10 Ways To Make Your Garden Greener

Sustainability is all the rage, especially in the garden, and with good reason. Try these quick tricks to reduce your impact

- By Michelle Hather

1: Swap old-fashioned electric garden lights for solar lighting

New-generation solar lighting has come on leaps and bounds, and you'll find everything from lanterns and fairy lights to path and wall lamps. Place them in direct sun to charge them up during the day.

2: Let wildlife give you a helping hand and eliminate the need for synthetic insecticides

Invite in garden friends by leaving piles of leaves and logs, or birds that are partial to a caterpillar or two with food and nesting boxes. Ladybirds eat aphids, so plant sunflowers or marigolds to attract them and don't forget those crucial pollinators, the bees. Numbers have declined worldwide, mainly due to the loss of wildflowers.

3: Go old school

One petrol lawnmower emits as much pollution in an hour as driving a car for 160 km.

4: Plants Don't Mind a SecondHand Drink