Eco-friendly garden design – what you need to know before you spend money

08.09.2024 - 11:28 / themiddlesizedgarden.co.uk / Alexandra Campbell

Eco-friendly garden design can save you money on landscaping.

It can also make your garden look more individual, reflecting your personal style.

And if you want to be more sustainable or encourage wildlife and biodiversity, then the design of your garden is an essential starting point.

The Walworth Garden is a community garden with school of horticulture, a well-being and therapy programme and also a landscaping design service. Their aim is to make sure ‘your garden is a contribution to the environment rather a drain on its resources.’

And being an award-winning charity and an organic community garden, they’re well versed in finding money-saving ways to design small or larger gardens. The Walworth Garden is an oasis near central London, just a few hundred yards from the bustling Elephant & Castle roundabout and the River Thames.

I asked Oli Haden, the Head Gardener and CEO for his money-saving, eco-friendly garden design tips.

What do you want to use your garden for?

Start with what you’re going to use your garden for, says Oli. This applies to all garden design, whatever your garden’s size and whichever style you like.

‘Most people want some kind of a seating area, a patio or a terrace. They may want a lawn or a place for children to play. Most people don’t immediately think of a garden pond, but I always introduce the idea.’

Once he’s established what clients are going to use the garden for, then he starts to suggest eco-friendly alternatives to the obvious options.

Which is the most eco-friendly hard landscaping – stone, brick or decking?

Oli firstly suggests you consider whether you need the place where you have tables and chairs to have a hard surface at all.

Could you have a couple of chairs on grass or wood chip, for example?