What is sustainable garden design?
Sustainable garden design reduces the negative impact on the environment of gardening, which might otherwise occur through pollution, resource depletion and habitat loss. The aim is to work with nature, rather than against it.
Sustainably designed gardens support a wide variety of plant and animal life, frequently by incorporating native plants, creating wildlife habitats and encouraging pollinators. These designs also focus on composting, reusing materials as far as possible, and on reducing the need for new or resource-intensive products.
How can I design and run my garden so that it’s sustainable?
- When selecting plants, use native species and those requiring only minimal watering. You can also choose varieties which encourage pollination and support biodiversity, and those which naturally resist diseases and pests.
- Think about planting a tree – according to the Royal Horticultural Society, if all of the UK’s 30 million gardeners planted a medium-sized tree and looked after it, enough carbon would be stored to drive over 11 million times around the planet.
- Harvest rainwater and use organic mulch to keep the soil moist and reduce the need for watering while suppressing weed growth. Plus it’s always a great idea to have your own composting, to make the soil richer and minimise waste.
- Design in features to provide wildlife habitats, from bug hotels to ponds and birdhouses. Equally, you could choose to leave some areas of your outdoor space untouched, so that they grow wild and again, provide different habitats.
- Think about going peat-free, too: peat releases carbon and you damage natural habitats if you take it for you garden.
- Obviously, it makes sound environmental sense to recycle materials, such as concrete, as much as possible.
- You could also introduce a permeable hardscape (these are the man-made elements like patios, paths, driveways and retaining walls). This allows the soil to absorb water instead of having it roll off as a polluted runoff. Consider pea gravel, decomposed granite, recycled concrete or porous asphalt.
- Finally, a rock garden can also help as an attractive feature, with carefully placed rocks and drought-resistant plants.
Sustainable garden designs from AS Landscapes
At multiple award-winning Surrey-based AS Landscapes, we’ve been in the gardening sector for more than two decades. We specialise in every kind of hard landscaping, from driveways to patios, fencing and more.
We’re very aware of the importance of providing services in a sustainable way, and can help you to have a garden that’s as gentle on the planet as possible.
As a local company, our transport footprint is pretty low, we use recycled materials wherever we can and we’re always happy to advise customers on maximising environmental friendliness.
What’s more, in 2022 we won an award from Marshalls for the best use of ethically sourced Fairstone, which is this company’s range of high-quality landscaping products, particularly paving slabs and walling.
Take a look at our landscaping services and be in touch if you have a query about sustainability issues, or indeed anything else.