British Embassy in DC Goes Green in the Garden By: Amy Wermuth

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November 28, 2011 -

All gardens are a thing of beauty, but an organically cultivated garden goes above and beyond beautiful, it is naturally delightful and free of pollutants that harm our land and our health. In this day and age, we all need to do our part to ensure we foster the health of our environment and organic gardening practices are just one way to start.

The biggest culprit to pollution in the Chesapeake Bay is lawn care chemicals and farms. The British Embassy simply decided to go green in the garden. For more than 2 years the embassy has undergone a complete overhaul transitioning into an organic way of maintaining its garden. While completely changing from chemical based gardening to organic is not an easy feat, once these practices are in place properly, maintenance is quite simple really.

To decrease the amount of water the property uses they installed use, we have installed a 1,700-gallon water retainer, a rain barrel if you will. This retainer is the central part of the embassy’s grey water system. The rainwater is obviously natural and free of chemicals found in regular hose/tap water.

A new, natural pest management system helps the garden keepers drastically reduce their dependency upon harsh chemicals. Simple horticultural oil and soap are used to rid plant life of unwanted pests to remove the pests that try to set up shop there. They also compost all weeds, branches, food waste, leaves and grass clippings to promote natural recycling and enriched natural soil. As we all know the landfills greatly benefit from this as well.

As green living fans, reducing what we take from public resources, and lessening the harsh chemicals we put into the air and water is vital to our planet’s health. We certainly appreciate the efforts this embassy has made to create a wonderful garden founded on eco-friendly practices.

The British Embassy has perhaps planted a different seed (if you will) by encouraging other public buildings to do the same in DC. After all DC is known for its lush gardening scene. Hopefully this green gardening trend sticks.

Additionally, rain gardens are great for promoting slow distribution to garden soil empowering a good soak and proper moisture. Try this is your garden!

At Save with Green, we have also noticed other trends taking root around DC. President and First Lady Obama brought beekeeping interest back to the White House grounds as well as nearby DC Fairmont Hotel.

Author: Amy Wermuth