5 Ways To Make A Difference

As we become more aware of the problems caused by plastics, garden chemicals and unsustainable water use, Mark Diacono shows you how to garden with nature in mind

We gardeners tend to be nature lovers. We are typically twice as likely as nongardeners to feed the birds, almost half of us avoid products tested on animals, and 83 per cent of GW readers are keen to use less plastic.* We are out there with plant and animal life around us, our fingers in the soil: how could we not be attuned to nature?

Yet with our planet under unprecedented pressure, even we can do more in crucial areas. Despite peat being a finite resource and a carbon sink of global significance, we used three billion litres of it last year. Each handful contributing to climate change and reducing valuable habitat.

Some use glyphosate weedkiller – a potential carcinogen – despite recent studies showing a link between both it and neonicotinoid pesticides in the declining health of bees, the creatures on which we rely for pollinating 75 per cent of our food crops. Climate change is likely to bring us hotter summers and annual rainfall delivered in fewer, yet heavier, instalments. The way we garden can help alleviate or exacerbate the pressure on our freshwater resources, as well as influence the ability of our gardens to deal with heavy downpours and drought.

Often, knowing how to make a real difference is all we need to take action. I’ve looked at five simple ways we can challenge ourselves to help the planet and I’ve spoken to garden experts for their views. Planting designer and ecologist, Professor Nigel Dunnett told me, “As with ourselves, if we set our garden up with a healthy lifestyle it reduces the need for us to medicate. In many ways, the more we turn to chemicals, water and other interventions, the more of an admission of gardening failure it is.”

A win-win situation