What are the key elements of a sustainable garden? Can any landscaping materials really be considered sustainable and what essentials help to make a small space sustainable? Marian Boswall explores how we can all move towards designing and building sustainably and how to adapt your existing garden with sustainability – and the planet – in mind.
She believes that thoughtful design creates kindness – to our surroundings, to the wildlife we share our gardens with, and to each other.
In this episode, she shares with Arit her belief that we must listen to the land on which we garden – however small that space. Taking time to sit, look around and listen – is there life in the soil, birdsong in the air? And she offers a practical approach to this that everyone can try.
She also shares ways to ensure the materials and plants you select for your garden are the kindest for the planet. But above all, she says, your choices must start with the biggest question of all: how do you want to live?
About our guest
Marian Boswall is a leading landscape designer with a reputation for creating beautiful landscapes, with long term sustainability and connectivity at their core. She focuses on regenerative sites combining a mixture of rewilding and conservation with creating usable beautiful places for people to enjoy. She was a lecturer in Historic Garden Conservation at Greenwich University for several years and a co-founder of the Sustainable Landscape Foundation.
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Find out more:
- Visit Marian Boswall’s website
- Discover Marian’s latest book
- Steps to a greener garden
- How to design a garden
- Designing front gardens
- How to make compost
- John Little of the Grass Roof Company
Catch up on the first three series of the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Podcast:
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