Solar lighting
No cable runs, no electrician, no standing power draw. For path and border lighting the technology is now genuinely good enough.
See the Evening Upgrade
Section
Eco-Friendly Products
Water butts, drip irrigation and the small kit that cuts what your garden costs to run.
Most of a garden's running cost and environmental impact comes down to two things: water and power. Both are easy to reduce, and the fixes mostly pay for themselves within a couple of seasons.
Start here
A water butt on every downpipe
A typical UK house roof sheds enough rain to fill a 200-litre butt many times over a season. Rainwater is also better for plants than treated tap water - no chlorine, and softer, which acid-loving plants prefer.
- Fit a diverter into the downpipe rather than cutting it: it overflows back down the pipe automatically when the butt is full.
- Raise the butt on a stand, or you will not get a watering can under the tap.
- A lid is not optional - it keeps out debris, algae, mosquito larvae and small children.
- Slimline butts are made for exactly the narrow side return that most small terraced gardens have.
Then this
Drip irrigation and a tap timer
Drip irrigation puts water at the roots instead of into the air, which cuts the water a container garden needs substantially compared with a sprinkler or a hose. For pots and grow-bags, which is most of a small garden, it is the single most effective change you can make.
- A 20-dripper kit covers a typical patio's worth of pots.
- Add a battery tap timer and set it to run early morning, when evaporation is lowest.
- Run it off the water butt with a pump if you want to close the loop entirely.
- Check the drippers each spring - they block with limescale in hard-water areas.
Other things that make a measurable difference
Battery and robotic mowers
Petrol mowers are remarkably dirty for their size. A battery mower removes that entirely, and a robot keeps the grass short enough that clippings feed the lawn.
See Smart Garden Tech
Soil and weather sensors
The cheapest way to stop over-watering is to know whether the soil is actually dry. A moisture sensor pays for itself in a hosepipe summer.
Peat-free compost & a bin
Peat-free is now the default in UK retail. A compost bin closes the loop on kitchen and garden waste and costs nothing to run.