How To Grow Sustainable Garden

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A sustainable garden is one that literally sustains itself with the use of minimal natural resources and minimal human intervention. Find out what you need to do to grow a sustainable garden as it is not any more difficult than any other type of home garden, you just need a little pre-planning.

Sustainable gardening is not a new practice but one that has regained popularity as the shift towards homegrown organic food and organic gardening gain momentum.

It's a food and/or flower garden in which all the plants provide benefits for each other and plants re-seed themselves or provide seeds for the gardener.

Wildflowers growing in a field is a great example of how to grow a sustainable garden landscape

Fields of wildflowers are a great example of a sustainable type garden landscape. These fields of flowers are ever-reseeding and thus ever-changing with very little outside input.

Grow a Sustainable Garden for Beginners

Sustainable Gardening Methods

In this paragraph, I will explain an ideal example of sustainable gardening – it's called Three Sisters planting and has been handed down to us from the native Americans. The crops of corn, beans, and squash are known as the Three Sisters.

* Corn provides tall stalks for bean vines to climb so the vines receive plenty of air and sunlight. Plus, the beans are kept up and off of the garden soil.

* Beans provide nitrogen to the soil to increase plant growth and the vines stabilize the tall, shallow-rooted corn stalks during heavy winds. Beans are nitrogen-fixers, meaning they host rhizobia on their roots that can take nitrogen from the air and convert it into forms that are absorbed by plant roots.

* Squash have large leaves that shade the ground which helps retain soil moisture, keep soil cool, and prevent weeds.

green beans are part of a sustainable garden — Three Sisters Planting Method

corn growing in a sustainable garden — Three Sisters Planting Method

All of these vegetables re-seed themselves if some of the produce is allowed to decompose in the garden. The new plants will sprout and grow in random locations in the garden and can be thinned out as desired.

Pro Tip: Start keeping notes and records now on your garden activities and plantings inyour garden journal.

Organized vs Random Planting

Importantly, if a more controlled sustainable garden is desired you may directly plant the seeds; these seeds can be harvested and re-planted next garden season in the same desired pattern. Beans are planted around the cornstalks and the squash or pumpkins vine across the soil surface.

I prefer my garden be a bit more organized so I like to plant my seeds in specific locations. But, if you have the room and desire your garden to be more natural in its growing patterns, then the idea of random reseeding and re-plantings may work well for you.

Soil Preparation

Above all, make sure you start with healthy nutrient rich garden soil. Prepare the soil by tilling or working it in some way that will loosen the dirt to at least 12-inches deep. Add 4-inches of well-rotted animal manure or compost on top of the soil and lightly work it in.

Learn How to Make Compost Tea for a highly usable nutrient source.

helpful garden ideas

After planting the garden, add a 2-inch layer of straw on top of soil to help retain moisture and prevent weed growth. The garden soil won't need to be worked after this initial cultivation in a sustainable garden.

The plants will decompose at the end of gardening season to enrich the soil but it's always a good idea to add a few inches of compost or manure on top of the soil in early spring.

Designate pathways to walk on within the sustainable garden so you won't compact the soil in the growing areas.

Plant Choices

Select plants for a sustainable garden that are native to your climate; so they will require less maintenance during their life-cycle. That is to say, select drought tolerant, pest-resistant plant varieties also.

Use plants that provide the most benefits in a sustainable home garden. Plants that repel pests, improve soil quality, and promote plant growth are grown as companion plants throughout the garden. In other words, start with good quality seeds and plants for an increased harvest.

Find Your Zone: FREE USDA Hardiness Zone Planting Guide

No Chemicals

Moreover, a sustainable garden is 100% organic and never use chemicals. Synthetic additives harm the environment and enter the garden produce that you're growing.

There are many organic options for improving soil fertility, controlling pests naturally, and preventing plant diseases. In addition to improve the quality of your garden soil consider companion planting as an easy, sustainable, organic, and productive gardening method. This idea helps your sustainable home garden produce abundantly without the use of chemicals.

Zero Waste when Growing a Sustainable Garden

Finally, a sustainable garden has a goal of producing zero waste. Everything that was once living in the garden will die and decompose. Those nutrients can be recycled back into the soil to feed new plant life.

Additionally, try to catch and re-use rainwater in the sustainable garden too. It's better for the plants and the environment.

Start a compost bin and recycle all garden waste, yard waste, and food waste; learn how to turn this waste into nutrient-rich compost that will feed garden soil.

Questions and Answers

Q: What makes plants more sustainable?

A: Plants are sustainable when they are hardy with no known susceptibility to pests or diseases. They can also perpetuate their species by growing shoots, runners or reseeding. Hardy perennial plants are sustainable in that they continue to regrow year after year from the main plant along with reseeding. Annual plants must reseed themselves for new plants to grow the following year.

Q: What makes a garden sustainable?

A: Sustainable gardens are where natural, environmentally friendly methods are used and implemented. Healthy soils are built with compost, mulch and organic fertilizers. Organic, Non-GMO seeds and plants are grown. It is all about using natural methods to produce clean, organic, nutrient-rich foods.

Q: What is Sustainable Gardening?

A: Here is an excellent Overview on Sustainable Gardening.

In conclusion, this type of garden is a closed-loop system that will create zero waste in the sustainable garden. Enjoy and Happy Gardening!