Be close to nature

More biodiversity and no pesticides in the garden.

Everyone can be close to nature. Whether this is in your own garden, on your balcony in a flower pot or in your shopping trolley, you decide.
In your own garden and balcony:
Allow weeds – or rather side weeds – to grow and wild areas to stand in the garden. This creates a habitat for many different animals. It is also important to leave leaves and plant debris lying around. This dead organic material is basic food for many soil organisms.
With plants or organic material or mulch, you can ensure that the soil is always covered. This way it dries out less and erosion, i.e. the removal of soil by wind and water, is prevented. Soil organisms need moist soil to live. So they can only perform their wonderful services for the soil and for us if we create pleasant living conditions for them.
Use natural protection for plants in your own garden instead of spraying poison. This will save many useful animals in the garden. Fertiliser and protection against pests can be made very well from wild herbs, such as nettles. And ladybirds are natural enemies of aphids. And leftovers from cultivated vegetables can either be chopped up and worked directly into the soil or composted. Composting plays an important role in hobby gardens, because in compost, vegetable and fruit residues are transformed into valuable, nutrient-rich humus, which can then be added to the soil.
Cultivating the soil as little as possible gives animals space, air and water. Soil animals can now simply move through the garden, loosening the soil and supplying it with important nutrients. Instead, plant your garden with lots of native plants and use water-permeable stones.
Controlled watering will allow plant roots to reach deeper soil layers and require less water. Mixed crops and crop rotation prevent soil fatigue and one-sided nutrient depletion.
In the shopping cart:
Buy peat-free potting soil. Peat is an important natural raw material that is constantly being degraded, thus destroying the soil and its carbon storage capacity. Soil containing peat should be avoided because it is extracted from peatlands, which are known to store a lot of CO2. In the meantime, there are numerous guides, blogs and documentaries that support you in natural, organic gardening.
When buying food, make sure it is grown as naturally as possible. This is not so easy. We have given you a few tips on shopping behaviour under Be regional.
Modern, conventional agriculture, as it is practised today, is in many cases not sustainable. The use of synthetic fertilisers and chemical pesticides disrupts the natural nutrient balance of the soil and threatens biodiversity. Heavy machinery compacts the soil and destroys the habitat of important soil organisms. Industrial livestock farming requires huge amounts of land for fodder production and causes a surplus of organic fertiliser, which is „dumped“ on the soil. Advancing sustainable, ecological farming practices could slow soil degradation and regenerate eroded soils. These include, in particular, agro-ecological methods with sophisticated yet simple mixed crop and agroforestry systems, permaculture, adapted crop rotations with balanced material cycles, and many more. More incentives need to be created so that agricultural land is managed more sustainably.

The soil makes sounds

The project Sounding Soil gives the soil a voice

The soil
makes
sounds