Sustainable garden design , regenerative horticulture , permaculturedesign , natural horticulture … all of these practice are root in observing nature and build garden strategies by crop within ecosystem . My work is inecosystem design , which is about understanding the natural principle that make wild and raw landscape painting ( ecosystems ) , such as woodland and meadows , successful . These barbarian systems are regenerative and bouncy , help to self - regulate birthrate and pests while creating a wealthiness of resources that are sustainable into the futurity .
We can mimic ( or emulate ) these instinctive principle in our garden and place through ecosystem design to facilitate us arise sustainably . These rule are applied to the context of your distinctive modern garden and landscape as effective and sustainable gardening practices .
When we observe wild ecosystems — such as woodland , grasslands or wetland — we can see similarities ( and born rule ) in all of them . These can guide our design for garden , landscapes and farms . We will expect at the major ecosystem principle that are found around the world in wild ecosystems and discuss how these translate to garden practices .
Ecosystem Design Basics
Some of the obstacle gardeners face include those permeant issues of weeds , pests , water and proceeds . Most gardens are also organized for short - full term productiveness . Annual inputs of fertility and regular irrigation during time of drought are necessary to keep the garden maturation .
Ecosystem blueprint is about create a garden that is self - regulating and healthy . A garden with soil that is live with good organisms is well capable to desexualize , store and put out nutrients on its own ( without adding more fertilizer ) . Similarly , an ecosystem advance to garden grime management make your soil more capable to hold body of water in droughts as well as drain body of water better in flood - type rain events .
But ecosystem design is not just about soil . These sustainable horticulture practice also radiate backyard yields , ensuring you have more variety in your garden — more than just annual . These practices emphasize maximize a dimension ’s square footage with a superimposed coming to design that includes canopy of fruit trees with Berry and annual vegetables arise in between .
Whether you want to enforce ecosystem design to your annual veg garden , a recurrent orchard or some integration of both , these sustainable horticulture practice in your backyard are sure to increase your yield and slim Mary Jane , piss and plague upshot .
Using ecosystem design for horticulture is about the principles found in permaculture and raw gardening , not plainly buy intersection labeled “ sustainable ” or “ light-green . ” Over my next few articles , we ’ll reckon at six of the most important of these principles , starting with biodiversity .
BiodiversityIs Key
All ecosystem are biodiverse , meaning they have many different life forms that occupy the landscape painting . As gardeners we can desegregate biodiversity into our gardens in a routine of slipway .
For starters , we can maximize underutilized spaces to accomplish more diversity . As an example , we can expend ground cover charge like creeping thyme in our paths between raised garden beds . We can also include various herbs and ground covers as an understory under fruit tree . Ideal flowers and herb include lemon balm , chive and genus Echinacea .
Increasing the diversity in our garden means we do n’t put all our eggs in one basket ( so to mouth ) if there is a pest job . We are less potential to have pest issues when there is more diversity to obnubilate plague and move as a home ground for predatory insects .
Biodiversity is a critical principle for sustainable ecosystem pattern , but it ’s just one of a smattering of fundament pattern . Stay tune for future article address more key construct to exercise in your ecosystem garden .
