Designing a greener garden? Aren’t gardens by their very nature green? Well, the answer is, yes and no. Some gardens are greener than others, and we don’t mean simply color. Today we want to talk about environmentally responsible gardening, just one aspect of having a greener lifestyle. Eco-friendly gardening solutions range from pest control through use of beneficial insects to mulching with compost to natural fertilizers. There are no hard and fast rules, because what’s appropriate for an area varies from location to location, and what’s appropriate for your particular landscape depends on a number of factors.
Your library probably has a number of publications, and the wealth of information online is almost overwhelming. How do you choose which practices to incorporate? Bob Vila has some eco-friendly gardening tips, and one of the best is his direction to work with your local county extension agent. While this program is coordinated on a national level through the US Dept. of Agriculture, the individual offices are administered locally, and their personnel have very detailed and specific information that is locally applicable.
Garden beds can help bring more of a variety of nature to your landscape. With the right planning and the right techniques, those gardens can be greener in more ways than just the foliage. Environmentally-friendly gardening benefits you and Minnesota’s environment.
