A beautiful, well-maintained backyard is every bit as important to the image of a home as a manicured front yard. Putting aside the concept of curb appeal and first impressions, which is more the domain of the front yard, the backyard can act as the final touch that can pull the house together; a slice of the wild, tamed and customized to the homeowner’s specifications. There are so many personalization and design decisions that go into growing your own garden, and the varieties of plants you choose and how well they’re maintained will likely factor into any visitor’s impression of your home as well as you.
Yet, while gardens themselves are often romanticized, showing up in media like they popped out of nowhere and required no effort to maintain, in the real world, gardening is a complex, arduous task that requires a good deal of strategy. For novices, it can be difficult to get everything right: and if you have made a mistake, you likely won’t realize it until your slowly sprouting plants wither and die. Fortunately, recent developments in green technology might make it easier for novices to grow their first gardens successfully, all while remaining earth-friendly and sustainable.
Devices like self-watering planters and automated lawnmowers are made to take the guesswork out of gardening, and while more expensive green technology options do exist, the large majority of green tech available is affordable and accessible to many.
Without further ado, here are a few technologies you might want to consider using to grow your first garden.
Drip Irrigation Systems
When first starting out, it can be hard to know how much you should water your plants. Things like soil absorption rates, the specific needs of the variety you’ve seeded, and climate, all factor into it. To avoid flooding your plants with needless water and creating gallons of wastewater, you may want to consider installing a drip irrigation system. Drip irrigation systems issue a constant, low-volume stream of water to your plants, feeding them no more than what they need to survive. While installing a drip irrigation system may take some work, it’s more than worth it for people who don’t want to worry about how much they’re watering their plants.
Hydroponic Gardening Kits
Hydroponic gardening kits replace potting soil with a nutrient-rich fluid and typically come with a light attached, making it possible for plants of all kinds to be grown entirely inside. They usually come in their own pot-like pods, meaning once the kit is purchased there’s very little you’ll have to buy, and they take up as much space (or as little) as needed. This is an excellent tool for people who want to get into gardening but fear that they don’t have the real estate to grow a large garden outside.
Organic Weed Killers
Household name herbicides like Roundup have a reputation for being safer than they are. The main chemical in Roundup, glyphosate, has been labeled a potential carcinogen by the World Health Organization and banned in most European countries. While the link between glyphosate and a variety of cancers is still just a correlative link, not a causative one, the lawsuits piling up against Monsanto and the company’s decisions to settle several of them are confirmation enough for cautious consumers. Pair those health risks with the damage chemical herbicides can do to the environment, and it’s a no-brainer: organic herbicides are a safer, less risky method of killing the weeds springing up in your garden.
A Solution for Just About Every Problem
If you notice that you’re having problems dealing with a particular issue, it might be a good idea to do some research on green technology. Green technology is an ever-expanding industry, especially in the light of the coming climate crisis, and scientists and entrepreneurs are constantly looking for ways to solve issues in the agricultural sector and make gardeners’ and farmers’ lives easier. Just a little bit of research on your part and asking the right questions can make all the difference between whether your garden lives or dies.