Green Decor For Your Garden
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A garden is more than just plants. You need to accessorize your garden so that it's not only more than just a flower bed, but also more of a place that you'll want to spend time in.
Some decor items you may want to add to your garden:
- decking
- fencing
- furniture
- play areas (for young children)
When planning your garden decor, try to use green decor. Select sustainable and eco-friendly materials that promote healthy living for both your family and Mother Earth. Your can easily create an environmentally-friendly garden using green decor.
Reduce consumption of wood supplies
- Rainforests provide the bulk of our Earth's oxygen and house many exotic species. By selecting fencing and outdoor furniture that is constructed from ancient-forest-friendly timber, you will help keep these rainforests alive.
- Re-use second-hand furniture from garage sales and second-hand stores.
- Use synthetic wood products made from recycled plastic and wood composites.
Avoid use of wood treatments
- Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA) is a highly toxic compound used in "tanalized" or "pressure-treated" timber which has been linked to various forms of cancer. It can be left on the skin when pressure-treated wood is handled, and it can also leach from the wood into the surrounding soil. We still do not understand the cumulative long-term effects of exposure to CCA.
- Choose untreated wood for your backyard. Protect wood where it meets the soil by encasing it in a metal shoe or concrete.
- Do not treat wood with motor oil, which can leach into and contaminate the soil.
Utilize green deck washes and finishes
Green Tip:
Group plants in your garden that have similar watering needs together.
- Decks are usually sealed with flammable, petrochemically-derived varnishes. These sealants emit air-polluting gases, which can trigger allergies.
- Apply a deck sealant formulated from plant oils to a clean and sanded deck.
Landscape to save energy
- Your landscaping can determind the amount of light and heat that enters your house.
- Trees provide better shade than artificial structures. Air passing through the branches is cooled by transpiration from the leaves.
- The most important shade tree on home grounds is usually located near the southwest corner of the house. If placed properly, it will shade the house during the latter part of the afternoon in summer. If the house is situated so that trees must be planted in the front for maximum shade, select trees that will be high branching so that the outdoor areas can be seen below the branches. This will also permit good air movement. The main shade trees should be deciduous so that a maximum amount of sunlight can reach the house in winter.
Use natural materials
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- Try to limit the use of materials like concrete for groundcover. Concrete prevents the seepage of rainwater into the ground, and kills all living things underneath it. Instead, use bark, or paving that allows rainwater to seep through it.
Use products that are made of recycled materials!
- Many compost bins, rain barrels, preformed pond shells, garden planters, and furniture pieces are made from recycled materials and will fit nicely into your green decor motif.
Purchase a greener BBQ grill
- Go for the gas model - charcoal-burning barbeques product more air pollution and are less efficient than gas models.
Use solar power!
- Solar-powered garden lights are ideal for outdoor lighting because they do not require any electrical connections. Although they are more expensive that electrical lights, they provide free, clean lighting.
