Gardening

Sustainable Practices in Gardening

The value of most homes and the lifestyle of the residents is increased by the addition of a beautiful garden.  However, these days it is important to implement sustainability practices, so the garden helps to reduce the carbon footprint of the house rather than increasing it. Gardens and lawns look lovely and enhance your lifestyle, but are notorious for using up lots of water. They also need fertiliser and pesticides to ensure your plants are not eaten up by pesky insects.

Both fertiliser and pesticides tend to get washed into the waterways and in many cases kill things they were not meant to harm. A case in point is the beautiful corals that die due to fertilisers being washed into the ocean. But by using sustainable methods, such harm can be eliminated. Here’s a short guide from our friends at lawncareman.com.au on how to do so;

Minimise water usage

  • It is easy to minimise the amount of water needed by choosing drought hardy plants for the garden. This will reduce your water costs and save time spent in watering the garden.
  • Using organic mulch will help prevent the soil from drying out, again reducing the amount of water needed. It also keeps the ground cooler in the hot summer, a fact that many plants love.
  • Choosing the kind of lawn grass that is drought hardy is also important because most lawns need lots of water to keep them green. Do your research to find what grass is suitable for your area that does not need constant watering.
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Staying Healthy

9 Tips to Staying Healthy when Landscaping

Whether you have a job landscaping, work your own business or do it for a hobby on your own property, landscaping is often sheer hard work, so it is important to take care at all times in order to avoid injury. Even if you are fit and love your job, it is still possible to injure yourself if you don’t be careful.

Here are 9 tips to help you stay healthy when doing this kind of work –

  • Learn the proper way to lift heavy weights. When doing the kind of work involved with gardening or landscaping, you’ll often have to lift things that are not only heavy, but awkward and have no handles. It’s important to use lifting equipment wherever possible, but if you do have to lift by hand you should bend your knees, not your back. And never lift and swing around at the same time. That’s a sure recipe for a bad back that can put you off work for weeks.
  • Use safety equipment such as goggles, gloves and proper boots. Your eyes are important, but a flying rock or nail can ruin your eyesight for good, while dust and grit can make them sore. Gloves may feel awkward, but they can prevent blisters and scratches that can fester and turn septic. They can also prevent spider bites. The same goes for boots.
  • Working out in the heat and sun can dehydrate you. There might be a nice breeze so you don’t feel like you are sweating, but you are. Drinking water at regular intervals will keep you hydrated. If it’s mid-summer, choose a drink that contains electrolytes to prevent cramps. Organise your work so the hardest jobs are not done in the midday heat.
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