Green Living: In the garden

By Giles Broadbent on February 25, 2010 4:17 PM |

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By Andrew Williams

Although the weather may still be distinctly wintry, we are now entering March and I'm hoping in the next few weeks spring will well and truly have sprung. For some of us this means brighter mornings, longer evenings, a skip in our step and the sun on our backs.

For me, it means I can't postpone the inevitable any longer - I am going to have to attempt to clear up the overgrown wilderness that passes for my back garden.

Trowels and secateurs are out of the question. I am going to need a machete and a flame thrower.

That wouldn't be a particularly environmentally friendly approach to gardening, but thankfully there are plenty of options for those of us who want to be green minded as well as green fingered.

While gardening may seem like an intrinsically eco-friendly thing to do there is still a minefield of pesticides, toxic materials and other nasties to be avoided.

A good start could be a compost heap. Even the smallest garden can normally accommodate one of these, helping to get rid of waste in an organic way while providing good compost for next year's crops.

Tower Hamlets Council provides compost bins to residents and these are normally available from the Yabsley Street recycling centre. You can also pick up a wormery which is a fantastic way of getting rid of food waste.

To help you further on your green gardening path you could check out websites such as Hen & Hammock which specialises in eco friendly gardening products from seeds to scarecrow kits.