Gardens are a natural environment, our own private little patch of nature but keeping them tidy and free from pests is time consuming and many of us don't realize the full potential from our gardens other that the odd weekend barbecue. Here are some tips to show you can really get the most from your garden and how using your garden to the full potential can:

• Help with the recycling
• Provide us with fresh vegetables
• Look beautiful
• Save us money
• Benefit the environment
• Protect wildlife.

Gardens are not only rewarding they can be used to work for us and help improve the environment in the process. Whilst gardening does take time and effort it can be really satisfying to see all that effort bloom in the summer, especially if we have resisted the urge to use chemicals. Whilst  weeding is time consuming and quite hard work there are some environmentally friendly ways to help keep our gardens tidy and resist using unnatural methods.

A nice lawn is rewarding but you don't have to use a power hungry lawn mower. Eco friendly lawn mowers do the job just as efficiently without using any carbon reliant power. One of the easiest ways to use the garden is to let it recycle our waste. Even the smallest of gardens can be used to compost our rubbish. Composters don't just recycle food scraps either. Composting is a great place to put all those grass clippings and weeds that accumulate and they don't have to be messy or untidy either.

There are some beautifully looking composters available that not only stop the garden looking unsightly and prevent smells but some, like the Classic Beehive Wooden Composter that look really nice at the end of any lawn and its only on a huge variety available for all sizes and types of garden.

For those keen on growing plants, flowers or vegetables wormeries are an ideal way of providing the perfect natural plant food and are ideal for getting rid of kitchen waste. They are not messy and the worms looks after themselves, feeding on your waste and producing an organic fertilizer better than anything that comes in a bottle, that can be extracted from a tap at the bottom of the wormeries.

But there is no point in composting if you re not going to use any of the lovely rich fertilizer that you have produced. Growing flowers and vegetables doesn't have to be difficult and if you can provide fresh organic veg for the table you can save money too. A huge range of vegetable growing kits and raised bed kits make growing flowers, vegetables and plants easier and also help prevent pests and the need to use the harmful pesticides.

There are other organic and environmentally methods of controlling pests too. Carnivorous plants are one natural method the other is to encourage the natural wildlife. The garden is not only a great place for us to relax but they can be a safe haven for the many animals that can protect our plants and shrubs and are crucial for the environment. Many of these are in decline too. Growing flowers and shrubs is a great way of attracting butterflies and bees but even if you don't have a flower bed or lawn, there is plenty you can do to help the declining number of bumblebees, bats, butterflies, hedgehogs, house martins, swallows and other birds and animals.

Houses for hedgehogs, frogs and toads are in expensive and can go in almost any garden and there are a huge range of bird tables and feeders available. Bird boxes, bat boxes and bird bowls can even be attached to a house without a garden, even in the city.

Another method of remaining green is if you have to water the lawn or flowers, do it in the evening or early morning. This is when it's cooler and not evaporating so quickly - and water the roots where it is needed, not the leaves.

The biggest problem for most people is finding enough time to spend in the garden, especially when the weather is bad. But you can enjoy the garden in the evening too without resorting to energy consuming outdoor lighting. Solar lights come in a large variety from simple lanterns and solar wall lights to the more powerful solar post lights that enable you to carry on enjoying your efforts in the garden for a lot longer.

We hope you find this green gardening guide useful but if you want know more about are green gardening products and innovations please contact us.