Your Garden is the Only Shop You'll Ever Need for a Sustainable Christmas Celebration — Decors, Dinner, Gifts

This is the time of year when more new items, packaging, and plastic decorations are bought.

This need not be the case, however, as there are expert suggestions for a sustainable Christmas celebration where the decorations, the meal, and the presents could all be harvested directly from the garden.

Those who are fortunate enough to own a garden have huge advantages when it comes to making more sustainable life decisions.

It can be enjoyable and helpful to consider how to use outdoor areas and the resources they provide to prepare for a more environmentally friendly and sustainable Christmas.

Sustainable Dinner

Growing food for the holiday is one of the easiest ways to use gardens for a sustainable Christmas.

Unfortunately, Christmas is frequently a time of excess, and this excess has a negative impact on both people and the environment by creating enormous amounts of waste.

With a little forethought and preparation, it may be possible to grow at least some of the ingredients for a festive meal rather than purchasing them.

Naturally, raising a Christmas turkey or other types of livestock in a domestic garden is not necessary.

However, it is possible to grow side dishes like potatoes, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, carrots, and other vegetables.

Plan a homegrown dinner or one made from scratch as early as the spring and summer.

To cut back on consumption the following year, it is still very worthwhile to plan for the upcoming growing season.

Another thing to think about is how to lessen food waste from the excesses of Christmas if it is too late to plan ahead.

An idea is to start a composting system so that leftovers can be used in a variety of ways.

To build cyclical systems, however, which make it simpler to preserve fertility in the growing areas and produce more food in the future, whatever is left should be put into the garden.

Sustainable Decors

To add some festive cheer to the living areas at home, a variety of natural materials can be used, including evergreen foliage, berries, and possibly some dried seed heads or flowers.

Too frequently, people use plastic ornaments that are bad for the environment to decorate their homes, like fake trees, tinsel, and ornaments.

A lovely, tasteful, rustic, and sustainable Christmas with a timeless feel can be achieved whilst also making the holiday feel special by forgoing these and opting to use only items from the gardens, perhaps with a few twinkling LED lights.

The Middle-Sized Garden lists zero-waste options for sustainable decors. which includes wreaths from twigs and tree prunings, jam jars, Christmas lanterns from garden trimmings, and many others.

Read also: Expert Tips for Homegrown Edible Crops Other than Microgreens in Tiny Homes 

Sustainable Gifts, Wrappers, Cards

Another way to avoid purchasing plastic-coated cards and non-recyclable wrapping paper are to use organic plant materials from your garden.

According to Kimble, unless it contains non-paper additives such as metallic flakes, glitter, colored shapes, or plastics, only regular glossy gift wrapping paper is recyclable.

Wrapping paper that is heavily laminated, foil-coated, or metallic should also be thrown away rather than recycled.

Recycling foil, ribbon, plastic coating, bows, and glitter is not advised.

Elizabeth Waddington, a permaculture designer, sustainability consultant, and writer for Treehugger, never buys greeting cards or gift wraps.

Instead, she wraps gifts and sends holiday greetings using reclaimed materials as well as organic materials from her garden.

There are many creative ways to make cards and gift wrap that use, at least in part, items from the garden.

Plant materials can be used to create natural fiber paper, as well as pigments and dyes, baskets, packages, and gift boxes.

Additionally, natural fiber twine works well in place of ribbons to tie a tidy bow on everything.

The presents that need to be wrapped may also be found in a garden.

The garden could serve as a "shop" where consumers can purchase edible ingredients that can be used to make a variety of edible treats, including jellies, jams, and other preserves, herbal and tea blends, baked goods, beverages, and more.

Create collections of seeds to give to other gardener friends or grow plants to distribute.

For window boxes, it's a smart idea to bundle plant collections that are specific to the recipient.

Utilize gardening plants to create a variety of items or artworks using natural materials.

According to Treehugger, there are virtually endless possibilities.

This Christmas, shop from the garden rather than from stores or the internet.

Related article: Nestle Gets Recyclable Packaging for Quality Street Brand, Keeps 2.5B Wrappers Away from Landfills