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When landscaping a yard it is easy to get bogged down with all the things you should be doing. Is the invitiation into the site good, do I provide direction , is there harmony and does the yard sit well with its surroundings and location? Is there rhythm, have I highlighted the right palces? These are all questions we should ask ourselves but there is another one and it should be, 'how can I make this and have as little impact on the environment as possible yet still achieve the yard I planned?'

The answere is you can, so long as you plan ahead and think about this before you get too deep into ordering timber from Thailand, sandstone from India and perhaps consider more locally sourced materials.

Sourcing locally, whether it is stone, wood, plants or even compost, can really reduce the impact your yard landscaping makes on the wider environment. Often, yards using local materials, actually sit better in their locations compared to those whose owners have ordered stone from far flung places. Stone and other heavy goods cost the earth - literally. More fuel is used to transport them from the site they come from, to the boats, then to your property so the overall impact is far larger than you might first think. By using local stone and heavy materials, you cut the costs and fuel use down immensely. The same goes for wood and plants - it costs so much more to ship and transport them in terms of the environment than using local products.

When you plan your landscaping, take the chance to incorporate a water catching system- even if it is just some water butts under gutters and run-off collectors. These will provide valuable and useful irrigation for your yard and cost nothing to your purse or the environment.

Make sure you include a compost heap because you can then recycle any garden waste and put any food waste from the house back into the ground by way of the compost bin. This will replace nutrients lost to the earth during harvesting of the crops too as well as provide homes for earthworms and other beneficial animals.

There are many materials created from re-cycled products now. MDF for outdoor use is made from waste card and wood and glass bottles can be recycled into garden ornaments and sculptures as well as create paving materials.

Think about how you can re-use materials like soil from your site if you landscape it. Keep rocks and stones and use them to fill gabions or create edgings to really make the most of materials already on site rather than go and purchase new ones.

Consider wild life and allow access routes for small animals into your garden. Not only will you benefit from the wild life which provides interest but many of them like hedgehogs, amphibians and birds will keep the numbers of pests down in the site.

Use companion planting to avoid chemical controls. Tagetes will, for example, attract hoverflies which feast on aphids, thus protecting your valuable aphid-susceptible plants.

Provide small areas which are left undisturbed so small animals can come and obtain shelter and food in your garden. Feed the birds and provide water so they will come and enjoy a morsel, a bath and at the same time control insects in your yard.

Just a little thought can make a huge difference on the environmental impact of landscaping your yard - or any place for that matter.

Learn more about this author, Sammy Stein.
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