are other considerations to do about the surface treatment of wood, which can be more or less environmentally harmful depending on how the wood is protected from rot.

Aim for electric or manual machines

From a climate point of view, everything should be done manually, but there is no need to ruin the back or joints, when there are tools and machines that facilitate the maintenance.

 Most garden machines are available today with electric power, and it is preferable to run machines on gasoline. Many of our garden machines are mostly unused for most of the season, so joining together some neighbours when getting a machine is also a good way to reduce climate impact.

Plant purchases and climate impact

When it comes to plants it is not easy to give advice, but many perennial plants are transported long distances, so locally produced plants have a lower impact. 

Carrot plants also do not require any peat during production. Peat otherwise binds coal over a very long time and is regarded as fossil fuel when it comes to energy production. The same carbon is released when used for soil substrates as the soil breaks down over time. 

A safe way to minimize climate impact is to propagate their plants themselves through seeds, cuttings and by dividing plants with garden friends.

Make your own soil and nutrition and reduce transport

One can also minimize transports by manufacturing soil to the garden pots themselves. Provided you have a permeable soil – it becomes too compact you can lighten it up by mixing in compost from leaves. 

Manure can still be bought, even if one comes a little way by mixing nutrient-rich, fresh grass clippings or watering with nettle water. Betting on a wood chipper in the neighborhood can be a good idea, in order to avoid releasing branches when pruning trees, shrubs and hedges. 

It will be fine compost and can also be used as cover material and aisles in the kitchen area.

Benefit from biodiversity

Something that the garden can really contribute to is to promote biodiversity, which decreases as a result of climate change. In gardens, there is generally flowering over a much larger part of the year than in today’s agricultural landscape. 

One can also make sure that there is plenty of dead wood in the form of rice heaps, stumps and stems. The variety is also greatly favored by the fact that there are small, fish-free waters, so a small pond (preferably natural pond) with some aquatic plants also provides a contribution.

Checklist for climate-friendly cultivation and garden:

• Choose natural stone instead of concrete.
• Recycle concrete slabs.
• Buy used materials and tools.
• Create what is broken instead of buying new.
• Go for good quality that lasts a long time.
• Use electric garden machines or manual tools.
• Join the neighbours for machines that are not used so much.
• Buy locally produced: plants, stone, wood and gravel.
• Tile everything you prune into compost and cover material.
• Buy bcarrot plants as far as possible.
• Propagate plants on their own by dividing, cuttings and seed sowing.
• Manufacture your own seed pots and the brim of recycled material.
• Replace your own plants and seeds with other growers. Or give away.
• Cultivate plants that favour biological diversity.
• Save rice and stumps for biodiversity.
• Install a small pond (preferably natural pond).
• Use natural manure (preferably organic) from cows, horses and chickens, instead of mineral fertiliser (NPK), which both cuts on natural resources and requires a lot of energy to manufacture and transport.
• Compost and cover. Let as much as possible of the garden waste go back to the garden in the form of new soil.
• Dig down bio coal in cultivation boxes and discounts, and you are joining carbon dioxide in the ground. In addition, the coal keeps both water and nutrients and also improves the soil structure.
• Avoid burning garden waste. Tile and compost instead, or leave at a recycling center that makes bio-coal or compost soil.
• Grow your own organic vegetables instead of buying sprayed and long distance transported.