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If you’ve failed to stick to your New Year’s resolutions in years past, whether it’s losing weight, quitting drinking or quitting smoking, maybe it’s time to take a fresh leaf out of the garden.
Sustainability – reducing environmental impact, working with nature and conserving resources like water – is a key focus of gardening experts in 2026 and beyond, so perhaps think of realistic New Year’s resolutions to aid sustainability that you can easily adopt as a new way of gardening.
“Sustainability is about working with the resources available in your garden and using everything you can. Instead of seeing something as a useless item that needs to be thrown in the trash or taken to the landfill, just think, ‘What can I do with it? What can I make of it?'” says Kim Stoddart, editor of Amateur Gardening magazine.
Here are some ideas for realistic resolutions to help you make gardening more sustainable in 2026.
1. Grow from seed
2. Go peat-free
3. Don’t dig
4. Grow what you want to eat
“Try and grow some of your favorite things, whether it’s tomatoes, or French Bean. “Eating with a food meter, not food miles, is a pleasure with the benefit of greater sustainability,” says Jones.
5. Buy local
If you want to reduce the carbon footprint caused by air miles and long-distance transportation, think about where your plants come from before you buy. Native plants may be the way to go for you, or those grown near or at your local nursery, or even if you have a neighbor who will give you cuttings or some plants, so at least you know it hasn’t gone too far.
6. Choose the right plant for the right place
7. Grow your own cut flowers
8. Go Native
9. Companion Plant
Similarly, grow pungent plants such as leeks and garlic among carrots to deter carrot fly, or grow sacrifice crops such as nasturtiums, which cover the ground and repel aphids such as brassicas. brussels sprout.
10. Save water
With climate change, try making some changes to help conserve water. This can install a water butt using a rainwater diverter from the bottom pipe of your home’s roof, your garden shed, greenhouse or other structure. rhs Gives suggestions.
For those who do not have this facility, increase the water-holding capacity of their soil by adding organic matter to their soil, either as mulch or by digging it in.
11. Reduce wastage
12. Revitalize your appliances
“Take care of your tools. If you have high quality tools – a lot of good tools use really good quality steel – that look really rusty, you can sand them down and bring them back to life. Take them apart, oil them, sharpen them and you’ll be surprised how much you can transform those tools.
“There’s a beauty to taking care of things, recycling them, reusing them, making things last longer and not feeling like you have to keep buying something, it feels really good.”