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.”
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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.”
Find a landscape designer or architect near you