“I cultivate my garden, and my garden cultivates me.” ~Robert Brault
Have you ever wondered how you can bring purpose to your garden?
Don’t look at me with that quizzical puppy dog look that says, “Um, excuse me?”
Yes, I’m asking you if your garden actually serves a purposes.
Is it simply a playground for your children?
Do you nurture it as a hobby, tending to every weed?
Maybe you consider it a form of therapy?
Does it support your family with an abundance of fresh fruit, herbs and vegetables?
Or does it supplement a portion of your grocery shopping?
Or is it the bane of your existence, draining you of your energy, water and money?
Is yours the house on the corner of the street where kids’ tennis balls get lost and never to be seen again?
Or where the weeds choke out any other life form and you are actually too scared to venture back there yourself in case you never come out alive and the local SES is called in to retrieve your body?
Or a snake might take hold and strangle the breath out of you?
Or the neighbours finally complain to the council because the weeds have actually poisoned their pet dog?!
I’m rather embarrassed to admit that the last one is a true story. It was not as dramatic as I made it out to be and the dog was okay in the end. But yes, I admit my sins (and yes, I am a changed person!). As a uni student, my housemates and I just somehow never got around to mowing our neglected backyard. It was so overgrown you might have even mistaken it for a miraculous regeneration of the Amazon rainforest in our very own backyard, except this was not a ‘rainforest’ you wanted to conserve. I felt so bad for little Fido next door. We truly, honestly meant no harm. No animals were severely harmed though, thank the Lord! To those little squirts who lived on the other side of our house though, I’d be happy to never return their tennis balls, footballs and Frisbee. After that one time they threw water bombs through our kitchen window…. little rascals. You can’t pick your neighbours…
Looking back, had I known what I know now, I would have made use of all that space, or I’d like to think I would have. We were so spoiled to have the ample room to start a mini veggie patch. I’ll admit though that I didn’t care much for gardening back then, or mowing for that matter. I just didn’t get it. So I was so happy to be rid of the responsibility when I moved into my little apartment where I now reside. But as I look out to my overburdened balcony of pot plants, I begin to dream of having a little backyard again. Just like the promise you make to your parents as you beg them on your hands and knees to get a little puppy for Christmas that you’ll feed and walk everyday, I make the promise to myself that I’ll water and weed my little garden everyday if I ever have the chance to have one again. This one promise I know I would keep.
So I ask you the question again, are you making use of the space you have? Does it serve a purpose?
There’s nothing wrong with cultivating a few flowers and hedges for aesthetic purposes. Especially if gardening is a favourite pastime of yours and provides an outlet for you to relax and express yourself creatively. These things are so important and help foster a healthy life balance.
If you haven’t, however, considered why you have a garden and what you are doing with it, I encourage you to take a moment to do so.
Here are my top 5 tips to ensure you aren’t wasting your time, space, money and energy.
1. Support the native ecosystem
Look around you and see what’s thriving in your local environment. If you live in the dry and barren countryside where rain passes by a few times a year, you know for a fact that tropical foliage is unsustainable. Not only will inappropriate plants starve you of your precious resources such as water, money and time, it just can’t be justified environmentally and ethically. You aren’t just growing plants for the sake of growing plants. You are supporting a whole ecosystem within itself. Think about the native animals that rely on these plants for food and shelter and the nutrients that get recycled through the soil. Exotic plants are like introduced animals species. They cause an imbalance to the ecosystem and can potentially cause more harm. Our precious native wildlife, both flora and fauna, is delicately balances and even the smallest alterations can have grave repercussions.
2. Encourage biodiversity
A garden devoid of variety is in itself devoid of healthy biodiversity. Each plant serves a purpose and they work together to create a system that could potentially be self-sustaining. The same plants that absorb and take nutrients from the earth also give back to the ‘Nutrient Cycle.’
Also, don’t just plant the same thing, no matter how much you love your roses or have a fetish for cacti. You are disadvantaging the environment. Problems may arise like attracting certain bugs and pests that simply love feasting on that particular species and by not having other plants around that may provide a natural repellant. There are numerous downsides to monoculture farming if you are planting new seedlings each season. Be sure to rotate your ‘crop’ to encourage biodiversity which will create a rich soil teeming with nutrients. So mix it up and your garden will thank you for it by providing a healthy environment for your plants to flourish.
3. Make it practical by growing edible plants
Buying organic seedlings only costs a few dollars. Imagine the bounty of food you could produce with just a little maintenance and TLC every few days? For those odd occasions when the shops are closed or you’re too lazy to get out of bed to head to the markets on the weekend, you can simply substitute by harvesting your homegrown, fresh and organic produce. When you have friends over for dinner, I give you permission to brag. It doesn’t get much better than that!
4. Plant intelligently
Think strategically about where and how you are planting your garden. Think for the long term and not the convenience of today. That tree may be small now, but consider 5, 10, 20 years down the track. Will the root system wreck havoc on the foundations of your home? Will the branches cause interference with power lines? Are you in an area prone to tropical cyclones and storms where the tree is in a potential danger zone? Will the tree grow to obstruct your neighbour’s million dollar view? Whether you like them or not, I can assure you now, it will not go down nicely and suddenly you’ll have Today Tonight knocking on your front door. Planting strategically will ensure you are planting respectively. Take into consideration the implications on the surrounding infrastructure and you will save yourself the heartache down the track of the council coming knocking on the door demanding you fork the bill to demolish the obstructive plant in mention. These things needn’t cause you stress or a reason to abandon your plans altogether. Just think them through and you’ll come up with a reasonable solution.
5. Garden with minimal chemicals and sprays
Whatever you decide to plant, think twice about using pesticides or other chemical sprays. These things are band-aids and only encourage pests and diseases to mutate and build up resistances that can only be treated with the use of more and more toxic chemicals. Remember, you aren’t just planting for yourself now. You are planting for the ecosystem and leaving a legacy for the generations to come. All toxins contaminate to some extent, some more than others. These commercial toxic sprays are not just surface chemicals that are simply washed off when the rain comes. Most off-the-shelf sprays are not biodegradable and simply drain into the soil where they are then reabsorbed by a plant’s root system which leads to systematic contamination. Now think about this if you are growing food to eat!
The final thing to remember, have FUN cultivating your little piece of green urban paradise.
So tell me, what purpose does your garden serve?
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