Gardens decorate the environment we live in. They are sanctuaries that bring peace into our lives and allow us to feel more connected to Mother Nature.
But as well as all the benefits and beauty it gives us as people, gardens also significantly help the environment.
Let’s look at 5 reasons why gardening is as beneficial to the environment as it is to us.
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Purifying the Air
Without plants, we wouldn’t be here on the Earth. They create a breathable atmosphere that allows life to thrive.
Through the process of photosynthesis, plants absorb carbon dioxide and convert it into oxygen. They take toxic air in and purify it into clean, breathable air.
Gardens are like beautiful air filtration systems that cleanse the air surrounding our homes. Toxic air affects both our physical and mental well-being. Living in an environment with cleaner air gives a lot of great benefits to our health. It allows positive emotions to flow and supports clear thinking.
Gardens not only cleanse the air at a molecular level, but they also emit beautiful and calming scents.
The scents of jasmine, ylang-ylang, roses, hyacinth, honeysuckle… they all have their own distinct character, affecting our emotions in different ways. Think of the scent of freshly cut grass after you mow the lawn that can provoke strong feelings from within.
Fighting Global Warming
As you know, heat from the earth gets trapped in the atmosphere due to high levels of Co2. This heating effect, also known as global warming, has devastating consequences on the life on the Earth.
As we mentioned previously, during photosynthesis, trees and plants remove Co2 from the air, converting it into carbohydrates which are used in plant structure and function.
Trees are extremely efficient in this process. On average, each tree converts around 13 pounds of Co2 every year!
So it might seem like trees just sit around doing nothing all day. However, they are truly working 24/7 to make the world we live in more habitable. This is one of the best environmental benefits of gardening!
These benefits can be reaped the most in cities where urban gardens on the roofs are common.
Providing Wildlife Habitats
One of the reasons why gardening is good for the environment is that plants give a home to many creatures.
The natural habitat of a garden provides a variety of great living conditions for an even bigger variety of animals and insects.
Let’s explorer that in details.
Hedges
Hedges make great homes for many different species of mammals, insects, and birds. The structure of a hedge provides shelter from the elements and create a safe and private place to call home.
Compost
Compost heaps provide habitat for bacteria and fungi, as well as a home for insects such as worms, snails, and slugs.
Insect-eating animals are happy to drop by and grab a quick bite to eat at the compost heap.
Apart from the habitat that compost creates for small organisms and animals, it also brings eco nourishment back into the garden.
Use compost to improve the quality of any soil, allowing it to better retain nutrients, moisture, and air, and resulting in better growth of your garden.
Flowers
Decorating your garden with flower beds invites many species of pollen-eating bugs, such as bees, butterflies, and beetles. These bugs drink the pollen and transport it by carrying it on their legs, from plant to plant, helping to pollinate the flowers in your garden.
This is another answer to the question “How does gardening help the environment?”
Ponds
Adding a pond to your garden is one of the best ways of creating a thriving habitat for a vast variety of creatures.
Ponds are an oasis for frogs, newts, dragonflies, and many other species of insects and animals.
Making Cleaner Groundwater
During rainfall, the stormwater runs off on rooftops, roads, parking lots, and driveways.
As it moves along, it picks up many pollutants such as pesticides, fertilizers, motor oil, waste, and more. In many areas, this polluted stormwater does not go through a water treatment facility; instead, it runs directly into lakes, oceans, and rivers.
Such polluted water is devastating to the environment and has a direct negative effect on many habitats and animals.
When rain runs through gardens and natural areas, it gets caught, slowed down, and directed back into the soil to be filtered.
Rain gardens have the amazing natural ability to pull in polluted water, filter it, and then reabsorb it back into the garden. This not only filters out pollutants but also benefits the garden as a whole.
Reducing Noise Pollution
Most materials used in man-made structures such as houses, cars, sheds, and roads reflect sound. Plants do the opposite, they absorb sound.
In a world, which is becoming increasingly busier and noisier, having our peace and quiet is a true commodity.
Plants absorb sound through their leaves, branches, stems, flowers, bark, and more.
The most effective plant parts for absorbing sound are bark and thick leaves. Plant tree and plant species with these characteristics to effectively reduce sound pollution of your environment
Probably the best plant in particular for reducing noise pollution is the Pithecellobium Dulce, due to its shape and thick leaves that stay all year long.
Did you like our post “How does gardening help the environment”? Let us know in the comments below!
If you want to add a garden to your landscape, check out this infographic about garden design. If you don’t have enough room for a big garden, consider having a small one. Check my blog with some inspiring images!
And if you live in Washington, DC, you can easily bring nature at your place indoors or outdoors with the help of these awesome stores.
About the author
Daniel Calvin shares useful and fun gardening tips with his readers, intended to inspire you enough to get you back outdoors, caring for your garden. He is the community relations manager for Healey Green, a lawn mower shop in Melbourne, Australia.
