Is A Modern Eco Garden Achievable?

Environmentally friendly gardens are once again back in vogue, bringing nature back to your outdoor space. The 80s and 90s in particular saw ‘fake’ gardens take off as a way to have a well-presented garden without having to spend much time working on it. Common destructive features included plastic grass and plants. It turns out that they don’t age so well in the sun, and can also be harmful to children.

All-natural gardens, may require some extra attention, but believe it or not, it’s worth the effort. Gardening has great benefits – especially for children – and it’d be doing your family a disservice not to take the ‘hard route’ and create a green space. Bearing that in mind, what steps can you take to have a modern and clean looking garden whilst remaining modern and environmentally friendly?

Sculpted Features

One easily achievable way to bring a touch of refinement to your green spaces is to make use of a centerpiece item. This could be as simple as a crafted bench or ornament. Alternatively, you can really harness the idea of nature and implement a nature-invoking water fountain into your outdoor space. A stone fountain will be environmentally friendly whilst subtly adding a natural but modern-looking and effective aspect to your outdoor space.

The added benefit of this, especially if paired with a natural pond, is that you can attract wildlife to your garden seeking to quench their thirst. This brings in countless opportunities to help your children learn about wildlife, too, from frogs and insects to birds and small mammals. They purify the air, to boot.

Compost!

Composting has a huge ranges of benefits for your environment, but can help with the overall design and keeping your garden looking like a modern, well-tended area. By having a designated area for composting, or by purchasing a carbon neutral construction composter, you can develop good habits in terms of putting garden debris away straight away.

A composter also gives you a great and interesting way of showing kids how even their unwanted food can be useful even after they’re done, and even stuff you might not think you need – like egg shells.

Diversifying Your Grass

Lawns are the centerpiece for many homeowners, with overzealous homeowner associations often implementing strict regulations on the upkeep of lawns. An unkempt one might make people think less of you, even if it’s unfair. Unfortunately, lawns are an environmental disaster in gardening terms, creating a biodiversity desert.

To combat this, whilst keeping a good-looking lawn, you need to simply let it do it’s thing with a little extra care. Use a rake to pull off unsightly plants, but keep off weedkiller – which is toxic to children and animals. Let it go brown – fallow – in the off months. And don’t water it – if you’re in a good climate, it’ll look after itself. Alternatively, eschew grass altogether and look at lawn alternatives.

Your garden, despite how green it may be, can sometimes be an environmental problem, not a godsend. By implementing the above tricks and ideas, you can have a good-looking and modern garden without compromising on the environmental aspects.

Photo by Benjamin Combs on Unsplash