Below is an excerpt from one of our new books, Gaia’s Garden...it really resonates with us here at Sloat. “A movement is afoot toward more natural landscaping. Many gardeners are turning their backs on the lawn, in particular. People are digging up their resource-guzzling grassy swards and installing native plant gardens, wildlife-attracting thickets, or sun-dappled woodland habits. It’s an encouraging trend, this movement toward more ecologically sound, nature-friendly yards.
Yet not everyone is on board. Some gardeners hesitate to go natural because they can’t see where their vegetable garden fits into the new style. What will happen to those luscious beefsteak tomatoes? Or ornamental plants—does natural gardening mean tearing out a treasured cut-flower bed or pulling up grandmother’s heirloom roses to make room for a wild-looking landscape?
Nurturing wildlife and preserving native species are admirable goals, but how do people fit into these natural landscapes? No gardener wants to feel like a stranger in her own backyard. Gardeners who refuse to be excluded from their own yards, but love nature, have been forced to create fragmented gardens: an orderly vegetable plot here, flowerbeds there, and a back corner for wildlife or a natural landscape. Each of these fragments has its weaknesses. A vegetable garden doesn’t offer habitat to native insects, birds, and other wildlife. Quite the contrary—munching bugs and birds are unwelcome visitors. The flower garden, however much pleasure the blooms provide, can’t feed the gardener. And a wildlife garden is often unkempt and provides little for people other than the knowledge that it’s good for wild creatures."
The book goes on to explain more about permaculture and offers excellent ideas for getting the most out of one’s gardening space.
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