Natural Gardening in Small Spaces

Making the most of a small space means becoming aware of the importance of including as many habitats and microhabitats in the garden as possible. This means more biodiversity, which is good for wildlife, and which makes it more interesting for you, the gardener, and often more visually exciting too.Creating spaces that are attractive for wildlife is increasingly important in a world where intensive agriculture has greatly reduced the availability of habitats for wildlife in the countryside. Studies have shown that residential suburban areas with medium-sized gardens are now providing better and more plentiful wildlife habitats than many stretches of arable farmlamd. Imagine how much more space there would be for wildlife if all gardens were managed in a more nature-friendly way.Another aspect of gardening in tune with nature is the use of plants that are appropriate for the site. Much conventional garden effort has gone into changing conditions in order to suit particular plants, with the digging-in of peat and the application of iron compounds in order to grow rhododendrons being a fine example of one of the more extravagant and in the end futile of these practices. Traditional gardennig, with its historical roots in the growing of fruit and vegetables, where maximum productivity is the key issue, has also emphasized the creation of a perfect soil, which is all too often an unreachable and unrealistic aim. However, if your only concern is with long-lived ornamental plants, there is much less need to be worried about the soil. Plants are a lot more tolerant of poor conditions than we often think. Whatever the soil, the chances are that nature has beautiful flora somewhere for you to choose from. 'Difficult' situations have their own successful characteristic floras -- just think of all those spectacular mountain heathers found on many cold and exposed hillsides. The 'natural' gardener, then, should choose plants for their suitability to the site, rather than trying to modify the site for the plants. The slogan is 'work with what you've got'.Kingsbury, Noel is the author of 'Natural Gardening in Small Spaces' with ISBN 9780881925647 and ISBN 0881925640.