You strive to maintain an eco-friendly lifestyle, but can you merge it with your gardening hobby? Plant shops stock chemical herbicides and single-use plastics, which would compromise your green standards. This guide explains six sustainable gardening habits you should adopt to take care of plants and improve the environment.

  1. Collect Next Season’s Seeds
  2. Create a Compost Bin
  3. Grow Native Plants
  4. Start Canning Your Vegetables
  5. Avoid Chemical Pesticides
  6. Utilize a Rain Barrel

Collect Next Season’s Seeds

a green plant and pot on a table

Seeds are some of the least expensive gardening supplies. The packets are easy to find at most stores, but they’re also single-use paper packets that waste paper. Instead of purchasing them for each new season, collect seeds from your existing plants.

Research the plants you already have at home to learn when their seeds are ready for harvesting. Next year, you can replant them or continue growing them indoors when it’s too cold for an outdoor garden.

Create a Compost Bin

table with a chopping board and wee compost bin on it

Fertilizer is a standard gardening supply that can revitalize plants as you learn how to care for them. They also contain many chemical ingredients that clash with eco-friendly lifestyles. Creating a compost bin is one of the first sustainable gardening habits you should adopt to avoid needing fertilizer.

Collecting household waste and breaking it down naturally in a bin will provide the same nutrients your plants require to thrive. It also keeps household waste out of landfills, so remember to compost things like:

  • Newspaper
  • Fruit peelings
  • Coffee grounds

Given enough time, they’ll decompose into a natural fertilizer that doesn’t cost extra money or expand your carbon footprint.

Grow Native Plants

child taking a picture of a growing bed with a smartphone

Some plants hurt the environment by invading places where they don’t naturally grow. They could distract pollinators from helping native plants to thrive, or deplete the available healthy topsoil, so try to plant only things that you can find naturally growing where you live. Research native plant varieties around your home to support the surrounding wildlife and avoid overcrowding what’s already growing there.

Start Canning Your Vegetables

home-tinned vegetables and fruit on a table

Food waste is a substantial problem that overcrowds landfills with half-eaten food and empty containers. Anyone can minimize their carbon footprint by growing vegetables in their garden. Use natural fertilizers to help them grow and can your veggies after harvesting to make them last. Reusing jars makes your kitchen more sustainable and minimizes how much waste your household contributes to local landfills.

Avoid Chemical Pesticides

a close up of an ant and some leaves

Gardens are a popular place for pests. Insects and other bugs will form homes in your plants and snack on them until the plants die. You may want to get rid of them with pesticides, but those only add chemicals to the environment.

There are a few ways to replace pesticides and keep your garden eco-friendly. First, you can strategize what you plant and where everything goes in your yard. For example, planting basil around tomato plants repels flies and mosquitoes that would otherwise eat away at your tomatoes. You can also sprinkle baking soda around the base of each plant. Ants, slugs, and roaches won’t cross the powder.

Utilize a Water Butt

a rain barrel/water butt by some flowers at the foot of a drainpipe

Your garden will require frequent watering, but that drains the environment of a critical resource. Set up a water butt on your porch or in your garden to collect all the water your garden needs. It’s an excellent step for anyone living in a rainy climate or gardeners who want to minimize how often they use their garden hose.

Try New Sustainable Gardening Habits

a hand holding a plant with a smiling woman in the background

These are just a few sustainable gardening habits you should adopt to make your plants more eco-friendly. Simple tips like collecting rainwater and canning vegetables will transform gardening and harvesting into a hobby that benefits the planet.

Rose Morrison is a home living writer with over five years experience writing in the industry. She is the managing editor of Renovated.com and loves to cover home renovations and decor to inspire everyone to live their best DIY life. When she isn’t writing, you’ll find her baking something to satisfy her never-ending sweet tooth.

Rose Morrison is a home living writer with over five years experience writing in the industry. She is the managing editor of Renovated.com and loves to cover home renovations and decor to inspire everyone to live their best DIY life. When she isn’t writing, you’ll find her baking something to satisfy her never-ending sweet tooth.