Keeping It Green In Our Sunny Garden

The Independent recently reported that our April weather has been hotter than Los Angeles and drier than Madrid. It’s an amazing thought. We’ve seen pretty consistent sunshine recorded at some point every day from the 6th April onwards. The Independent duly noted an unsurprising surge in people flocking to city parks on their lunch breaks. Every year we all do the same thing; we rush to get outdoors as soon as we can, and more in touch with nature. I’ve been spending every moment I can soaking up some rays, happily pottering about in the garden, and frankly I can’t even remember what winter feels like now.

For me, my gardening is just an extension of the green lifestyle I live indoors. I suppose my “lawn is my second living room”, I try to conserve as much as I can and avoid harming both the little world within its borders and the bigger world outside. Now is probably a good time to mention water butts, well in advance of any hosepipe pans this year. Water butts lower your carbon footprint by giving you stored rain or even recycled ‘household’ water for your lawn and plants. That way you don’t create emissions by having yet more tap water pumped to your home. Your garden furniture doesn’t have to be plastic or ‘regular timber’. Sustainable wood products gives you a smart yet rustic feel instead. I love watching the light change as the evening gently falls, sipping wine or cordials on my new picnic bench. It’s so much more pleasant than trying to balance a glass on a wobbly plastic table top.

You can now also avoid the ubiquitous clashing plastic sandpit for the children. The great thing about a wooden one is when they’ve outgrown it, you then recycle it into a rustic vegetable bed, or large raised flowerbed. (And yes, they still have lids to deter both creatures and cats). If you really want to make your children’s day, go the whole hog and opt for a sustainable wood playhouse. Again, in the looks department they win hands down over gaudily coloured plastic playhouses next to your prized flowers and foliage. The space inside is also far more atmospheric for outdoor games, little secret picnics, making up inventive stories, and all the other things that children do to stretch their imagination outdoors.

Photo credit: Sunflower by ’Kay82’.