Sustainable gardening helps to reduce landfill, decrease the amount of chemicals ending up in waterways, conserve water and provide food and habitat for native wildlife.

Whether you're just getting started or have a well-established garden, adding sustainable elements to your garden means less work, less cost and more time to enjoy.

Take advantage of breezes and shade

Designing your garden to make the most of cooling breezes and provide shade can protect your home from the summer sun.

Shade trees are a natural way to reduce the heat absorbed through windows and rooftops, which can cut cooling costs. A medium-sized shade tree (less than 7m) planted on the western side of a single-storey home can reduce summer cooling energy needs by 17%.

Trees also make great privacy screens, but be sure to plant where they will not block cooling summer breezes.

Layer upon layer

Creating a layered garden with trees, shrubs, grasses and ground cover creates a multi-storey home for a variety of birds, butterflies and other native wildlife.

The more layers you have, the more biodiversity your garden will support.

Layers can also supress weeds and reduce the amount of water needed to keep your garden thriving during the summer months.

Think native first

Gardening with native plants improves the environment and helps create a healthy ecosystem for local wildlife.

As native plants are adapted to the local environment, they generally need less water and maintenance than exotic varieties. Natives are also cheaper and easier to grow.

Visit one of your local nurseries that specialises in native plants for more good advice on plant selection.

Visit Native Plants Queensland for great advice on growing native plants in your part of the state as well as attracting butterflies, birds and even frogs to your garden.

The Brisbane City Council's Free Native Plants program offers Brisbane ratepayers, schools and community groups two free native plants per year. The native species provided through the program help grow Brisbane's urban forest and support local wildlife.

GIY (grow it yourself)

Growing your own food is the best way to ensure a supply of fresh and healthy produce for your family's table - it's also a great feeling to eat something you've grown yourself.

Growing even a small amount of your own food can make a difference to your budget and the environment, reducing greenhouse gasses by up to 25% and using one fifth the amount of water of a commercial operation.

You don't even need a garden to grow produce as many varieties of fruit, vegetables and herbs will grow will in a pot on a balcony or a sunny windowsill.

The information in this article has been prepared for general information purposes only and is not intended as legal advice or specific advice to any particular person. Any advice contained in the document is general advice, not intended as legal advice or professional advice and does not take into account any person’s particular circumstances. Before acting on anything based on this advice you should consider its appropriateness to you, having regard to your objectives and needs.