sustainable gardening - Jo Thompson Landscape & Garden Design

The virtues of homemade compost

admin — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 09:09:47 +0000

We believe there is something uniquely special and satisfying about making your own compost.

And it’s easy. Feeding your soil with goodies leftover from your vegetable drawer and fruit bowl, alongside everyday garden waste, is one of the best ways to nourish the soil in your garden.

We were shocked to learn that just under 50%* of English local authorities do not provide a food waste recycling service for their residents. This equates to approximately 150,000 tonnes of food waste needlessly entering landfill and creating harmful greenhouse gas emissions each year.

So, why compost? In a nutshell, compost adds organic matter, which is an essential ingredient in healthy soil, helping it retain nutrients and water. Fallen leaves and plant matter count too, so a laissez-faire approach to tidying up your borders this autumn will feed your soil and create shelter for insects and other visiting wildlife.

There are some great tips online about how to build your own compost area. Even in the smallest of gardens, a discrete compost bin will help make a valuable contribution to your borders and pots, as well as the environment.

During the winter months, it’s a good idea to keep your compost heap covered to help retain the heat necessary for decomposition and to keep heavy rain fall out. It’s always advisable to aim for a balance of green materials (such as green leaf waste and grass clippings) with brown materials (woody stems and dead leaves). This can be more difficult to balance during the winter months, so be mindful about not overloading your compost heap with brown material.

No article on compost is complete without a reference to the excellent research by The Land Gardeners – their inspirational videos are worth a watch. We also like this article from Gardens Illustrated on sustainable compost if you are looking to head to the shops.

*Based on latest available statistics from 2018/19 as published by waste reduction body, Wrap.

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Objects of desire

admin — Tue, 09 Nov 2021 13:15:13 +0000

The British Textile Biennial took place last month, running a host of fascinating exhibitions and talks around textile design and history.

In our studio we have a principle of really tuning into the landscape surrounding a garden. Our aspiration is to preserve and build on a garden’s unique sense of place in all our designs. And in this regard, it can be useful to first look to the past – for understanding, as much as for inspiration.

In her biennial-inspired podcast ‘Cloth Cultures’ curator and broadcaster, Amber Butchart, talks about a beautifully embroidered herb pillow, thought to date from the 16^th century. It is adorned with an intricate tapestry of insects and flowers – from pea pods to butterflies and snails. To have studied and captured the beauty of these living wonders in needle and thread speaks of a real awe and appreciation of wildlife.

For time immemorial the natural world has inspired art, literature, fashion, design. Fast-forward to modern day and our finely balanced eco-system is in jeopardy.

We are all familiar with the rally cry to improve biodiversity and protect precious wildlife. The idea that we are ‘custodians’ of our outdoor spaces is uppermost in people’s minds.

Increasing the volume and variety of pollinating plants in our gardens, balconies and window boxes is a simple, achievable step in helping to combat this challenge.

Through our design process, we invite clients to create places which ‘shouldn’t look as if we’ve been there’. A gentle intervention inspired directly by what lies around us. We look to the natural forms of locally-occurring plants, with flowers that can be easily accessed by insects – avoiding double flower cultivars, for example, which are not an accessible to visiting pollinators.

Wildflower meadows large and small have meant an increase in pollinators and wildlife generally in the gardens we make. Choosing the right plant for the right place is important for the sustainability of the space, ensuring that it isn’t too hard to maintain and reducing the need for irrigation. Grass lawns have become clover lawns for the pollinators; shrub borders are filled with plants that butterflies love.

Using a combination of plants which offer a range of flower shape – umbellifer, spire, daisy – will help cater for a mixture of different insect types.

A few of our studio plant staples for pollinators include: Agastache foeniculum, Buddleja davidii, Digitalis x mertonensis, Eupatorium maculatum, Foeniculum vulgare, Geranium Rozanne.

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The Times: how the UK’s most famous garden designers are responding to climate change.

admin — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 12:21:00 +0000

The Times heralds Jo Thompson’s design for the Cool Garden at RHS Rosemoor as a precedent in sustainable garden design.

The Cool Garden specifically tackles the challenge of heavy rain and flash flooding. Rainwater rills channel excess run-off, resin bound paving enables water to permeate into the ground and our carefully curated planting design draws on species which can cope with extreme weather conditions. For example: Nepeta racemosa ‘Walker’s Low’ is a great alternative to lavender as it tolerates a wet winter.

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