The
Conscious
Gardener
Achieving sustainability
in the garden
The word sustainable is the latest, greatest buzz word, thrown
around in conversation, advertisements and the news as often as
the words green and organic. It’s a thing we are either skeptical of
or are determined to try to be — if we could ever figure out what it is exactly.
Riding your bike to work everyday, toting groceries in re-usable shopping
bags, buying second-hand clothing and using locally reclaimed materials for
building projects are all sustainable practices that the average citizen could get
her or his head around.
But, what about that neatly power-trimmed boxwood hedge that adds
stately lines to the front of the house, or that sweeping green lawn that really
must stay that way, and those bright annuals that need their weekly dose of
Miracle-Gro? What is sustainable when it comes to flower gardening, vegetable
gardening or yard gardening? And how in the world can one attain it?
These three area gardeners have made
it their life goal to figure that out.
by jamie Walker Photography by Allison Breiner Potter
28
WBM may 2011