Inside this edition of Natural Garden News
- Where gardening and ecology meet
- Want to get your hands dirty?
- If you want a Grounded garden…
- Life on the edge: an enhanced forest clearing
- Good mess, bad mess? Gardening with disturbance
- New here? Start with these articles
- Today’s recommended reading
- Today’s VIP (Very Important Plant)
- This week in The Highlands
- From the socials
There are lots of super images in this newsletter – please allow your email software to see them!
I hope you enjoy the newsletter! If you have any questions or feedback, please reply to this email.
Simon Payn
Grounded
Email: hello@groundedgardens.ca
Web: groundedgardens.ca
Follow Grounded on the socials!
Where gardening and ecology meet (and zhuzh things up)
What is the difference between gardening and ecological restoration?
As I get further into Grounded, I’m understanding the line is blurred. And that’s a good thing.
What we do at Grounded is use gardening to make the world better, plant by plant. It’s why our tagline is “Gardening for Life”. We hope to make the world better for nature and for our clients.
I’m gonna come out and say it: much of traditional “horticulture” is bad for the environment and therefore bad for us. Many of the invasive species we’re battling come through the horticulture trade. Indeed, some nurseries are still selling invasive species as groundcover solutions.
And in a wider sense, there’s something about traditional horticulture that continues the belief in human dominance over nature. Think of all the soil amendments, fertilizers and weedkillers that are promoted as ways to make landscapes that please us (no matter the effects on the rest of nature).
I’ve been delighted recently to speak to several potential clients who don’t necessarily want to create traditional gardens, they just want to enhance what they already have. They want more flowers and more interest, but they don’t want to diminish biodiversity. Instead, they want to bring on more of it.
In other words, they want to zhuzh things up.
The forest edge I write about below is one example. So are shoreline plantings. But such projects can be anywhere on your landscape: edging the stairs to the lake, on the septic bed or around the parking.
In the eco-landscaping circles I move in, there’s a lot of talk about how gardening can influence ecological restoration, and vice-versa. I’ve completed a course on this topic and am attending another one later this fall. I think this is the future.
It’s also why I’m now taking an active management in projects – I’ll be with you until they fully establish. This isn’t just because I want happy clients, it’s because I know that installing the plants is simply the start. Dancing with nature in the months and years to come is vital, too.
If you’d like to talk about planting next year – in spring or fall – let me know by filling out the form on this page.
Want to get your hands dirty?
I install our gardens in the spring and fall. This means I have a rush of work at those times – more than one person can handle.
So I’m looking for people who’d like to spend a day outdoors, on a casual basis. You’ll either be planting or you’ll be preparing land, such as adding mulch. Click here to find out more.
I’m also looking for a summer student to work with me from approximately the beginning of May to around Labour Day 2025. Click here to find out more.
Simon
If you want a Grounded garden…
I’m now booking garden and shoreline installs for next year.
We still have a few more weeks until the snow flies, so if you’re interested in talking about a Grounded garden, there’s still time. Now’s a good time for a site visit and to plan ready for next year.
I’m happy to come out and look at your site for no charge and with no obligation. If we’re not a fit, we’ll depart as friends. Just click the button below.
To see some of my recent work, please look at this article.
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Life on the edge: an enhanced forest clearing in the Highlands
Sometimes it’s not so much about starting afresh, it’s about enhancing what you already have. Here’s a project I recently completed. Read more.
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Good mess, bad mess? Gardening with disturbance
Whenever we do something in our landscape, we cause disturbance. But is disturbance good or bad? The answer depends on what we want to achieve. Read more.
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