The document discusses how to garden in an environmentally friendly way. It provides tips for reducing waste and using sustainable materials. Some key points include using compost and mulch to nourish soil instead of chemicals, collecting rainwater for watering, planting drought-resistant species, and creating habitats for beneficial wildlife like ladybugs and lacewings to naturally control pests. The overall message is that small actions like these can significantly benefit the environment while gardening.

1. DIGGING FOR THE FACTS Community Services
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Find out about your impact on the environment.
Peat (used in many composts) is organic and natural, but its use in
gardening is responsible for the destruction of many of the UK’s
Greenfingers
peat bogs. This is a delicate habitat that regenerates very
slowly – so with the loss of the peat, you also lose the wild flowers
Environmentally
and specialist wildlife that depend on them. 96% of
native peat bogs have now disappeared and the Friendly Gardening
remaining 4% are under threat due to demand for peat
from gardeners and growers. This demand is now
threatening to cause damage to peat bogs in Europe as
well.
Similarly, damage is being caused by moss collection
from the wild, for hanging baskets, rather than from
managed sources.
If considering furniture in the garden, an eco-
friendly gardener would ensure that furniture is not made using
hardwoods taken from the wild, but those grown in a sustainably
managed forest.
Consideration also needs to be given to the chemicals in
preservatives and paint used to treat and colour the furniture and
the implications these may have in contaminating the surrounding
environment.
For more information contact:
Leicestershire County Council's Environmental Resources Centre, Heritage Services,
Holly Hayes, 216 Birstall Road, Birstall, Leicestershire LE4 4DG or (0116) 267 1377
Or Stepping Stones C.M.P., Environmental Action, Sustainable Development Services,
Community Services Department, Leicestershire County Council, County Hall,
Glenfield, LE3 8TE or (0116) 265 7264
Or Sustainable Development Office on (0116) 265 7242
address at County Hall as above With support from:
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2. WILD PATCHES MORE FUN, LESS STUFF
Remember the simple environmental chant "reduce, re-use, recycle".
Gardening is a favourite pastime, with a growing number of A gardener can do much to follow this rule!
people turning their hand to creating a small pocket of paradise in
•If you create a rockery, use reclaimed stone or stone substitutes.
their own backyard, and for many it gives a rare opportunity to
Quarrying causes severe damage to the countryside. Many limestone
connect with nature. products are taken from limestone pavements (rocky areas that have lots of
cracks running through where many wild flowers grow).
Now, more than ever before, it is important that gardeners turn •Use recycled timber where you can. For example, old joists to build a
“green” and become eco-friendly, thinking about how pergola, recycled railway sleepers to make raised beds, or old wooden
their every action could affect their own mini-nature pallets for fencing. If you do have to use new timber, avoid tanalised or
reserve and the wider pre-treated timber and ensure it has come from a sustainable timber
environment. producing source which is accredited with the FSC logo.
•Think about using recycled plastic fencing materials. This new product is
Eco-gardening is all about generating a healthy available ready coloured - so you won't need paint either!
balance and working with nature to conserve the world’s resources, •Go to a salvage yard. Old chimneys or wheelbarrows can make great planters.
minimise pollution and encourage wildlife. •Think about product miles – these are the miles your purchase has travelled
to reach you. Support the local economy, by buying local products to help
Eco-friendly gardening encompasses many of the beliefs of reduce transport energy.
wildlife gardening (managing the garden to attract a variety of •To reduce the miles that food travels, shop at Farmer's Markets or, better
wildlife) and organic gardening (avoiding chemicals). Eco-friendly still, grow your own food such as herbs and tomatoes.
gardening also shows how local action can help to protect the global •If you have garden lighting, ensure minimal wattage to avoid light pollution.
environment for the benefit of current and future Consider using lights that are solar powered. Solar powered water features
generations. are also now available, helping reduce the use of non-renewable fuel as
energy sources.
This leaflet aims to highlight some areas of •Send your unwanted gardening tools to charities. Many are sent to the Third
gardening that can produce significant benefits for World or used at charity gardening groups.
the environment through small and simple steps. •Use cut down plastic drink bottles to make mini-cloches for seedlings.
Every gardener will have their own personal
•Use buckets made from recycled car tyres, ground tumbled recycled glass
preferences and priorities, which will govern their for mulch and paths, reclaimed timber bird boxes or planters and recycled
choices on how they garden, but it is hoped that the plastic plant pots.
information here will help to guide you through those •Think how you can recycle things you use in the garden, such as old flower
decisions. pots, compost used for seeds, or prunings from shrubs that could act as next
year's plant supports.
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3. WATER, WATER GO ORGANIC
Water is essential to life in the garden. There are simple steps you Avoid using chemicals, such as pesticides, in the garden. Many of
can take to help save water. these are applied repeatedly and can begin to affect the food chain
of the animals that feed on the pest species. Many birds and insects
• Collect rainwater that runs off the roof of the shed and then use are natural predators of the pests that chemicals are primarily used
this to help water your garden. Target specific plants and areas, against, and stopping use can
rather than using it freely across the whole garden. immediately result in an increase in garden visitors.
• Avoid watering in the midday sun, as the water will • Soft soap sprays, such as diluted washing up
evaporate in the heat. The best time to water the garden is early liquid or purpose bought solutions, can be used for
morning, or evening, and when not windy. the organic control of many pests, for example
red spider mite, a common pest of greenhouses and
• Use washing-up water to water roses. garden flowers, such as fucsias and carnations. The
The washing-up
best solution to stop colonies forming is to keep the
detergent can help combat aphids.
air damp and spray regularly.
• Stop watering the lawn. Even when grass looks dead, with the
• Larger pests, such as caterpillars, can be handpicked from plants,
first heavy rain it will return to green.
or tolerated!
• Remember to mulch to help reduce evaporation from the soil.
• Biological controls are available to treat pests such as vine
• Water less frequently, but deeply and thoroughly. This will also weevil and whitefly. Often the biological control is a
help plants to develop healthy, deep root systems. predator or parasite that affects the target species and
reduces, or controls, populations. To control slugs a parasitic
• Grow drought tolerant plants such as those from nematode is “watered into the soil”. This attacks them and
Mediterranean countries, for example, thyme and rosemary. eventually kills them. To control whitefly in green houses a
More drought resistant plants often have silver and grey parasitic wasp, Encarsia formosa, is used. It is harder to use
foliage, for example, lamb's ear and lavender. this type of control in the garden and better to attract
beneficial wildlife to achieve a harmonious balance.
• Use a watering can whenever possible, rather than a hose. If you
do use a hose buy a trigger nozzle.
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4. CHEMICAL CONCERNS BE HEAP HIP – CREATE A COMPOST CORNER
Chemicals used in the environment have been All households generate organic waste, like vegetable peelings, and
shown to seep into ground water supplies. Others garden waste, which is normally disposed of via the bin to a landfill
have been shown, over time, to affect people’s site. Waste analysis suggests that there are at least 4 tonnes of
health. Many garden chemicals are now being household waste a year that could be composted.
banned and safer alternatives recommended.
• By creating a compost heap, the waste in your
• Timber treatments and preservatives should bin is reduced. The end result is a product you
be avoided where ever possible as, by their can use to mulch your
very nature, they are persistent, toxic flower-beds and enrich your soil.
products. It is best to choose the right wood
for the right job. • A compost heap is also a valuable habitat.
Locate it in a shady corner of the garden. Garden waste, grass
• Untreated wood, like oak and sweet chestnut, will last for 20 clippings and household vegetable matter can all be added and
years, even in contact with the ground. allowed to rot down and decay. Shredded newspaper and
cardboard can also be added. Plants such as nettles and comfrey
• Fence posts can be given metal supports to reduce rot. can be grown and then mixed in to the heap to act as a compost
activator.
• Linseed oil can be used to protect wood that is not
in contact with the soil, thus avoiding harmful • Healthy compost should be dark brown, crumbly and smell sweet.
chemicals. It is essential to keep your compost heap aerated, so regularly
fork over the pile.
• Be careful when you come to
empty your bin, or turn the
compost, you may find it has
become a residence for small
mammals and amphibians.
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5. ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS ATTACK OF THE APHIDS
The soil is the essential ingredient for healthy plants in every
garden. Soil needs nourishment. One of the commonest garden pests are
aphids, which attack many plants, especially
• Decaying organic matter, such as leaves, well- the garden rose.
rotted manure or home-made compost, being
dug in or added as mulch, adds nourishment to Aphids are small, soft-bodied, insects which can range in colour,
the soil. Soil conditioners and non-chemical between species from pale green through to brown, purple and
fertilisers also include extracts from seaweed. black, depending on the time of year. They form dense colonies and
Alternatively, a “green manure”, or cover crop produce sticky honeydew to act as a deterrent
such as clover, can be grown. This is then dug to the ladybirds, that feed on them. This
in to improve and enrich the soil. honeydew is favoured by ants, which harvest it.
Aphids also act as a staple in the diet of birds
• Mulches can be spread over flowerbeds to reduce weeds and be like the blue tit. Aphid attacks weaken plants
made from shredded bark, lawn clippings, or and the sticky honeydew can attract diseases
composted leaves. These often help reduce water such as sooty moulds.
loss from the soil – plus they attract beneficial
earthworms which, over time, work the mulch into • Aphids can be treated organically by
the soil. spraying with water containing a soft soap
solution. Alternatively, regularly spray plants
• When growing vegetables, use crop rotation to with water, to knock the aphids off. Attacks
avoid the spread of disease and can also be reduced by ensuring that plants are
depletion of nutrients from the not over-fed, causing the lush growth that
soil. aphids love.
• Avoid using peat pots for
seedlings. Use recycled,
bio-degradable, paper pots that can be planted straight into the
ground. These breakdown and add to the soil.
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6. COMPANION PLANTING FEEDING STATIONS
Companion planting is the art of growing plants • It is best to leave seed heads as a source of
together, which have a beneficial effect on food during winter. The hollow stems of many
each other. It has been practised since Roman perennials can also offer over-winter shelter for
times and can be a useful way to combat pests. garden insects, larvae and pupae.
• For example, • Trees and shrubs provide food in the form of buds, berries and
greenfly detest members of the onion seeds, nesting and (later in the year) hibernation sites. They are
family so, if you grow plants such as also vital breeding grounds for insects and spiders which, in turn,
chives or garlic, under roses, you will are eaten by larger animals.
have less of these pests. Members of
the onion family also have fungicidal • For example the native hawthorn, often used in countryside
properties, so growing them can help hedgerows, supports over 300 different types of insect.
combat blackspot on roses.
• A bird table is a valuable asset for the garden. It offers a
• There are many plants that act as natural insecticides, great reward in terms of being able to watch our feathered
for example parsley will deter greenfly and carrot fly, whilst friends. You need to put out food at regular times each day, and
marigolds and nasturtiums repel aphids. Plants such as tansy keep the table clean of debris or droppings. Consider a variety of
and spearmint deter ants. food types to support the widest range of birds.
Remember not all species will use a table, some
species such as sparrows and wrens prefer to
feed on the ground.
• If you have a pet cat, put a bell on the collar.
Domestic pets are responsible for
many deaths of garden wildlife.
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7. CREATURE COMFORTS BEAT THE BUGS NATURALLY
The best pest control is to attract natural predators.
There are about 250 species of bird that breed in Britain each These include many ground beetles, centipedes and
year. flying insects such as lacewings. Lacewings feed on
aphids and can be attracted by providing suitable
• Nest boxes are useful to encourage birds to breed and roost in shelter.
the garden. The size of the hole has a
great influence on what uses it. Tits use • Rotting log piles and undisturbed ground are
boxes with the smallest holes (30mm), important habitats, providing nooks and
whilst a 50mm hole will allow usage also by crannies for many of these insects, and should
sparrows and robins. Bird boxes should be considered in the garden. A log-pile also
always be cleaned out in the autumn to help provides cover and damp hollows for frogs,
stop the spread of diseases. toads and other amphibians.
• Consider having a birdbath. Ideally you • Hoverflies also feed on adult and young aphids. Hoverflies look
should regularly change the water and keep like wasps, due to their yellow and black markings, and can often
it topped up. be seen hovering over open flowers within the garden. They are
excellent pollinators and are attracted to plants with white and
• Many catalogues include bat boxes, a yellow colours, such as the pollen rich poached egg plant
variety of bird boxes, as well as wooden (Limnanthese douglasi), or native flowers such as the ox-eye
butterfly and bee shelters. Alternatively, daisy.
you can often buy these from many
environmental charities – helping spread
your “green” influence.
• A pipistrelle bat can eat up to 3500 insects
a night and will often hunt over a pond to
feed on midges and moths attracted by the
water.
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8. • In Britain there are 43 types of BOUNTIFUL BUTTERFLIES AND BEES
ladybird whose colours include yellow, as
well as red. In the springtime, ladybirds Many features that are beneficial to wildlife are plants that we
lay their eggs next to greenfly colonies often choose for our gardens, such as the Buddleia, often known as
and the young larvae then feed on these. the "butterfly bush". This was introduced from China, but supports
over 20 different British butterflies - more than any native plant.
• Many gardening catalogues now include
• Butterflies are popular visitors to the garden and are generally
“ladybird lodges or lounges” (wooden shelters for hibernating
attracted by purple, pink and mauve flowers. Many plants are
insects), since the ladybird can live for over a year and
labelled as butterfly plants, such as the ice plant, aubretia, sweet
hibernates in winter.
williams and cranesbills. All are nectar rich.
• Leave crumbling stones, bricks and • By leaving the lawn to grow and seed, many wildflowers will be
walls. These provide hiding places for given the opportunity to grow and spread in. A flowering lawn will
insects and spiders. Stonework and bare attract butterflies such as the meadow brown. Often,
soil patches also provide areas for cuckooflower (lady’s smock) will appear, which then attracts the
basking insects to warm in the sun, and orange-tip butterfly whose larvae feed on them.
hunting areas for spiders.
• Consideration needs to be given to plants upon which butterflies
• When cleaning your shed in winter, lay their eggs, as well as food plants – so butterfly favourites,
leave hibernating lacewings, queen such as stinging nettles, should be considered. A nettle patch
wasps, spiders, and rodents, which may supports four types of butterfly in the garden - red admiral,
have taken up residence. Do not put small tortoiseshell, peacock and comma.
insects outside – they will die.
• Bees regularly visit pea type flowers such as vetches, broom and
gorse. These flowers have lips, which are
pushed open by the weight of the bee to
release the nectar. If you wish to attract
bees to the garden avoid commercially bred
double flowers.
All of the above help maintain a healthy balance in the garden and
pollinate the plants that we enjoy.
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9. FLOWER POWER MERRY MOLLUSCS
To attract the widest variety of beneficial wildlife, the garden In a Royal Horticultural
should aim to provide natural food for a long period each year. Society survey of gardeners in
2003, slugs and snails were the
• A mixed herbaceous border can be planted with many number 2 top garden pest
wildflowers, or herbs, that provide nectar throughout the
(after the domestic cat!)
seasons. They also offer a spectacular sight in high summer.
There are many options to control slugs and snails in the garden,
• When buying wildflowers and bulbs consider "provenance"
from chemical pellets, which are thought to have damaging affects
- i.e. where the plants have come from. Some wildflowers, bulbs
and shrubs come from Europe and, when grown in this country, on wildlife; copper collars for plants; through to beer traps and
their genetic form can mean you have, for example, flowers that grapefruit skins to attract the pests, or simply just collecting slugs
should be a few inches tall, growing to over a foot in height. and snails by torchlight and then
removing them from the garden.
• Herbaceous flowers, combined with small shrubs, Research has shown that slugs and snails
annuals and ferns, can be planted to benefit tend to avoid coffee granules when put
wildlife and provide interest throughout the year. around plants.
• By selecting native wildflowers and shrubs, • A way to reduce slug damage is to grow young seedlings on before
combined with ornamental varieties, chosen for planting them out.
their value to wildlife as nectar, seed and berry producers, you
can develop a valuable wildlife habitat, providing food, shelter • If your garden is plagued by slugs and snails, try growing plants
and nesting sites for many species, including butterflies, bees, that seem less palatable to them such as cranesbills and hardy
insects and birds. geraniums; plants with hairy leaves such as lady’s mantle; plants
with essential oils in their leaves such as lavender and rosemary;
• Never transplant plants or bulbs from the wild – this is illegal.
waxy-leaved plants such as aquilegias; or plants with acid sap,
Also do not collect seed from the countryside.
such as euphorbias. Many of these are traditional cottage garden
plants and are great for attracting wildlife!
• Don’t be too tidy - accept a few weeds. These are native wild
flowers who have “volunteered” to grow in your garden! Poet
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “What is a weed? A plant whose
virtues have not yet been discovered.”
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10. MOLLUSC MUNCHERS
• Male frogs hibernate at the bottom of garden ponds so, in winter
Gardens cover more than one million acres of land and, with our when icy, ensure holes are made to stop the pond from becoming
countryside under increasing threat, every garden has the potential depleted in oxygen and suffocating them. To keep the pond for
to be a haven for wildlife. It is therefore no surprise that many wildlife don’t stock with goldfish, as they will eat their way
species, which are in decline in the countryside, have begun to through all the insect larvae and frog spawn in future years.
thrive in our gardens. Species such as the common frog, whose
populations were decimated with the loss of field ponds, and the
song thrush whose numbers fell due to changes in the rural
landscape, have seen an increase in numbers thanks to our gardens.
Frogs, hedgehogs and birds like to feed
on slugs and snails, so encouraging
• Hedgehogs also eat slugs and can be lured
wildlife into your garden is one of the
to a garden where shelter is provided by a
most effective ways of reducing the
log pile with a suitable sized gap and
damage done by these and other
covered with leaves. Alternatively, you can
“pests”.
provide a hedgehog hibernation box.
• Ponds are vital sources of water – even an old sink suitably filled
• If in winter you build a bonfire, be careful before lighting it.
will be a habitat for frogs and dragonflies. A wildlife pond can
Quite often such woodpiles attract hibernating wildlife– so
also attract an array of aquatic insects and other wetland
always check for animals, such as hedgehogs, before you strike
wildlife. When considering a pond, remember to have a shallow,
the match. Be aware that garden
sloping side to allow access for wildlife.
bonfires are not permitted in some
areas, which are smokeless zones.
To stock your pond with wildlife, ask a friend with a pond if you can
This is part of a policy to reduce air
get a few buckets full of sludge and, in this way, introduce hundreds
pollution and smog – so check with
of pond creatures.
your local council first.
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