Spring has officially begun, and for us that means finally getting outside in our gardens. This spring we are focusing on sustainable gardening.
A sustainable garden is one that supports the local ecosystem and spurns chemical intervention. It’s about reducing your environmental footprint. Here are some basic principles associated with sustainable gardening:
- Do no harm
- Design with nature and culture
- Use a decision-making hierarchy of preservation, conservation, and regeneration
- Support a living process
- Use a system thinking approach
- Use the precautionary principle
- Provide regenerative systems as intergenerational equity
- Use a collaborative and ethical approach
- Maintain integrity in leadership and research
- Foster environmental stewardship
Sustainable gardening is all about gardening in a way that is good for the environment. One of the most important parts of sustainable gardening is the use of native plants. Using plants that are native to your area means less maintenance and less upkeep. It goes beyond using sustainable materials and can help the earth we live in. You may be surprised how easy it is to practice sustainable gardening.
To help you get started, we’ve gathered our top 5 native plants to ALL of Virginia:
- Wild ginger
- Black-eyed Susan
- Wild bergamot
- Trumpet honeysuckle
- Flowering dogwood
We also found some helpful tips from Organic Authority that can help get your garden up and growing:
- Test your soil. Add compost and fertilizer accordingly.
- Companion plant. Certain plants do better than others together.
- Remember to add flowers! They will help attract bees which will help with pollination.
- Compost. Use food scraps, leaf clippings, etc.
- Mulch. This will keep down weeds, aid in moisture retention and protect the plants roots.
This spring we hope you consider ways to make your garden more sustainable. It’s a fun and rewarding way to help the environment and keep our state beautiful!
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