Plants and Backyard Gardens are Both Attractive and Environmentally-Friendly Additions to Your Home
Plants help you to get back in touch with nature. Not only do they help clean the air, but they consume carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) and convert it back to breathable oxygen. A garden gives you the ability to compost your waste, grow your own food, and support local biodiversity.
When designing your own backyard garden, you should try to choose plants that are suitable to your local eco-system. Plants that can survive in your local conditions will thrive without needing excess fertilizers and pesticides (which are hazardous to wildlife, and can result in the pollution of local waterways). Plant indigenous plants from your local area that will prosper in your environment. To follow are some considerations to take into account when selecting appropriate plants for your garden.
- Climate Your local climate will nurture some plants and kill others. Don't choose plants that aren't suited for the local climate.
- Soil The composition of soil can vary from one region to another. Different plants are better suited to different soil types. Ask the municipal government about the soil in your area, or use a home test kit to self-assess.
- Water Check local snow and rainfall patterns. Choose plants that will require little additional watering in the summer. Apply mulch and groundcovers to help reduce water loss in the summer months. Hills or slopes in your garden will affect the drainage of the soil. Some plants prefer well-drained soils, while others don't.
- The View Consider the view of your garden from various rooms in the house, the direction of strong windows, and the shade that the plants can provide for your house.
Be careful when designing your garden. An improperly-designed garden will not help the environment, but can actually harm the environment.
Backyard Gardens can Help the Environment
- Plants combat the greenhouse effect by consuming carbon dioxide and converting it to breathable oxygen.
- Trees and shrubs provide shade, which helps to cool down houses during hot weather. This cuts down on air conditioner use.
- Plants convert nitrogen into nitrates (fertilizer) which enrich the soil and increase its growing yield.
- Plants filter water for unwanted nutrients and pesticides, thereby improving water quality before it returns to the ground table.
- Plants and vegetation reduce storm-water run-off, which can cause small-scale flooding and wash pollution into local waterways.
- Plants can conserve the diversity of local native wildlife by providing it with shelter.
- Garden furniture and landscaping items, such as rain barrels, can be made from recycled materials. Recycling effectively helps to conserve raw materials for future use.
- An unsealed garden bed allows rainwater to seep into the soil, effectively replenishing the water table. This prevents erosion and landslides. Paving can cause land subsidence in the long term.
- Locally-grown produce in your backyard garden is better for the environment because it cuts down on unnecessary transportation and refrigeration (which both consume energy).
Warning: Backyard Gardens can Hurt the Environment
- Plants which consume more water than rainfall provides can waste alot of fresh water.
- Pesticide-use can harm other wildlife, and even humans, because many contain known carcinogens.
- Pesticides and artificial fertilizers can wash into storm water drains and be carried to nearby waterways, where it will harm aquatic life. Run-off from suburban gardens is a significant cause of water pollution.
- Exotic plants that are not native to the local environment will require pesticides and fertilizers to sustain. They can also escape from the garden and infest nearby woodlands.
- Decking and fences can be made from timber products that are treated with harmful chemicals which can harm wildlife, and even humans.