Regenerative Gardening 101: Everything You Need to Know
If you grow your own fruit and vegetables and encourage wildlife to explore your property, you might think you’re doing Mother Nature a favour. In reality, most modern agriculture practices are not good for the planet, and some vegetable gardens aren’t even sustainable.
We over-fertilise, we water inefficiently, we use pesticides, and we till the Earth. We might still produce food to eat, but growing one resource is often at the expense of another.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for us to improve, and that’s where regenerative gardening comes in. What is it, and how is it used? You can learn this information and more below.
What Is Regenerative Gardening?
Regenerative gardening describes a gardening and planting type that minimises emissions and waste. We nourish the soil rather than take from it and preserve fungi, decomposers, and invertebrates that contribute to soil and plant health.
While it can be tempting to reach for synthetic pesticides, herbicides, and other plant products to support healthy plants, regenerative gardening provides gardeners with a much healthier alternative.
Benefits of Regenerative Gardening
Gardening can be time-consuming enough, even when you hire gardening experts to help. So, why would you change how your garden if there’s potential for it to be even more time-consuming?
While you might need to dedicate time to research before getting started, regenerative gardening can actually save you time. It might even allow you and your garden to enjoy some of the following benefits.
Restore and Maintain Soil Health
Nutrient-rich soil is necessary for optimal plant health, but our soil additions and growing practices aren’t making positive contributions. However, regenerative gardening can be a game-changer due to increased carbon sequestration.
Carbon sequestration describes carbon molecules in the soil. Soil that has been altered in any way, especially physically or chemically, typically has less carbon than healthy soil. Human activities affect our soil, and some industries, like mining, agriculture, and construction, are contributing to CO2-related climate change.
Moisture Retention
Many gardeners spend countless hours watering their gardens to encourage their plants can grow. During the warmer months of the year, this can be an arduous task. Regenerative garden practices contribute to moisture retention, allowing the soil to hold onto water for longer, reducing the need for as much manual irrigation. The more organic material in your soil, the more water it can retain.
Increased Biodiversity
Animals, fungi, and bacteria are not as heavily present in gardens and on agricultural land as they used to be, and it’s believed that manual tilling and pesticides are to blame. When we overplant and deplete the ground of its many nutrients, we harm the animals, fungi, and bacteria that contribute to its healthy biodiversity. Regenerative gardening attempts to solve this problem by retaining as many natural materials as possible.
How Can You Start Regenerative Gardening?
Learning a new gardening style can take time, but you might be surprised by how straightforward and easy it can be to integrate regenerative gardening practices into your daily routine. Here are some of the best ways to start.
Begin Composting
Composting is perhaps the easiest way to create a regenerative garden. It involves composting kitchen scraps, yard waste, and other organic materials to make nutrient-rich humus for your soil.
Making humus is straightforward and only requires you to:
1. Add natural materials
2. Turn it regularly
3. Keep it damp
4. Wait until it’s a dark, spongy, jelly-like material
Let the Weeds Grow
As unsightly as some weeds can be, they can be important for soil regeneration. They reduce soil erosion, increase water retention, and provide necessary food and shelter for pollinators and other bugs that add balance to the ecosystem.
While you can still cut back weeds that threaten to overwhelm your prized plants, don’t be in a hurry to pull out or spray those that grow at random in your garden beds and around pathways. If they start to impact your ability to garden comfortably, trim them back as you see fit.
Don’t Till Your Soil
Digging up soil can break down its structure and release carbon. While you might need to prepare your soil for planting, tilling isn’t the only option at your disposal. You can also use mulch and landscaping cloths to keep weeds at bay and use a broad fork to loosen the soil. You can even try sheet composting, which involves using straw, cardboard, and biodegradable layers to revitalise the soil for planting.
Try Intensive Planting
It’s always important to refer to the instructions on seed packets before planting, especially when they tell you when to plant and how far apart to plant. However, if you plant your crops closer than recommended, you might enjoy a number of benefits. The soil enjoys more shade to retain moisture, you reduce weed growth, and you can make more efficient use of your space.
Try Regenerative Gardening
The gardening practices many of us rely on might be efficient and effective, but that doesn’t mean better ones don’t exist. Try regenerative gardening today and give Mother Nature a helping hand to protect the soil for future generations.