Tips to Help Create a Self-Sustaining Garden

Many of us spend a lot of time in the garden trying to get it to look the way we want it to. Maintaining and sustaining a garden can take a lot of work, but it doesn’t need to. In fact, if you’re prepared to put the initial work in to plan, you can create a garden that does a lot of self maintainance. Most of the work involved in creating a self-sustaining garden gets done during the planning phase. When you put more thought into the set-up of your garden, you’ll reduce the amount of care and maintenance required to keep it going. If you’re new to gardening or you’re unsure how to make it self-sufficient, these tips can help you get started:

Go organic

I’ve written before about organic gardening and how it helps our planets and animal friends. Check out my post, 5 Reasons to Make Your Garden Organic. Organic gardening can mean different things to many people. Really it’s just about growing plants without synthetic chemicals or fertilizers. Most people know instinctively that pesticides are harmful to the environment and our families. One of the main reasons I hear for not going organic is “it costs too much.” I’m retired now but when I was growing up, everything was grown without modern insecticides. My friends and I say “It was all organic back then.” Was it that expensive in the 1950’s to have a more eco-friendly garden?

Choose a great location

Choosing the right location is key for planning a garden. Gardens need a minimum of six hours of sunlight, so avoid areas next to the house or garden shed. The sun’s rays will help replenish the nutrients in the soil as well as provide your plants with the UV rays they need to thrive.  Choose plants that are indigenous to your region. Looks for plants that grow easily in most environments. Perennials should be the backbone of gardens so you are not constantly buying and replacing plants each year.

If you have shaded areas next to your home with empty flower beds, consider shade lovers that come back each year, such as hostas. They come in various colored leaves and return each spring. Another winner is astilbes. They are some of the easiest perennials to grow and open their plume-like flowers in partial shade. They flower in full shade with less flowers. HGTV has a great post, 15 Top Perennials for Shade with more ideas.

Use compost instead of fertilizers

Even when you intend to grow self-sufficient plants, the condition of your soil will determine how well your plants thrive. Over time, soil loses moisture and essential nutrients. While fertilizer replenishes those nutrients, it can also add chemical compounds to the soil. A better alternative is to use natural compost for your garden. You can do this by incorporating sustainable design tips inside your home, like adding a compost bin. You prepare food every day, and it tends to come with some waste. Things like potato peels, coffee grounds and potentially chicken bones can be placed in a compost pile – or two, allowing for nitrogen-rich and carbon-rich compost. Collect trimmings from fruits and vegetables, and use this type of waste along with leaves from the trees and plants on your property to make a natural compost.  

Nitrogen compost is ideal for plants that need a lot of sun, as it helps them convert sunlight into energy. Plants like mushrooms or potatoes benefit from carbon. Any soil, however, will be grateful for a mix of four parts carbon to one part nitrogen, so if you only have room for one pile, it is still worth doing. Check out Better Homes & Garden’s post, How to Compost for more information.

Using leaves as mulch

We love to watch autumn leaves as they change from green to red, orange, or yellow, but once they fall to the ground, many gardeners no longer see them as beautiful. Instead they are seen as a mess to be contained and removed. This involves hours of manual labor raking, bagging, and throwing them away. Often, however, it’s best to leave your leaves in place. Leaf litter contributes to soil health, and it’s a critically important habitat in the life cycles of insects like bees, butterflies, and fireflies, as well as larger animals like salamanders and toads. 

Always remove leaves from hard surfaces like pavement, brick, or stone. They can become slippery after rain and snow. Using the best leaf blowers, you can blow the leaves moving all or some them to your garden bed and compost instead. This allows the soil to retain moisture, saving you from watering, and the leaves also suppress weed growth, removing the need for one of the most irritating garden tasks. What’s more, as they decompose, leaves nourish the garden with natural nutrients. The rule to remember is that you cannot leave thick layers of whole leaves covering grass and other plantings. They should be mulced to small pieces which makes them perfect to protect your garden. You can use your mower for this or a tool made for mulching. If your leaf layer is really thick, remove some leaves first. A light leaf drop can be chopped with a mower and left on the lawn.

Harvesting rainwater

Some rain is good for your garden. A lot of rain, often, isn’t. When there is a particularly heavy rain, it can lead to soil erosion. Water looks for the quickest possible route to earth and often takes topsoil with it. Adding rainwater barrels to your garden can collect a lot of the rainfall, which can then be used when the skies are a little drier. This reduces reliance on municipal water supplies and provides natural, non-treated water which is better for your plants. Position one barrel directly under your guttering – most models can be directly attached to a drainpipe – and look for areas that get a particularly heavy fall if you want to position a second. I suggest that you place the barrels on tables on blocks to raise the height. When the barrel is on the ground like the photo below, the water will come out very slowly. It works for like drip watering systems. If you want a container of water to use in the garden, it’s slow. I used concrete blocks and that helped. I have a Master Gardener friend who placed her barrels on a wooden stand built 3 or 4 feet off the ground. It was very effective.

Natural pest control

It’s no secret that pesticides can be very effective, but have negative effects on plant biodiversity. The truth is that there are insects your garden wants, and others that it doesn’t. Flies and nematodes can be irritating and feed on your plants, while bees are an essential component of any garden. It is worth planting basil and marigolds, which deter the first two, as well as lavender, which attracts those stripey, pollinating heroes to your garden. Check out my post, Plants & Other Ideas That Repel Bugs for a discussion of placement of insect-repelling plants, use of essential oils, and other actions to reduce unwanted insects. Did you know that ants, Japanese beetles, roaches, bed bugs, spider mites, silverfish, lice, and ticks will stay away if you have chrysanthemums around? Create an environment that makes it more difficult for unwanted insects including mosquitos to prosper. Yet you will still have beneficial insects like wonderful butterflies and bees.

Keeping your garden in a self-sustaining state is rewarding, good for you and good for the planet. I’m hoping the above discussion will make it easier to plan and begin.

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