How to be a green gardener

Most gardeners have a healthy respect for nature and the environment, but there are always things we can do to make sure that they are as ‘green’ as possible. Here are some of our favourite ways to turn up the eco-friendly in your own back garden…

The first and most obvious way is to make sure that everything you use in and on your garden is organic, wherever possible.  If you cut out the chemicals, pesticides, weed killers and other nasties, swap fertilisers for natural; manure and make the most of crop rotation, it’s much better for the health of your garden, the organisms that inhabit the soil and all the wildlife that you want to encourage.

Make your own compost – it’s good for cutting down on household waste and also means that you won’t need to use garden chemicals.  This leads us nicely into fruit and vegetable patches – compost them well with home-made compost and hopefully you can grow your own crops, which is great for the environment and cuts carbon emissions as it means you’re not relying on transporting food in from overseas. Home grown produce also tastes fantastic and it saves you money too.

Keep the bees happy – they aren’t just cute little creatures that pollinate the flowers but they are essential to the eco-system and we need to encourage them into the garden and look after them! If you want to tempt the bees into your garden, bee-friendly plants like poppies, lavender and sunflowers are a big draw to these helpful insects, and give them a nice varied diet.

Leave some areas in the garden to grow naturally, provide wood piles and even leave the nettles to grow – they give local hedgehogs and butterflies a home, as well as being a good place for some species of beetle to nest. The birds will love the extra beetles – and birds are a great addition to any eco-friendly garden, acting as natural pest control. Invest in a few bird feeders to attract smaller birds like sparrow and robins, Bird feeders can help garden species like sparrows, tits and robins. Collect your rainwater in a water butt, and use water such as bathwater or sink water that’s already been used in the bathroom or kitchen to water the garden; this saves water use and money as well as energy.

It’s easy to make your garden into a wildlife friendly ‘green’ space, with a little thought and a few less chemicals.

Decking for summer - Some design ideas

The perfect garden needs to have comfortable areas in which you can relax, soak up the sun (well, we can but hope), entertain and generally enjoy the outdoors.  Adding some stylish decking is great for al fresco socialising as well as giving the impression of more room to the house.

If you’re drawn to a classic feel and look, you can create a gorgeous al fresco dining area by adding decking and then surrounding it with raised flower beds. Wooden decking is popular and also eco-friendly as it lets water drain through to the soil underneath. You can use this style decking to make your garden look longer too, by using narrow boards that run end to end.

To add to the ambience and relaxed dining, you could also add an outdoor sofa which gives you the option of chilling out in the garden even if it’s a bit cooler or damper. If you’re buying an outdoor sofa to sit on your decking, though, we’d advise you to think about adding an all-weather ­canopy for obvious reasons!

Add a more sophisticated evening feel with subtle lighting that will enhance the whole garden. There are so many different lighting ideas to choose from, you really can experiment with whatever you think will look good. Try adding a few mounted spotlights, candles and lanterns, even ostentatious chandeliers can work – try wrapping overhead beams  with greenery and pretty flowers, strings of ornamental lights and tiki torches in surrounding borders.



You can jazz up existing decking with one of the attractive stains and paints available. There’s a whole range of products on the market that can be used to stain wood, so check out your local garden centre for inspiration. This gives you a really good way to enhance decking; and also introducing more colour into your garden. When you’re looking for the perfect paint, imagine how it will look with the existing garden, for example you could match it to existing fencing and furniture or deliberately go for a contracting look.

Another way to brighten up an area of decking is by quite literally mixing it up a bit. You can make a feature out of it by mixing up the widths and styles of the boards and coming up with your own unique design.

If you don’t want a decked area right next to the house you could even think about adding a freestanding area which can give you a ‘den’ – or a secluded reading and thinking place right at the bottom of the garden.

If you are looking for ideas and want to talk over inspiration with the experts, come and chat to the expert landscapers at John Lessels.