Top 5 Sustainability Tips for the Garden

Sustainability in the landscape is a must. We live in a world of finite resources.

 Mulch and Compost your garden - Go to a local landscape supplies centre and use their courtesy trailer or get it deliverd. The mulch will mean less watering, better soil structure and helathier plants while limiting the amount of weeds that pop up in your garden and spread throughout your neighbourhood. Depending on the style of mulch you choose you could spend as little as $30 per 10m2 if ou use your local council mulch or around $60 for decorative mulches. Compost will create healthy soil that needs much less additives.

 Choose sustainable materials - If you must put in hard surfaces like decking, paving, pergolas etc. Choose materials that have low embodied energies(This is the energy needed to extract, manufacture, transport and install your product). Not only should materials you use in the landscape be low embodied they should have a reasonable longevity. Fantastic choices for low to medium use paths are local toppings.

 Limit the use of hardscapes - How often will you actually have 80people in your backyard to fill a massive deck. Is this something that I could do with plants instead.

 Line your fences with Fruit Trees - Fruit trees keeping on giving with low maintenance. If you don't have the time to be putting in vegetables every 12 weeks and mainaing a vegetable garden maybe fruit trees are for you. They require limited maintenance and you do not have to replant every season. Each year more dwarf varieties come out that take up less space which is fantastic for the small garden. Generally in the Melbourne garden fruit trees require sun for most of the day to provide fruit that is plentiful and tastes good. A fence line is a great spot to find this sun.

 Can I fix it? - Your deck might be looking a little ragged at the momement but perhaps all it needs is a smarter choice of decking boards. Perhaps it just needs a fresh coat of oil. Maybe a coat of paint on the back fence will revitalise the plantings that you have in front of them.