Top Eco Gardening Tips To Try This Winter

Now that the year is coming to an end, it is time to say goodbye to the garden and let it rest for the year ready to reset in spring. While you are at this stage in the year you can start doing a few things to make your gardening more eco-friendly next time around.

Use a compost bin

A compost bin is likely the best tool you will ever bring into the garden and it is something which cannot be replaced in its value for the garden. Instead of relying on waste disposal to get rid of your food, paper and garden waste, let the garden do it for you! Place your compost bin in a sunny spot and fill it with food scraps, grass trimmings and leaves, and even sensitive documents which you want to get rid of. All of these things will rot down and provide you with nutrient rich compost for next year.

Plant your scraps

If you have a random lettuce here and a tomato there, don’t simply throw them away. You can use the heart of a lettuce and the seeds of a tomato to grow new fruit and vegetables to eat. Soak your lettuce heart in a couple of cm water for a few days until it sprouts and then plant it in soil. Rinse and dry your tomato seeds and germinate in the house before transferring to a greenhouse or pot outside. You can end up with new lettuce and fresh tomatoes through the year and this can be done with many of the scraps you leave around.

Save your fat

Fat is something which we will usually pour into the bin or down the sink after feeding ourselves but this isn’t the only thing we can do. By saving fat in a small tub lined with cling film in the fridge, we can add in some nuts and seeds and then hang this outside for local birds to eat as a homemade fat block. Birds need us even more when it’s cold so this could be a great idea.

Collect Rainwater

Rainwater is something we all see a lot more of in the winter and it goes to waste if we don’t use it. Rather than having to use the hosepipe next summer why not install a waterbutt in the garden now and collect water throughout the winter ready to be used next year!

Attract Bees

Bees are amazing creatures and they are ones which help keep the garden thriving and plants multiplying. If you want to make sure your garden can keep itself growing and multiplying through the years you will want to attract bees. You can do this by planting different things which bees enjoy such as large buddleia or hydrangea. They will stay in your garden all year long and pollinate your garden to keep it replenishing itself year after year. This will save you paying money to go out and buy more plants every year.