Welcome to do home yard carbon gardening with CO-CARBON! You can either download the recommendations as a pdf file below (available in English, Finnish and Danish) or read them on this page.
Home yard carbon gardening (EN)
The recommendations are based on scientific knowledge produced in the CO-CARBON project and the practical experiences of Finnish home gardeners in 2021–2023. Although the booklet is designed for the needs of private homeowners, it can also be used in the yards of housing cooperatives and commercial buildings. The booklet explains six elements of carbon gardening related to vegetation that are accessible to all residents and gives maintenance recommendations.
The booklet will give ideas on how, with only small changes, an ordinary yard could be turned into a yard that sequesters and stores carbon.
Six key elements of carbon gardening:
1. Permeable surfaces
Where are the water-permeable, plant-covered surfaces in the yard?
2. Multi-layered vegetation
Are there areas in the yard where trees, bushes and ground-covering plants grow together?
3. Living soil
Is there room in the yard for worms and other important soil organisms?
4. Covered soil surface
Where are the areas in the yard that are regularly raked and weeded?
5. Twigs, leaves, and shredded grass
Where does the organic matter of the yard end up?
6. Multipurpose vegetation
How many different tasks do plants have in the yard? Can they also participate in carbon sequestration?
1. PERMEABLE SURFACES
Permeable, plant-covered surfaces of the yard form connections between soil, vegetation, and air. Permeable surfaces enable the circulation of carbon, nutrients, and water through vegetation and allow soil-air interaction and water absorption. Impermeable surfaces, such as asphalt and dense pavement, break the connection.
2. MULTI-LAYERED VEGETATION
Plants take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through the stomata of their leaves and needles. The more leaf surface area there is in the garden, the more carbon dioxide can be bound from the atmosphere. Multi-layeredness means a planting area that combines trees, bushes, and ground cover plants of different heights.
3. LIVING SOIL
Small organisms in the soil, such as microbes, are part of the carbon cycle. Micro-organisms convert organic carbon into a permanent part of the soil’s carbon storage, while releasing carbon back into the atmosphere through respiration. Plant cover, a diverse root system, organic fertilizers, and adequate moisture provide a good habitat for soil micro-organisms.
4. COVERED SOIL SURFACE
The open soil surface does not sequester atmospheric carbon. There has been a tendency to keep bases of plantations, hedgerows, and rose gardens open. The maintenance of vegetable gardens has also been based on open topsoil, for example by weeding row gaps and turning the soil in autumn.
5. TWIGS, LEAVES AND SHREDDED GRASS
6. MULTIFUNCTIONAL VEGETATION
Author: Outi Tahvonen
More information:
