COLUMNIST: KATIE REYNOLDS
The phrase ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ has been used for decades, but the simple message is a good way of ensuring we are doing our bit to protect the planet within our gardens. If we all take some, or all, of the following steps then collectively the readers of Scotland Grows will be making a positive contribution towards the welfare of our environment.
Reduce your carbon footprint by creating an area in your garden to grow your own produce. We can grow fantastic quality tasty fruit in Scotland such as berries, apples, and plums and you will find it so rewarding, plus you are cutting down on food miles by growing them in your own garden. You may already have a vegetable patch, but also consider a bed for cut flowers so that you are not buying imported blooms from the supermarket.
Reduce peat consumption by buying peat free compost for growing your seeds or cuttings, this will protect our peat bogs which are an essential part of our biodiversity as well as helping to combat climate change. The Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh has been peat free for over 20 years with no negative impact to their plants. Peat free compost is on sale in most garden centres so it is an easy substitute to make.
Reduce the amount you cut your lawn to encourage wildlife and your garden’s ecosystem as well as cutting down on the consumption of fossil fuels if you have a petrol mower.
Reuse your garden waste. If you are having any tree surgery, some of the branches can go into a dead hedge or log pile for wildlife, or ask the tree surgeon to chip the wood on site to use as a mulch on your beds.
Reuse plants when you are splitting them in your own garden or have a local plant swap with friends and neighbours. You will create lots of new plants from lifting and splitting, plant them in groups of three and repeat this through the borders for a cohesive design.
Reuse plants once they have flowered. Keep some seed to sow next year and use dry seed heads from alliums and crocosmias as Christmas decorations. Fallen leaves make leaf mould to condition the soil.
Recycle items to give them a second life in your garden. Use old kitchen pots, buckets, or troughs as planters. From a design perspective lots of pots collected together in an impressive display looks much more effective than single ones dotted around the garden. An old chimney pot is perfect as the base of a bird bath and wooden pallets can be turned into a compost bin or a mud kitchen for children.
Recycle water wherever you can. Install water butts on sheds, greenhouses, and downpipes on your house. The weather patterns in Scotland are changing with periods of drought becoming more common. Last spring was the driest in the north of Scotland since 2018, according to the Met Office, and we were close to a hose pipe ban in some areas, so treat water as a valuable resource to collect and recycle.
Recycle hard landscaping materials. If a patio area is being redesigned, the old paving slabs can be repurposed as stepping stones within the lawn or used as the base for a shed or greenhouse, and slate chippings can be used as a decorative aggregate.
Follow the above and you will be flying the flag for the UN World Environment Day this summer!
Katie Reynolds Design is a garden and interior design studio for residential and commercial clients in Aberdeenshire and across the North East.
Katie works on a range of projects from city flats to country houses, public gardens to coastal properties. Follow Katie on Instagram and Facebook for or visit www.katiereynoldsdesign.co.uk to browse some of her recent projects.