Even if you are not the most green-fingered person, you can grow your own. If you have a full time job and a busy life, you might think you don’t have time for a garden. Nothing could be further from the truth. You can create a low-maintenance forest garden that requires only minimal time commitment. You just have to make the right choices, and perhaps change the way you think about your outside space.
Don’t fall for low-maintenance myths.
- Lawns are not easier to maintain and less time-consuming than a food producing garden. Spend the time and effort up front to create a forest garden, and it can take a lot less maintenance long-term.
- Adding lots of paving, decking or gravel rather than plants won’t make your life easier long-term.
- Fewer plants does not equal less work. In fact, planting as many perennial plants as you can (as long as you choose the right plants for the right places) can mean less work for you. The more diversity there is in your garden, the more beneficial interactions you can create. And the more plants and animals there are to interact in your garden, the more stable, resilient and self-sustaining the system will be.
- Synthetic pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers definitely won’t make your life easier. Always garden organically. A natural system, with healthy soil and plenty of wildlife will be far more resilient and need less input from you.
- You don’t need to dig to make a new growing area. Adopt no dig gardening for a far easier life. (And better yields!)
- You don’t need to sow seeds each year to eat your greens. (There are perennial vegetables and a wide range of other edible herbaceous perennials, shrubs and trees to choose from.)
- You don’t need to be a martyr to weeds. Change the way you think about weeds. They’re often incredibly useful plants – both in the garden, and to provide additional yields.
If you want a thriving, productive low-maintenance garden, then forest gardening is definitely the right way to go.
EWSP Consultancy 