As gardeners, we like to think we’re doing what’s right for the world by growing our own food; and to a large extent, that’s true. By growing our fruit, vegetables and nuts, we’re skipping the food miles it takes to haul produce to the supermarkets. We’re also avoiding packaging, and if we’re growing organically we’re saying ‘no’ to fertilizers which have been produced using fossil fuels.
But with all the best intentions in the world, it’s too easy to fall into the habit of buying non-renewable resources (often made from plastic) to help us get our gardens growing. If you want to change your gardening habits and become a more sustainable grower, try these swop-ins, and the world will love you for it.
Bamboo
Bamboo is a thoroughly sustainable material which can be used to replace many of the plastic items you currently use in the garden such as tomato stakes and bean poles. Whereas plastic poles have a best-by date of just 1-2 years, bamboo is longer lasting. And because you can grow it yourself, when it does need replacing, all you need do is cut another one. Before you hold up your hands and shout “It’s too invasive to grow!” head to Charlie’s Bamboo, a nursery which specialises in non-invasive clumping bamboo plants which can be picked up or delivered nation-wide. And for those who live in colder parts of the country where bamboo wouldn’t normally be expected to grow, look no further than Fargesia Nitida (Fountain Bamboo) which one of the world’s most cold-tolerant varieties.
Basket willow
Basket willow is no ordinary willow variety and its long, slender wands can be used to replace plastic hoops. A multi-stemmed shrub, it wands can be harvested each year, leaving the stump to grow again the following season. Because basket willow is supple, it can easily be bent into hoops which, when pushed into the ground and covered in frost-cloth, form the basis of cloches. Basket willow can also be woven into trellis, or fashioned into hurdles which provide shelter and hold back tall foliage. Used fresh, when basket willow is pushed into the ground, it continues to grow and soon sends out roots. When the garden structure is pulled up at the end of autumn, the individual wands can be planted to grow new willow trees. Kahikatea Farm offers pretty purple basket willow with wands that grow up to 2.5m tall.
Flax and cabbage-tree twine
Plastic twine is a seriously unwanted material in the garden. As it ages, it frays and becomes a danger to birds which become tangled in it. It also finds its ways into our compost piles and eventually into our garden where small organisms and worms both ingest it and also carry it into increasingly deeper levels of the soil. Make the decision to ditch plastic twine and replace it with strips of flax and dried cabbage tree leaves. By collecting it ahead of time and pushing it onto a sharp nail on the side of a shed, you’ll always have it at the ready. If cabbage trees don’t appeal (because they drop their leaves over a wide area) consider a tidier dwarf variety instead.
Bracken sun-shelter
Bracken is nature’s shade cloth. Instead of shading young seedlings from the heat of the sun with woven plastic fabric, collect long stems of bracken and push it into the ground over young plants. Bracken is long-lasting and fronds will last for at least 2 seasons. Bracken is also the perfect material for peas to cling onto as they reach upwards for their trellis supports.
Pine needle mulch
So many gardeners choose pea straw as their go-to mulch while, all the time, a renewable alternative which doesn’t take fossil fuels to harvest or grow, lies in drifts waiting to be collected for free. Pine needles are the perfect mulch, breaking down within a year while contributing valuable nutrients to the soil. To counteract the acidity of this mulch, scatter a few handfuls of lime on the garden before laying the pine needles down.