Mistakes & Misconceptions in Sustainable Garden Design

Working in sustainable garden design, I see misconceptions surrounding sustainable gardens and gardening on a regular basis. So, let's see if we can put some erroneous ideas to rest and help you avoid some common mistakes.

You Need to be Rich and Live Rurally to Have a Sustainable Garden

Perhaps one of the most common misconceptions I come across is that you need to have money and live on a farm or homestead in the country in order to put its ideas into practice.

I have had many people say to me that they would love to garden sustainably but that they live in a city, rent, or don't have a large enough garden.

But what many don't realize is that we can all implement the ideas of sustainable garden design right away—even if we do not have any outside space at all. Even if all you have is a sunny windowsill, you can still get growing today and you can do so in a sustainable way.

One of the mistakes people often make is to dream of a homestead in the future, but fail to put into practice any of the ideas today. Often, you can find community gardens or allotment schemes that will provide you with space to grow.

But even if there are no such opportunities nearby, you can grow food indoors. Even if it is only on the tiniest of scales, like indoors in a bright, sunny spot, you can create a garden and live in a more eco-friendly way.

Sustainable Garden Design is 'One-Size-Fits-All'

Another common misconception is that there are a series of hard rules that define sustainable garden design. But sustainable garden design is not really a series of DOs and DON'Ts. Yes, we are guided by certain core ethics and principles. But thinking about hard and fast rules is not really helpful at all.

Setting strict rules for gardening or garden design means that many fall into the trap of thinking that a sustainable garden is one specific thing, implemented rigidly and in the same way in any setting. This could not be further from the case.

Sustainable garden design is not about adhering to rules but rather about engaging with a particular site and particular people and seeking solutions that will stand the test of time in that particular setting and situation.

It is a mistake to look at a sustainable garden elsewhere and to try to implement that plan exactly where you live.

Rather, we should observe and engage with our own site, allowing a design to flow organically from the situation as we work with nature rather than fighting it and work out how to take advantage of the opportunities that brings.

Sustainable Gardens Look "Messy"

I have heard people say that sustainable gardening means having a "messy" garden. Some who love a neat and orderly look say that sustainable garden designs don't meet their aesthetic and that it is not for them.

Many sustainable gardens are not always manicured-looking, as people embrace weeds and allow nature to rule, welcoming in wilder corners and wildlife. But it is important to understand that this wildness does not need to look messy. You can have a sustainable garden and bring some order to the chaos, while still embracing the wilder side of nature.

Sustainable gardens are primarily about our ethics and goals. It is very important not to fall into the trap of thinking that they need to look a certain way.

Sustainable gardens can be wild and unruly forest gardens or neater and more orderly ones. They can be annual vegetable pots with polyculture planting in diverse profusion or have flowers, vegetables, and herbs in more orderly rows.

Food production is usually key to sustainable gardening, but food-producing spaces can look very different from one another. And growing your own food does not mean sacrificing recreational space, or not having a beautiful garden.

A well-designed space can be sustainable, beautiful, useful, fun, and productive, all at once.

Leaving behind misconceptions about sustainable garden design can help us to understand better how we can garden in a way that allows us to meet our own needs, without compromising the needs of future generations to meet their own.