Earth-Friendly Gardening Could Be the Boost Your Yard Needs
SOURCE: Houzz
Discover more about the regenerative gardening approach to improving soil health and how to weave it into your own space
As we all learn more about the importance of protecting wildlife habitats in our outdoor spaces, we’re becoming increasingly aware of the need to build biodiversity and to restore and replenish the soil. This is often referred to as regenerative gardening.
Here, landscape professionals explain the regenerative gardening approach and share ways to employ it in your own plot, along with key questions to ask your landscape designer.
What Is Regenerative Gardening?
Broadly, regenerative gardening is about leaving the soil and garden environment in a better condition than the one you found it in. It happens when garden owners “contribute to restoring a landscape, big or small, back to health,” landscape designer Melanie Hick says. “We regenerate [landscapes] by helping biodiversity, such as installing sand beds and habitat poles for solitary bees, improving soil and improving planting to support birds.”
“Fertilizers, lime, manures and pesticides can suppress the regenerative powers of [landscapes],” says Guy Barter, chief horticulturist at the Royal Horticultural Society. Instead of using these elements, regenerative gardeners add plants such as cover crops, or “green manure,” which are fast-growing and can be mixed back into the soil; add clover and other legumes to supply nitrogen, a vital plant nutrient; and feed compost made from garden and kitchen waste to the soil organisms and plants.
“Regenerative gardening is about working with natural processes, not against them, taking a holistic approach to garden management to foster a healthy and thriving ecosystem,” landscape designer Harry Holding says. “From soil restoration and habitat provision to water management, it’s about looking at all the systems in the [landscape] and allowing them to link up to create a synergistic whole.”
How Does It Differ From Wildlife Gardening and Rewilding?
Although regenerative gardening crosses over with other wildlife-friendly approaches, it’s quite specific in its focus on soil health, and it differs from rewilding in a couple of ways.
“Regenerative gardening is really specifically caring for and restoring damaged land,” Hick says. But it focuses on food cultivation too. She says that while rewilding “aims to get land back to its completely natural, human-free state,” regenerative gardening “allows for the production of crops alongside increased soil health and opportunities for wildlife.” The approach supports “nature and people cohabiting.”
Barter says, “Regenerative gardening may involve established regimes, such as forest gardening, where the gardener seeks to emulate a natural, self-sustaining forest environment, or no-dig gardening, where the soil is not disturbed, so soil functions are improved.” However, “all low-input, pesticide-free regimes should lead to a garden where nature is better supported and can be called regenerative,” he says.
Holding says, “All of these concepts and big ideas are often working towards similar goals. Through conscious and ecological-based decisions, we can work in more regenerative ways. Which school of thought these decisions or intentions are based upon is less important.”
Can Anyone Practice Regenerative Gardening?
The good news is that anyone can use regenerative gardening in any space. In fact, you might already be doing it.
“Much gardening is regenerative by its nature,” Barter says, citing shrub plantings, trees and wildflower gardens as examples where “little input is needed for good results, and the plants build up soil health and support a wide range of garden wildlife.”
Other aspects of traditional gardening “are less regenerative,” he says. “Vegetable gardens that are dug and fertilized are certainly productive but potentially at an environmental cost. This can be remedied by growing cover crops, composting, rotating crops, mulching and minimizing cultivation.”
You also could tweak other elements of your yard to bring them in line with regenerative practices. For example, you could replace rose gardens that rely on fertilizer, heavy pruning and pesticides with “mixed plantings of modern cultivars of shrub roses that need little pruning, tolerate diseases and flower for long periods,” Barter says.
The 5 Easiest Ways to Start Regenerative Gardening at Home
“If you have a [yard], large or small, that has soil that’s less than its best, or you have a clear lack of natural habitat, such as plastic turf instead of wildflowers, you can do regenerative gardening,” Hick says.
“Anyone can garden in a more regenerative way,” Holding says. “By working toward some key principles, you can have a positive impact no matter the scale.”
Here are five ways to get started.
1. Get to Know Your Soil
The first step in regenerative gardening is to understand what you’re working with. “Have a soil analysis [done] to see if any large quantities of harmful chemicals are present, especially if you know you’re on a brownfield — a former industrial site,” Hick says. You can find companies online to analyze soil samples from your yard.
“On a larger scale, we would commission a biodiversity survey and measure improvements over time from drones and satellite and ground surveys,” she says.
Once you have an idea of the soil you’re working with, you can start to look after it. “Avoid digging your soil, and start a regime of caring for it as best you can,” Holding says.
2. Compost Waste Material
Making your own compost at home is a key part of regenerating your soil and will help you save money too. “Composting your waste material is a great way to start a circular system by recycling the organic matter back into the soil as a compost mulch,” Holding says.
You don’t have to have lots of space to do this, either. Even small yards can benefit from a compact, insulated compost system. “Insulated compost bins deter unwanted visitors, suppress smells and produce good results quickly while taking up little space in small gardens,” Barter says.
3. Add Native Plants
Reducing hard landscaping while increasing the number of plants in your yard will go a long way toward regenerating your soil. Native and pollinator-friendly plants should be at the top of the list, Hick says. Bring in native plants “that support the whole life cycle of native birds and invertebrates,” she suggests.
Increasing the number of plants you have in your garden “creates a more diverse and flourishing ecosystem [rather] than a garden where artificial surfaces predominate,” Barter says. He suggests choosing pollinator-friendly plants that will help to squeeze out weeds while their roots support soil life.
4. Look After Wildlife
Habitat creation is a key element of regenerative gardening, as it encourages wildlife into the yard to help naturally manage pests and diseases.
“Simple habitat piles of deadwood, leaves and rubble can help to bring in the array of invertebrates that are an essential part of the food chain,” Holding says. “A wildlife pond or natural water feature transforms a [landscape] and brings with it a bounty of biodiversity.”
Barter suggests growing hedges in place of fences, as they support wildlife as well as offer a range of other positive benefits. “[Hedges] give more shelter and intercept floodwater and air pollutants while supporting birds and other beneficial wildlife,” he says.
5. Plant Cover Crops
A cover crop is a fast-growing plant that’s used to cover bare patches of soil or fill in the spaces between crops. It can help to fix nutrients into the soil and remove the need for chemical fertilizers.
Taking a more relaxed approach to your lawn can also improve soil health. “Let some of it turn into wildflower meadow by mowing only in early autumn,” Barter says. “Try raking clover seed into the remaining lawn to add greenery in drought and fix nitrogen to replace lawn fertilizer.”
Questions to Ask Your Landscape Designer About Regenerative Gardening
Working with a landscape professional can help you get the most out of your space, but it’s important to ask the right questions at the start. “Ask your garden or landscape designer about their values relating to biodiversity and regeneration,” Hick suggests.
Holding recommends being open and honest about your intentions for your space. “What are the functional requirements of you and your family, and how do these balance with the needs of other, nonhuman inhabitants?” he says. “What are your hopes for the benefits of having a more wildlife-friendly and regenerative garden?”
Barter suggests asking your designer how he or she will provide the features you want. Features could include “a low-input lawn for entertaining and children’s play, self-sustaining herbaceous plants that need neither feeding nor watering and look good for long periods, and trees and water features to enhance the wildlife that will feed on wanted organisms such as aphids.
“These aspects can also ease the subsequent maintenance burden once the [landscape] is finished,” he says. “Maintenance is often overlooked, [so] press your designer on how excessive maintenance can be avoided.”
“Designing and creating a [yard] that intends on being regenerative is only the first step,” Holding says. “Aftercare and ongoing management are key, so you need to have honest conversations around what is and isn’t possible.”
SOURCE: Houzz