And what the heck is Ecosystem Gardening Anyway?

You may be wondering just what the heck I mean by “Ecosystem Gardening,” and I can answer that here. As you read through these articles, please be aware that I have grown in my thinking on this subject and I changed the name. In the beginning I was using the term “Conservation Gardening.” But for a variety of reasons, mostly because “Ecosystem” better illustrates what I’m talking about, I made that change. At some point, those beginning articles will be re-written, but the fairy godmother of time management hasn’t visited me lately, so for now know that I mean the same thing when using either term.

The 5 Pillars of Ecosystem Gardening — when you apply these 5 easy steps, you will automatically begin to attract more birds, butterflies, pollinators, and other wildlife to your garden.

What does Ecosystem Gardening Mean?–covers the pillars of Ecosystem Gardening: sustainability, soil conservation, water conservation, the importance of native plants, the dangers of invasive plants, the essential role of insects, pollinator conservation, butterfly conservation, bird conservation, amphibian conservation, and mammal conservation.

The Language of Ecosystem Gardening–looks at organic gardening, xeriscaping, natural landscaping, sustainable gardening, habitat gardening for wildlife, and ecological gardening, defines them, and illustrates their influence on the concept of Ecosystem Gardening.

Defining the “Garden” in Ecosystem Gardening–the garden includes all areas of your property that can be planted: the lawn, the front yard, backyard, etc, areas in your neighborhood, around your business, around your childs school and in your community. How can we give a little back to wildlife in these places?

Conservation Gardening or Ecosystem Gardening?–explains why I decided to change the name

Is Ecosystem Gardening too hard to learn? Yes, we do have to do a bit of homework to find which plants are the most appropriate for the conditions in our garden. But this is absolutely NOT too much to learn!

In What I’m Doing Here, I describe my goals in sharing Ecosystem Gardening with you, and How I Got Here describes my personal journey of developing this concept and my passion for sharing it with a community of people.

I’m going to be adding articles to this page on a regular basis, so you may want to bookmark it to come back and see what’s new. And I’d love to hear what you think, what you’re looking for, and what you’ve done in your garden. Let’s talk in the comments below.

Check out my new free online course Ecosystem Gardening Essentials, 15 free lessons delivered to your inbox every week, teaching you to garden sustainably, conserve natural resources, and create welcoming habitat for wildlife in your garden.