My Climate Change Garden

  Let’s get planet-friendly gardening | Royal Horticultural Society – YouTube

When it comes down to what people choose to plant, buy, and consume, it’s about small actions leading to big results. RHS scientific research shows that if every one of the UK’s 30 million gardeners planted a medium sized tree and nurtured it to maturity, they would store the carbon equivalent of driving 11 million times around the planet. And if each person made an average of 190 kg of compost a year, this would save the carbon equivalent to heating 506,000 average sized houses for a year.

The RHS believes that knowledge is key to bringing about change. That’s the thinking behind a new “Planet-Friendly sustainability calculator” which will empower gardeners to make the best sustainable plant and gardening choices. This online tool – the first of its type – is being developed through 5 years of RHS funded ground-breaking research into the carbon and water dynamics of the domestic garden.

As part of its Planet-Friendly Gardening Campaign, the RHS has come up with a list of achievable actions for gardeners. https://www.rhs.org.uk/gardening-for-the-environment/planet-friendly-gardening-tips

1.       Plant a tree in your community, school, workplace or garden to draw carbon out of the air: Grown to maturity, a small tree stores up to 376kg of carbon; a medium tree 511kg; and a large tree 3,350kg.

2.       Water the way Nature intended: Pledge to switch from mains to rains on RHS mains2rains  https://mains2rains.uk ***

3.       Go peat free: Protecting precious peatland habitats which are the largest land carbon store and havens for biodiversity will also help reduce flood risks.

4.       Make your own compost: Every 1kg of home-made compost saves 0.1kg fossil carbon, which could save more than 19kg carbon, per gardener, every year.

5.       Pull up a paving slab (1m²) and grow perennial plants to maturity: Herbaceous perennials (lawn grasses and non-woody plants) draw 3.21kg carbon/m² out of the air; shrubs 19.54kg and trees 40.38kg.

6.       Plants for pollinators: Help slow and reverse declines in bees, butterflies, moths, hoverflies and other pollinators by growing a wide variety of plants including a mixture of native, near-native and exotic plants to support pollinator biodiversity.

7.       Grow your own bunch of flowers: Growing or buying UK-grown cut flowers can save up to 7.9kg Carbon per bunch compared with buying imported bunches.

8.       Electrify your garden: Even though 82% of garden tools sold in the UK are powered by electricity, nearly 40%**** of gardeners still use ones powered by fossil fuels. An average gardener uses 9L of petrol a year equating to 7,6kg fossil carbon.

9.       Help map UK garden plant biodiversity: Add your garden plants to RHS My Garden online to help the RHS conserve this important biodiversity for future generations.

10.    Eat more home-grown, UK, local and seasonal fruit and vegetables.

The RHS will be sharing its Planet Friendly Gardening actions along with gardening advice through its membership, online, with films, social media, at its RHS Shows and across its channels that reach millions of people.

What can I do about climate change in my garden? / RHS Gardening