Regenerative practices are those that reduce the loss of carbon from the soil and draw atmospheric carbon into the soil. Carbon cycling is just one of many systems at work in a proper garden.  Other systems include water cycles - think rain collection and grey water use.  There are nutrient cycles where plant resiliency is a result of a healthy soil food web.  There are seasonal cycles in light and temperature, creating micro-climates which can attract higher trophic species.  So any good garden design will have multiple ways for these systems to thrive, so that connected plants become resilient and adaptive. That’s particularly important to us for the food plants that feed us.  

The word ‘regeneration’ brings to mind ideas of restoration, renewal, self-repair, growth and resilience. It implies a process or circular transition between states rather than offering a single frozen state.  That makes sense in a garden because it is a dynamic system, always changing. So regenerative gardening goes beyond sustainable and follows a template that nature put forth – to leave it better than before – abundance is continuously increasing in natures world. If we follow this template, we will succeed. It all starts with a healthy, functioning soil ecosystem. We can grow topsoil and in so doing, we can grow nutrient dense foods or just healthy ornamental plants, all the more beautiful when healthy.

Regenerative practices also improve the overall health of the garden by increasing the retention of moisture, reducing workload, and avoiding the costs of garden inputs, like synthetic fertilizers and other harmful chemicals. Soil temperatures are kept cooler, soil fertility increases which in turn feeds the plants, growing healthier, tastier plants. Humus builds in the soil which stores more carbon. There’s no waste.

The basic idea is to support the vitality of the top several inches of the soil, where we have the soil microbiome which is made up of a vast population of beneficial bacteria and fungi that is essential to healthy plants. This is where most of a plants’ roots find nutrition. These practices ultimately contribute to the regeneration of the earth’s soil and the whole integrated system of life support.

The five basic principles for building a healthy garden soil ecosystem are:

1. Not disturbing the soil microbiome with tilling or excessive cultivation

2. Protecting the soil surface with quality mulches that feed the soil, like leaves and/or wood chips (not bark chips)

3. Increased biodiversification – resiliency is rooted in diversity – so plant for lots of variety

4. Maintaining living roots in the ground for as long as possible - like perennial ground cover plants – think living mulches – or cover crops in-between rows of plants

5. Attracting wildlife – birds, insects, small animals all add to the soil microbiome with their gifts of ‘droppings’

So what’s it mean for gardeners:

1. No tilling – let the soil microbes do this job – better for the plants. Mycorrhizal fungi grow in healthy soils and are responsible for nutrient transfers between plants and soil microbes. The most critical thing in a plant’s life is its relationship with mycorrhizal fungi, which is why tillage and synthetic fertilizers and pesticides should be avoided.

2. No synthetic fertilizers – destroys beneficial soil microbes.

3. No bare soil – ever! Use living mulches or organic mulches that feed the soil microbiome, like wood chips. Plant closely, in multi-layers – slows water percolation so less is lost to run-off, slows evaporation, creates habitat.

4. Fertility from cover crops - white clover, crimson clover, are effective cover crops to protect and improve soils as well as promote beneficial insects. So are legumes. Dense planting captures more sunlight (energy) making carbon to store in soil. These can attract beneficial insects.

5. Leave the plant debris including fall leaves.

6. When weeding, use cut n’drop method (before seed head forms).

7. More biodiverse plantings – no monocultures like lawns – use mixed seed including white Dutch clover. Attracts beneficial insects.

8. Choose more perennial plants, more trees, more edibles. Flowering plants that attract pollinators and predator insects will naturally help ward off pests. Leave wild strips for habitat for wildlife/insects

9. Produce no waste – compost but do it well to ensure quality

10. Design with regeneration in mind – the goal is not to achieve a perfect state, but to create a system that can learn, grow and adapt to changing conditions and requirements.  This in itself means that the term regenerative garden design can never become a label because there would never be final state to it.  The garden is designed to continually shift and change with the seasons and years and allowed a part in the conversation of its current form.  Enter wildscaping – just another facet and form.

Regenerative design is a process-oriented systems theory based approach to design. The term "regenerative" describes processes that restore, renew or revitalize their own sources of energy and materials, creating sustainable systems that integrate the needs of society with the integrity of nature. Source

For serious soil supporters, check out the upcoming Living Soils Symposium March 18 – 21, 2020 Montreal, Qc. Put on by Regeneration Canada https://regenerationcanada.org/en/

https://regenerationcanada.org/en/living-soils-symposium-2020/