Adopting sustainable approaches to gardening can have a positive effect on the planet and your pocket
‘ Sustainability’ is one buzzword that has come to the fore in gardening over the past few years. It’s a catch-all term referring to the demands our gardens place on the earth’s resources, as well as the part they play in fostering biodiversity and encouraging our own good health.
“Gardens have traditionally relied on a constant stream of resources to maintain them in a steady state, but these all come with environmental footprints,” explains designer Darryl Moore, whose book Gardening in a Changing World (Pimpernel) considers the effects of climate change on botanical life. Statistics about emissions and environmental degradation can be disheartening but the imperative to do our little bit of good where we are is upon us. And while as individuals we might be small, we are also many. Of the UK’s 67.33 million citizens, an estimated 27 million are hobby gardeners. A study by Oxford Economics placed the 2019 contribution of the ornamental horticulture and landscaping industry to the national GDP at £28.2 billion.
It’s arguable that in our rush to consume and to perfect, we’ve lost the sensitivity to natural things that we might once have had. Sustainable gardening involves returning to that. “One of the first things to do is turn from a to-do list to a connection, to understand how you fit in with the land,” explains Marian Boswall, designer and author of Sustainable Garden (Frances Lincoln). “Sustainability speaks to an older wisdom and going back to the ways we always understood. We mustn’t think we don’t know how to look after the land.”
Marian’s team applies carbon-emission and water-use calculators to each project they work on, as well as a checklist of the materials to use less or more of, depending on eco-credentials. Calculating your garden’s emissions might feel a bit like counting calories. It can help instead to see your garden as a green citadel to be cultivated and be part of, a place where micro-organisms, bacteria, fungi, plants, insects, birds and mammals can thrive equally.
Soil
Start from the ground up. Healthy soil makes for healthy plants better able to resist pests and drought. With healthy soil, rich in life working to remove waste and deliver nutrients to plant
