Regenerative Gardening Techniques – To Turbocharge Your Soil & Give Plants A Boost

Do you spend time taking care of your garden soil? You may have been doing regenerative gardening without knowing it. Any actions you take to nourish the soil - from using less fertilizer to leaving dead leaves on the ground in the autumn – constitute regenerating the garden.

If you are interested in regenerative landscaping, sustainable gardening, or starting a regenerative garden, there’s always more to learn.

What Is Regenerative Gardening?

Don’t think that regenerative gardening is something new and trendy. The idea of working the land in harmony with nature was part of the culture of the Indigenous People in America centuries ago. They were aware of the need to use the land gently when growing crops.

Everything old becomes new again, and the incorporation of natural methods of gardening that take care of the soil is suddenly being talked about again as "regenerative agriculture" or regenerative gardening. It focuses on sustainable practices in garden management. It is a gardening style that focuses on limiting chemicals, emissions, and water.

Benefits of Regenerative Gardening

Regenerative gardening seeks to “regenerate” soil health, or building sustainable garden soil. This is accomplished by healing harm that had been done by destructive modern practices like the use of tilling, carbon mining, salt-based fertilizers, and pesticides. It provides benefits to farmers and gardeners as well as the environment.

Regenerative gardening rebuilds the organic matter in soil and increases its biodiversity. One of the benefits of this is increased water retention in the soil. This limits water issues such as floods and drought. The increased biodiversity in the soil means that the invertebrates, fungi, and decomposers are preserved. That means that the plants growing there are healthier and contain more nutrients.

How to Try Regenerative Gardening

• Install a Home Compost Bin - Composting at home turns garbage into gold. It uses all of your kitchen waste and garden trimmings and – over time – turns them into organic compost. You can blend this into your soil or use it as mulch.
• Don’t Till Your Soil - Yes, digging up the soil will get rid of weeds and loosen the soil, but it breaks down the structure of the soil and releases the carbon stored there. No-till gardening methods use mulch to control weeds and mow down and hand-pulling unwanted plants before they seed. You can use a broad fork to loosen the soil.
• Use electric garden equipment - If your lawn mower, leaf blower, and weed whacker are fueled by petroleum, they are using gas. Change to electrical equipment to save energy and reduce emissions.
• Feed Your Soil - Whether or not you start your own compost heap in the backyard, you need to add organic compost to your garden soil. You can buy bags of it at the garden store. Layer a few inches of compost on the top of the soil and, over time, it becomes part of the soil. It builds up the soil, adding missing nutrients and nurturing natural communities of micro-organisms by adding organic matter back into the soil.
• Promote Helpful Wildlife - Many of our local crops and garden plants depend on pollination by insects like bees, flies, and butterflies. Planting borders and adjacent areas with native wildflowers and grasses promotes habitat for insects that can help your garden and landscape.
• Turn the Lawn into a Meadow - One of the best and fastest ways to increase the amount of wildlife in your landscape is to plant meadow lawn alternatives. Turning your lawn into a meadow by planting native grasses benefits the ecology of your region. Meadows are inviting to so many creatures, from wild birds, reptiles, and insects to small mammals. Meadows also absorb and hold carbon in the ground and help with water infiltration.
• Use Succession Planting - Succession planting is when a gardener makes use of any empty garden space. They plant a new plant or crop whenever an older plant or crop is harvested. Keep track of when a plant will be ready for harvest or removal and have another one ready to plant.
• Upcycle - Step away from our culture’s “use it and dump it” mentality that puts items we are done with into the landfill. Instead, “upcycle” things when you are done using them. Give objects a brand new use when their original use is complete. For example, turn your old bathtub into a large planter in the backyard.

Frequently Asked Questions

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