Has anyone ever planted a "natural" garden? How did it work for you?

[Beth_B]

And I should add that the house that had fruit trees attracted large numbers of deer when we moved in. Except we moved in with three Rottweilers. So even though there were fences and thankfully no interactions, the deer shortly crossed our property off our dining list. I think just the scent and presence of the dogs made the deer stay away.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

I recently seen a show that showed how to plant a natural garden, the plants where not planted in rows but along sides of plants that it would benefit being next to. It was very interesting, the garden also look then a huge weed/overgrown forest patch but kind of in a whimsical way. Has anyone ever done this? I am interested in doing it, and if you have did it work well for you?

Just saw this, yes, date police I see it was from 2016. I would say, all my garden is "natural" I dislike the row look, unless its to dress the sides of curvy paths. My gardens are not always perfectly weeded, however, I have very few tough type weeds. and not all are perfectly mulched every year. With a natural garden, many plants are re-seeders, therefore mulching will hurt that process of getting a nice drift of something. It does take time. and always to pay attention of babies perking out from last year re-seeding not to pull them. Although not all my garden area are re-seeders, that would drive me nuts. So some are softer shrubs and larger plants that don't need much attention. Have to have balanced areas for the sake of the human.

In all this topic could be another good one to wake up. we do have some new folks here.

 

[alp]

You could go for marigold, lavender (bee magnet), rosemary (fragrant ingredient for roasted chicken), echinacea, scented flowers which are supposed to ease anxiety and migraine ( saw it in Kent country show I think).

 

[UrbanWild]

Coming late to the party but I do agree with Esther Knapicius above that it's an important topic and since it came up as a suggestion at the bottom of another area. I'll reply...

I realize people love lawns but to me it's wasted space especially when I'm paying such a premium for an urban lot around my house. I abhor mowing. Summers are hot and I can't think of anything I'd rather avoid more than mowing.

At our house closing unfortunately an hour from the actual house, I told my better half I would get the "shovels and rakes and implements of destruction" and more all the burning bushes as the first step to making the property work for us and other animals. To that end, the goals were:

Growing food for people
Growing food for wildlife
Cover/nesting/for wildlife
Cottage Garden
Wild Garden
Living Green mulching to help with weeds and moisture
Native plants
Nectar/pollen/food plants for an array of pollinators
Herbs for food and medicine
Strategic planting for crowd control
Flowers/plants for aesthetics
Softening the urban hardscape
Removing all non-native invasives
And a variety of other considerations.

Plants with multiple functions rise to the top of the list.

So, the first thing we did was attack and remove the non-native, unproductive jungle that had been allowed to grow for decades. It took every waking hour for a month for both of us to raze it all. They continue to try and creep back in to this day and we've been treating it as a game of Whac-A-Mole. But it is far less work these days than when we started.

Once we got the nearly blank slate... Next message

 

[UrbanWild]

We set about going over every inch of the property, doing some general planning, looking at the sun cycle, hardscape limitations, fencing, proximity to water, etc. Then we sketched out potential beds with wheelbarrow traffic in mind. Some were hampered because we have another structure at the end of the lot and all the utilities are buried. That means every few get across the yard there is some sort of buried utility. Trees were removed from the equation because of that as well.

We then started making the beds. We live in an area that burned a lot of coal for a long time. The soils are contaminated. For that reason, I started removing soil in bed areas and went down to clay + about 6 inches. That's an average of 2-2.5 feet deep. Once you have those holes, ya gotta fill them, right? So we started bringing in LOTS of soil/compost. That got really expensive, really quickly so that stopped. We then started MASSIVE accounts of composting and saved money for mineral enhancements. It's MUCH slower but easier on the wallet. I was able to source some waste streams from small local businesses to aid in the process.

Fast forward... The early beds got created. We do mix some flowers into food crop beds. That helps bringing in pollinators who, in turn, ensure higher production. Other beds were made specifically for wildlife but also have stuff for us in them...herbs. Food like figs, etc.

Space got limited so we turned to containers to plant and set them on hardscaped areas. It's an old house so there is a lot of hardscaping... Concrete areas, porch, etc.

Herbs were planted for did but also for food plants for pollinators. They like the flowers and things like parsley, dill, fennel, bronze fennel, and more are spread out in needs all over the property. We grow far more than we could ever use and give away. But spreading them out creates more opportunity to generate pollinator interest. For example, butterflies like to drop an egg out two on foodplants and then move on. If we planted in clumps, we wouldn't get near the same amount of caterpillars we do when spreading them out. That same practice was extended to milkweeds and trying to foster monarch usage on property. It's worked well. Plus, it adds to the cottage garden/wild garden look.

More later... Losing phone charge...

 

[Meadowlark]

@UrbanWild, I'm really enjoying your story. It is inspirational to say the least. Stories like yours are what keeps me coming back here.

Your comment about spreading out pollinator attractors was particularly relevant as I'm about to launch into a major effort to attract more butterflys. I hadn't heard that approach before, but I can see it works in my humble gardens.

On lawns, I could not agree more..."yard of the month" is not something I strive for...working on establishing a white clover lawn grass.

Keep 'em coming...

 

[UrbanWild]

Fast forward again... Some early plants didn't make the long-term cut... And we had issues with both natives and non-natives. They either fizzled on their own, didn't come back one year, disease, etc. We just made replacements and moved in. Figs languished and barey produced. So I moved them to the part of the backyard that gets the most sun. I thought I killed them. That year they barely leafed out. The next year they grew back well. I didn't prove then and the year after that we had a MASSIVE harvest. Now, 2 of the squirrel herd have acquired a taste for green figs but we still get some. My dad planted a peach tree. It flowers heavily, starts growing heavily, but his squirrels eat then while small, green and hard. He loves his squirrels so he is just happy they're doing well. This brings us to managing your expectations. If you're building a yard system, you'll have multiple pathways and layers to success. You tend not to focus on that one things causing you concern. Two years ago I gave up on two mushroom needs for King Stropharia. Lots of mycelium but not much going on for 4 years. One bed is now in asparagus. The other failed for rhubarb after 2 years. So, I'm putting rhubarb in regular beds this year and converting that last smaller bed to more asparagus.

The natives are mostly ok. Some have overperformed, some underperformed. But the list of plants we'd like to try exceeds the available space we have. So we do an assessment when there is an issue and often make the choice to go with another species or three. Sometimes we identify another need. We're basically taking an overly simplistic and barren habitat (lawn) and creating a working system. That means continuously adding layers of functionality and use. It all doesn't get done at once, but over time you see the results. We're probably never going to get to the place where we go, "There. That's finished" unless we're incapacitated. We're doing some modifications to add more berries, bird nesting habitat (artificial and natural), satisfying more bricks to use as walkway and bed edging, more water containment, etc.

Anyway, thus far this place has responded far better than expectations. It was previously nearly barren. The plantings have benefited human animals and non-human animals alike. The animals really make the gardens alive. People pass by and comment. If we detect the slightest interest, we send people away with plants, seeds, or both. One day maybe rather than being nearly an island or neighborhood novelty, we'll be part of a much larger corridor. We have a friend a block away who hasn't didn't exactly the same thing (do any of us really?) but her entire yard is planted and now two islands exist. Some neighbors have planted more. More people are starting balcony gardens. This helps as well. Even window boxes with pollen/nectar resources help. It's not an effort to remove humans and restore nature. Living within nature is our goal. Our whole existence comes at the expense of nature so we're doing what we can to restore whatever we can to rewild and live within it. So, to answer the original question of have we done it? .... Yes. And we're continuously adapting. Is it worth it? Absolutely. Will it suit everyone? Absolutely not. But it would be worth it even if we were the only ones on board

 

[Meadowlark]

... So, to answer the original question of have we done it? .... Yes. And we're continuously adapting. Is it worth it? Absolutely. Will it suit everyone? Absolutely not. But it would be worth it even if we were the only ones on board

Triple Excellents!


By the way you mentioned "If we detect the slightest interest, we send people away with plants, seeds, or both"

I know a member of this forum who happens to also be a moderator here that would love to have some seeds from your gardens. See the new sub-forum "Seed Exchange"

 

[UrbanWild]

BTW, I'll add a cleaned up version of a street episode I find hilarious that happened in the front garden a couple of years ago. It involved a couple walking down the street. Let's just say they each had vastly different expectations of aesthetics and they didn't even know I was there. He was over the top, she was more appreciative. That's all I'll say for now.

 

[Meadowlark]

I recently seen a show that showed how to plant a natural garden, Be wary of these shows. Many of the hosts or "experts" are just reading a script and parroting what they are told. Read up on what is native to your area, read up on what the plants need and what they attract, and then plan and plant your natural garden.

We need more of this wisdom here.

Unfortunately, @marlingardener hasn't posted here since 2021.

 

[redback]

Living within nature is our goal. Our whole existence comes at the expense of nature so we're doing what we can to restore whatever we can to rewild and live within it.

That's a good summary to a great testimony.
Soil scientists have managed to photograph (one million times magnification) microbes feeding off of plant roots. These plant roots absorb the microbes for food. The microbes (bacteria, fungi, viruses, protozoa etc.) are in our digestive gut as well. In essence we are part of nature.
My garden in Adelaide (South Australia) is a vegetable, fruit garden of the new 'natural' style. Polyculture, not monoculture, means lots of plants, weeds, vegetables, flowers all planted randomly. When the weeds threaten to overshadow the vegetables/herbs I weed and surround the selected plants in a top dressing (mulch) of compost . I have only been doing this style for a couple of years and have still to master the art.

 

[pepper2.0]

That's a good summary to a great testimony.
Soil scientists have managed to photograph (one million times magnification) microbes feeding off of plant roots. These plant roots absorb the microbes for food. The microbes (bacteria, fungi, viruses, protozoa etc.) are in our digestive gut as well. In essence we are part of nature.
My garden in Adelaide (South Australia) is a vegetable, fruit garden of the new 'natural' style. Polyculture, not monoculture, means lots of plants, weeds, vegetables, flowers all planted randomly. When the weeds threaten to overshadow the vegetables/herbs I weed and surround the selected plants in a top dressing (mulch) of compost . I have only been doing this style for a couple of years and have still to master the art.

I genuinely missed you @redback ..glad to see you back in the threads!

 

[redback]

The eucalypt trees here don't cooperate with vegetables. They poison the soil below their dripline so that nothing grows that they don't want. I can't incorporate the indigenous gum trees into my 'wild' gardening for that reason, but I have a tree lot to the west of my property of about 40 indigenous gums including about 15 threatened 'peppermint gums'.
The gums are highly inflammable because of the eucalyptus oil in their leaves. For that reason, I keep them well away from the house and its curtilage garden.
I still attract the local bird population with birdbaths and nectarine trees. The hundreds of parrots rest in the tallest peppermint gum
but mostly feed on the fig tree nearby.
Five magpies have always 'owned' the native tree lot and keep most of the other birds out but have never stopped the weak looking 'white naped honeyeater' from living there.
Good topic. Nature is weird but good.

 

[Meadowlark]

The eucalypt trees here don't cooperate with vegetables. They poison the soil below their dripline so that nothing grows that they don't want. ...

Very interesting to me. They sound like our American Black Walnuts which are highly allelopathic. Nature is ever fascinating.

 

[GreenhouseGoblin]

I'm new here and I don't quite know all of the rules. Is it okay for me to post my natural gardening stories here?