Nature-smart
garden design is sustainable because it saves you water, money, time, and
effort while meeting the needs of the plants. The core principle of
nature-driven garden and landscape design is simple but not easy: Meet the
horticultural needs of the plants first and foremost instead of solely striving
to force the plants to meet your needs and wants. Healthy, happy plants in turn
translate to a great looking garden with fewer pests to get rid of and fewer
problems for you to solve or chronic conditions to manage.
Through
this workshop offered by Urban/Suburban Ecoliteracy, you will have an
attractive, usable garden design that also has a practical function as a
planning tool like an architect's blueprint that will help you when you are
ready to implement the design. Imagine your sense of pride and personal
accomplishment from having designed your own garden at a tiny fraction of the
cost of hiring a professional to do the work for you.
You
will learn the “eco-logic” behind the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of choosing plants and
the ‘where’ of intelligent placement, which is actually more valuable than the
design itself. If you learn and consistently practice the skill of nature-smart
thinking, you will be able to apply it anywhere and solve your own garden problems
sustainably. Applied systems thinking and ecological literacy are the
foundational skills needed in order to use permaculture effectively and those
who have participated in permaculture design intensives but who haven’t been
able to apply what they have learned to the particulars of their own projects
are often missing those fundamental skills.
Whether
you want a drought-tolerant garden, a native plant garden, a rain garden, a
bird and butterfly garden, or primarily edibles, we will cover seasonally
appropriate site preparation, sourcing plants and seeds, how to plant correctly
for optimal plant health, irrigation options, troubleshooting, and what to
expect during the establishment phase, i.e. starting with planting up through
the first 3-5 years, and more. You will receive practical, specific tips during
the course of the workshop but of course, the more specifics we know about what
you want and about your garden site, the better we will be able to help you by tailoring
workshop content. This nature-smart design approach we will be teaching will
also work if you have a garden or landscape with existing plants or gaps but
you feel stuck about what to put in the spaces between the plants you want to
keep. Whether you have a front/back yard or just a deck, patio, or porch, this
workshop can help you.
If you
have questions or need help determining whether this workshop will meet your
needs, talk to us via Facebook or Twitter @ecoliteracy_now. No pressure or
sales tactics - if this workshop isn't for you, we'll let you know straight up.
For more info or to register, visit http://bit.ly/RNLRlG