What is a sustainable garden?
A sustainable garden is a stable, resilient and functional ecosystem that enables life to flourish. Sustainable gardeners act as environmental stewards, using practices that improve the health of the earth for the benefit of current and future generations.
Sustainable gardening aims to:
Improve soil health
Catch and slow water flows
Limit run off and erosion
Increase biodiversity
Provide for at least some of needs of the inhabitants (is edible..)
Provides habitat for wildlife
Eliminate the use of harmful chemicals (fertisilers, herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, wetting agents etc)
Use renewable sources of energy where available
Use recycled and earth friendly materials in construction
Serve the well-being of the inhabitants and the broader neighbourhood
A side note on sustainability
From my perspective sustainable/regenerative/permaculture gardening are all the same thing. We are aiming to improve the garden ecosystem, not simply sustain it in the institutional sense of ‘doing less harm’ or ‘maintaining something at a certain rate or level.’ This corporate sustainability paradigm is complete rubbish and we, as gardeners and humans, can do a lot better.
Wikipedia defines sustainability as “a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time” which is very closely aligned with the essence of Permaculture or ‘permanent culture.’ By regenerating life, we form loving connections with the everything around us and leave our little patch in a better place than we found it. This, for me, is true sustainability.
Improving ecosystem function
I have mentioned the importance of improving ecosystem function, but how do we do this? To simplify, I think it’s helpful to look through the lens of the four ecosystem processes. In a sustainable garden, ecosystem processes should be both functioning and improving. These processes, as outlined in Holistic Management, include:
The water cycle refers to the cycling of water from precipitation, evaporation, transpiration and so forth. When a water cycle is functioning, rain fall is effectively soaked into soils. These soils will be richer in organic matter and biological activity and therefore will have a much higher water storage capacity. When soils are degrading, they will become increasingly hydrophobic meaning more runoff, less infiltration, more evaporation, and ultimately less seepage into underground aquifers.
The mineral cycle. On our green planet carbon, nitrogen and oxygen are in a constant exchange between soil and the atmosphere. The effectiveness of these cycles is dependent upon biologically active soils whose organisms rely on decaying matter on the soil surface along with a diversity of plant root systems to feed off. In a simplified garden ecosystem where plant diversity is low and leaf litter is quickly scooped up and put in the bin, mineral cycling will slow as more essential minerals escape into the atmosphere.
Energy flow. Energy flow refers to sunlight capture by green leaves. To increase energy flow we need a diverse array of plants at various levels of stratification such as canopy, sub-canopy, shrubs, ground covers and so forth. Square hedges, for example, offer lower sunlight capture as the shape minimises the surface area of the plant. I am not knocking hedges as they can be very useful for privacy, windbreaks and so forth but it’s good to be mindful of letting some plants be free and express themselves in order to maximise energy flow.
Community dynamics. Refers to the ever changing patterns in the development of living communities as it relates to both flora and fauna. In the gardener’s context this simply means paying attention to the first three above so life may thrive in the garden. We need to remember that life begets life so once we have established a complex community of living organisms that community may continue to grow exponentially.
These four processes help us to understand ecosystem functionality but are by no means separate from one another, on the contrary they are inextricably linked. If one suffers they will all suffer and vice versa.
Read more on the four ecosystems processes here.
Sustainable gardening practices
Improving soil health
To improve soil health we first need to know what soil types we have in our garden and the condition of the soil. You can start by simply digging a few holes across your site and get acquainted with your soils. You can even conduct some simple soil jar tests if needs be. Ultimately, we want to increase biological activity in our soils as this will increase mineral cycling and improve soil structure. If we are seeing limited soil life and poor structure then there are plenty of things we can do to improve this including composting, mulching, green manures and biological fertilisers (vermicast) just to name a few.
Production of biomass
We live in a climate where everything is constantly growing and by selecting the right plants we can have ample biomass that we can simply ‘chop and drop’ back onto the ground, feeding and building soil. Here we want to select fast growing plants that accumulate green mass, some examples include: comfrey, bana grass, lemon grass, and bananas.
Water flows
Water is life so let’s keep as much of it in our garden as we can. In addition to the above soil improvement strategies, we can design our gardens in ways that catch and slow water flows so that we can improve infiltration. One common way to do this is designing access/pathways on contour with a mound on the downhill side which is what we would commonly refer to as a swale. Using contoured swales, we can distribute water evenly across our property and even direct overflows to specific areas. While strategies like this are going to be specific to your context (landform, area, soil type etc) what is important is to pay attention to where water is flowing so we can limit runoff, prevent erosion and maximise water infiltration.
Using water wisely
Rainwater harvesting
In sustainable gardening rainwater harvesting and storage is very important. Tank storage ensures we are being water wise along with increasing our resiliency in the drier times. There are hundreds of tanks out there to choose from, do your homework on capacity, form and material (wood, metal, plastic) before purchasing.
Water usage
When it comes to using water, methods such as subsurface (drip) irrigation will allow you to be more targeted with your watering along with minimizing evaporation.
Using greywater
Reusing water from the home is awesome but can often be a costly retrofit. I won’t into detail on this for the sake of this post but I’ll leave you do your own research.
Increasing Biodiversity
Variety is the spice of life and we can spice up our gardens by planting a diversity of species occupying various layers from ground cover to canopy. This serves to:
Enhance sunlight capture in the garden
Provides a diverse array of root systems to feed the underground workforce and stimulate mycorrhizal fungi
Create opportunities for pollinators and niches for wildlife
Edible gardens
Growing our own food has a profound impact. Firstly the quality, freshness and nutrient density will be far superior to the supermarket. We are building our bodies with real food which will have beneficial outcomes for our health and that of our families. Secondly, growing at the source takes the pressure off centralised and energy intensive food systems/supply chains and creates a more distributed, resilient, and healthier food model. The final point is connection, by growing our own food we become connected to our food source which in turn connects us to self.
Creating habitat
Get to know your local wildlife and ensure you create space for them to thrive. Dense ground covers are great for insects, small reptiles etc. Log piles and old pipes are great for larger reptiles. Ponds and bogs for frogs. Native bee hotels are super simple as is cut bamboo for wasps etc. Taller trees and hollows for birds. Dense shrubs for smaller birds. Once we start piecing all these elements together the web of life grows in complexity meaning the ecosystem becomes more stable and increasingly resilient.
Taking responsibility for waste
In many cases composting can halve our household waste while building soil and increasing mineral cycling in your garden. Much of our garden waste that we put in a green bin can also be dealt with onsite.
Eliminating the use the harmful chemicals
In a sustainable garden biodiversity is the best form of protection against pests and plant disease. If you do think you have an issue in your garden do your reading before reaching for the poison. Most herbicides, pesticides and fungicides are not safe for use as stated and are generally “more-on” approaches because they do not address the root cause of the issue. They will kill many beneficial things, damaging the ecosystem and making it more susceptible to the very things you were trying to kill in the first place. So the more you put on the more you’ll need to put on. Remember, we do not need to kill things to grow things. Sustainable Gardening Australia has some great guidelines for this.
Reuse & Recycle
Using recycled materials makes a big impact and is a huge part of sustainable gardening. No matter what you need I almost guarantee a recycled or second-hand product is available.
Enjoyment
A garden teaming with life will be a joyous place to be. The more attention and love we give our gardens the more our gardens will respond. From a design perspective it is important to think about how our garden interacts with the rest of the home. We want to try to make the transition between inside and outside as seamless as we can, our gardens should be easy to access and invite us in with integrated elements that create points of connection such as play/living areas, fire pits and cooking areas.
Steps to creating a sustainable garden
Develop a Holistic Context
Understanding your context means thinking about how you want to feel in your garden, how you are going to achieve this along with the resources at your disposal for both implementation and maintenance. More on this here.
Consider getting a plan in place
Drawing up a concept enables us to think about key connection points and how they integrate.
Start small
You don’t have to do everything at once. It might be helpful to execute your plan in phases making it easier to manage depending on your resources. A phased approach also enables the design to be an iterative process that evolves as you go.
Work from hard to soft
Consider the Scale of Permanence in your design process and prioritise the more permanent elements first. This would generally be any structural landscaping that is going to form the bones of your garden.
Assess & Define Priorities
If you already have the bones in place and are purely softscaping then assess your soil, think about soil improvement (if needed), select plants and get planting and don’t forget the compost!
Consult a Professional
It also might be a great idea to consult a local permie/ecological gardener to point you in the right direction.
So what are you waiting for? Let’s all be sustainable gardeners and create a more beautiful world for future generations.
Marc
