Make your gardening New Year's resolution a sustainable one

Working with nature and conserving resources are important, say experts. London (PA Media/dpa)  – If you’ve failed in previous years to stick to your New Year’s resolutions, whether it’s losing weight, giving up drinking or quitting smoking, perhaps it’s time to look to the garden to turn over a new leaf. Sustainability – minimising environmental impact, working with nature and conserving resources such as water – is a key focus of horticultural experts in 2026 and beyond, so perhaps think about realistic New Year’s resolutions to aid sustainability, which you could simply adopt as a new way of gardening. “Sustainability is about working with the available resources in your garden and making use of everything. Rather than seeing something as a waste item that needs to be binned or taken to landfill, just think, ‘What can I do with this? What can I turn it into?’” says Kim Stoddart, editor of Amateur Gardening magazine. Here are some ideas for realistic resolutions to help you garden more sustainably in 2026. Grow from seed “The joy, satisfaction and lower resource input needed to create plants for your garden can achieve amazing results for something as simple as a few seeds and some time,” suggests Peter Jones, Eden Project director of horticulture. Go peat-free It’s so easy. If you don’t have time or space to make your own compost, just opt for peat-free varieties of compost in your garden centre or nursery. You will help to protect native peatlands and wildlife in the process. Don’t dig Opt for the ‘no dig’ method, which not only will give you less backache but can benefit the environment, as you are not forking over and releasing carbon into the atmosphere. If you want to suppress weeds in winter, place a layer of cardboard on the area you want to cultivate, which will decompose naturally, and then cover it with organic matter such as compost, and grow your plants in that. No need to dig at all. Grow what you want to eat “Try and grow a few of your favourite things, be it a tomato, or a French bean. A meal with food metres, not food miles, is a joy with the benefit of greater sustainability,” says Jones. Buy local If you want to reduce the carbon footprint caused by air miles and long-distance transportation, think about where your plants come from before you buy. Native plants may be the way to go, or those grown near or at your local nursery, or even if you have a neighbour who will pass you a cutting or some seedlings, at least you know it hasn’t travelled far. Choose the right plant for the right place A little research to find out what soil you have and the situation – sheltered, sunny, shady, exposed – will help you choose the right plant for the right place. “Don’t try to fight your environment and plan to plant at the best time to ensure success,” Jones suggests. Grow your own cut flowers So many beautiful flowers that can be grown in the UK are imported from abroad. Take a moment to consider what flowers you can grow at home which may be good for cutting, including roses, echinacea, peonies and dahlias, as well as shrubs such as forsythia and witch hazel, which provide excellent cutting material in winter and early spring. Be patient, though, as many perennials grown from seed won’t flower in the first year. Go native Just growing a few native plants on your plot such as bugle, chives, primrose, cowslip, cornflowers and ox-eye daisy is superb for biodiversity and will attract all sorts of pollinators and wildlife to your garden. These plants are also likely to thrive, as they have adapted to life in our climate and ecosystem. Companion plant If you have a problem with whitefly on your tomatoes, cucumbers and kale, plant French marigolds with them because their scent will deter the pests or attract the predators. So rather than using chemicals you can handle the problem naturally. Similarly, grow pungent plants such as leeks and garlic among carrots to deter carrot fly, or plant sacrificial crops such as nasturtiums, which cover the ground and tempt aphids away from brassicas such as Brussels sprouts. Save water With climate change ever present, try to make a few changes to help save water. It may be setting up a water butt from the down pipe of the roof of your home, your garden shed, greenhouse or other structure using a rainwater diverter, the RHS suggests. For those who don’t have that facility, increase the water-holding capacity of your soil by adding organic matter to it, whether as a mulch or digging it in, it adds. Reduce waste Why not re-use bits and pieces instead of sending cast-offs to landfill? It might involve utilising a piece of old furniture as a garden prop, plant holder or ornament, creating novelty containers out of tin cans, colanders, rain boots and old sinks, re-using plastic pots time after time for seeds and seedlings and recycling cardboard boxes to use as weed suppressants instead of non-biodegradable plastic membranes. Revive your tools You may have left your tools out in the rain and think that they are beyond saving, but have a go, suggests Stoddart. “Look after your tools. If you have high-quality tools – a lot of the good makes use really good-quality steel – that look really rusty, you can sand them down and bring them back. Take them apart, give them an oil, give them a sharpen and you’ll be amazed how much you can transform those tools. “There’s a beauty around looking after things, upcycling, repurposing, making things last for longer and not feeling that you have to keep buying something, that feels really good.” The following information is not intended for publication dpa pa mls

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