What is a resilient garden?

Our vocabulary and language evolves to embrace all sorts of new technology and the latest trends, even in gardening. So just what is a resilient garden??

Climate change and global warming are now part of our psyche, and when it comes to gardening and what we grow and how we garden, if we want to future proof our hobby, we need to consider creating a resilient garden.

But what does that mean?? What exactly is a resilient garden?? Gold medal winning Garden Designer Tom Massey created a show garden at this year’s RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival called RHS Resilient Garden. It was a snap shot of the content of his new book by the same title, which offers methods and actions to create a garden that is adaptive to the warming climate and resilient to extreme weather events. In essence a resilient garden is one that has been designed to survive and thrive in the wake of climate change and one that is in tune with nature.

A sum of all parts

As gardeners we know that our gardens play a very positive part in our health. We design them or create them to be beautiful aesthetically in a way that increases our wellbeing and in terms of our own ideals. Often as a result our gardens work in other ways, reducing the impact of hot weather or even storms, floods and wind. They can also reduce noise and other forms of pollution. They can also have a very positive impact on biodiversity and wildlife, becoming naturally resilient to the effects of climate change, drought and flooding.

Responsible resources

By tailoring your plant choice and even your garden design you can create a garden that is less reliant on water, or a garden that harnesses the power of nature so that it doesn’t need the use of pesticides. 

But there are other considerations too. If you are starting a garden from scratch, it is possible to create a zero-waste approach that also uses and reuses rainwater and builds resilience into the whole design, simply by applying some circular thinking about what resources you are using in the process. Responsibly sourced and sustainably produced timber is a good place to start, along with ethically sourced stone, peat free compost and biodegradable pots.

Renounce the devil

A garden is a fragile, living ecosystem that evolves with the seasons. It is not a theatre set for an amateur dramatic production. There is no place in our gardens for plastic grass and fake plants. There are many more eco-friendly ways to create instant impact in our gardens without employing these imitations. It’s so important to understand that our gardens encompass complex webs of interconnected layers of life. Pesticides used to kill off garden ‘pests’ are not selective and can affect beneficial insects, but more importantly every ‘pest’ has its place in the ecosystem and is a meal for something and or is part of the food chain. For every creature that we perceive as a problem there is a predator that considers it a food source.

Key actions for gardeners:

• Most gardeners are already embracing ways to optimise our gardens and making sustainable choices but there are always more ways to increase the sustainability of our gardens. 
• Plant trees – most gardens can accommodate a tree or two. Trees remove carbon from the air, they provide vital habitat and nesting sites for all sorts of wildlife and even the dead wood is an important habitat for many creatures.
• Improve drainage – reduce the risk of flooding by incorporating gravel areas or channels between paving slabs.
• Make compost – it’s not just that you create an incredibly valuable material to improve your soil, but also that making compost saves carbon dioxide emissions. Aim high so that nothing goes to landfill and utlise the resulting compost to improve your garden soil.
• Grow food – you don’t need a dedicated vegetable patch to grow some ingredients for your family. Plant some edimentals (ornamental edibles) into your garden that provide natural food for you and for the wildlife in your garden. Fruit trees and herbs are a good place to start.
• Grow cut flowers – if you buy lots of flowers for your home you can save a fortune by growing some flowers for cutting and grow some foliage too. It’s a more eco-option compared with some of the cut-flowers that are imported or grown commercially. 
• Build green roofs – if you are building a shed, or a bin shelter think about using a green roof. It improves biodiversity and insulates the structure below from extremes of temperature.
• Store rainwater – rainwater is so much better for our plants and reduces our reliance on mains water which is another precious resource. It also reduces pressure on the sewage system. Find ways to capture, store and use rainwater to the very best effect in your garden.
• Plant wisely – choose plants that once established are less reliant on additional resources like water and fertiliser. Look for disease resistant plants that offer a healthier alternative and require less maintenance. Choose plants that are rich in pollen and nectar that offer quality food for invertebrates like our pollinators.

Tom Massey’s book Resilient Garden is a rich source of information.