As eco-gardeners, we all want to reduce our carbon footprint and strive to help the environment in any way we can. Today we’re going to explore a specific area where you can help ease your environmental impact, and even contribute in a positive way.

First, what is a carbon footprint?

Your carbon footprint is simply the amount of greenhouse gasses you generate. According to The Nature Conservancy, the average person in the United States has a carbon footprint of 16 tons, while globally that average is closer to 4 tons. They also share that, “To have the best chance of avoiding a 2℃ rise in global temperatures, the average global carbon footprint per year needs to drop to under 2 tons by 2050.”

Of course, this doesn’t happen in a short period of time, but we can make big progress over time with simple changes. In this blog post, we’re going to go over a few ways you can reduce your carbon footprint through your gardening.

Before we get started, you can calculate your carbon footprint using The Nature Conservancy’s calculator here.

Action Step #1: Check Your Gear

When it comes to yard equipment like lawn mowers and weed eaters, there are a few ways you can reduce the emissions you’re sending into the environment:

• Utilize electric varieties that can be recharged rather than refilled with gas.

• Swap them out for completely sustainable choices when possible, such as rakes, push reel mowers, and weeding by hand

Action Step #2: Reduce Your Lawn

While lawns certainly have purpose in our lives for relaxing, playing, and defining areas around our garden beds, there are ways we can reduce our lawns for a more eco-friendly and sustainable landscape.

The fact is, lawns are high maintenance. Not only in terms of cost, but they require an abundance of water, and often toxic fertilizers. Typical green grass lawns provide limited diversity of habitat for our important pollinators and other wildlife, too.

So how can you reduce lawn in your landscape? Consider these ideas:

• Create an herb knot garden. Knot gardens are a formally designed garden in a square frame that were originally used in medieval times as a way for gardeners to organize their plants for culinary and medicinal uses. They are a wonderful option for growing herbs, which pull triple duty: they’re beautiful for landscaping, they can be used in recipes and teas, and they can function as a natural pest repellent! Take a look at this example that we created for a client.

• Convert your lawn into a meadow. Or even a portion of your lawn into a micro-meadow! Not only are meadows the perfect place for connecting with nature and inspiring creativity, they’re also important for pollinators and wildlife in your area, as they often rely on meadows for food and shelter. Take a look at a past case study of ours, where we converted a client’s lawn into a beautiful meadow.

• Water wisely. Maybe you’re renting, and you can’t convert any part of your lawn, or you don’t have the budget to complete the project right now. You can still take action! Implement a wise water strategy, where you’re watering in the early part of the day to maximize the water usage, utilizing rainwater when you’re able to, and sticking to a schedule for watering so you don’t overwater. (Psst…next week we have a blog post all about watering wisely, so if you want to hear when it goes live, get on our newsletter.)

Action Step #3: Assess & Improve Your Soil

If you’ve been on our blog before, chances are you’ve seen us say, “Soil is the foundation of your garden.” Your soil sets the tone for how healthy your plants are, the yield you’ll be able to harvest, and what kind of amendments you need to make to your soil later on. By having healthy soil, your higher plant yield can store more carbon, and you’ll require less chemicals later on to deal with issues such as lack of nutrients and plant diseases.

The best way to assess your soil is with a professional soil test, which will tell you what needs to be addressed. Additionally, adding compost to your soil is the best way to improve its quality.

We have a free guide all about assessing and nurturing your soil, which you can download here.

Action Step #4: Add Native Plants

Whether you’re converting your lawn or just adding a few plants to your landscape, consider planting some native varieties.

Native plants are beneficial for many reasons:

• Being from your area originally, they’re accustomed to the climate, have developed natural defenses against pests, and therefore require less water, fertilizers, and pesticides to survive and thrive.

• Because they require less fertilizers and pesticides, there is less runoff of chemicals and excess nutrients from your landscape, resulting in better water quality in your entire area.

• They improve biodiversity by inviting pollinators and wildlife, which is a key element of a healthy habitat.

Action Step #5: Plant a Tree

One of the most beneficial action steps you can take is to plant a tree. While this might not be something you tackle in the near future, consider it for down the line when you have the time, budget, and space to do so.

While all plants absorb CO2 through their leaves and store the carbon in their tissues, trees and shrubs can store larger quantities due to their size and long lifespan.

A recent multi-city study estimated that, as a whole, the urban trees of the contiguous United States accumulate nearly 23 million tons of carbon in their tissues per year.

According to noted entomologist Doug Tallamy, if you were to plant just one tree, one with the most ecological value, make it a native oak. Check out his book (affiliate link) for more info.

Bonus Action Step: Join our Eco-Friendly Garden Challenge

In our week-long challenge, you’ll learn more about these and other steps for cultivating a beautiful and sustainable garden — all for just $7!

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