The Kindest Garden A Practical guide to regenerative gardening

"Marian powerfully shares her passion and heart in a way that ensures you can breath life into your garden ecosystem, with clear explanations and so many practical tools and takeaways."
– Nicole Masters, author of For the Love of Soil and director of Integrity Soils

"I found myself crying ‘yes, yes, yes!’ to every page of this beautiful, inspiring, visionary yet practical and compassionate book. This is how we can garden to restore the planet, how we can all do our bit, and enrich our lives in the process." 
– Isabella Tree, author of Wilding

"The Kindest Garden is a marvellous presentation of love and action for soil, plants and nature."
– Satish Kumar, activist and speaker

Change the world from your back garden. 

Leading landscape designer Marian Boswall has worked on some of the UK's most ambitious and innovative regenerative landscape projects, and now she shares her wisdom in this trail-blazing guide. 

A step-up from sustainable gardening, which focuses on minimising our impact on the earth, regenerative gardening is about making an active contribution to the health of the planet: improving and replenishing biodiversity through our gardens. Whether you have a shady patio, a large plot of land or a windowsill – you can make an impact. 

Drawing on lessons from forward-thinking farmers, foresters, re-wilders and nature itself, The Kindest Garden shows you how to create a garden that is both a beautiful sanctuary for yourself and also a place where nature can thrive. Come to understand the key elements of your garden (soil, water, ecosystems, materials, energy and planting) on a deeper level and discover how to harness each one for a garden that makes a positive impact. Apply new-found knowledge to practical projects, and plan your planting to nourish the soil. 

With beautifully-written text, clear explanations and practical takeaways – as well as planting advice, tools, useful diagrams and informative charts –  The Kindest Garden is perfect for eco-conscious gardeners who want to make a real difference.

Marian Boswall is a leading landscape architect and horticulturalist, was a lecturer in Historic Garden Conservation at Greenwich University for several years and is a co-founder of the Sustainable Landscape Foundation. Her projects invest in the land for the very long term and wellness is a deeply embedded ethos: Marian works with the way the land can heal and connect us on all levels; in early 2020 she gave a TedX talk on how our gardens can care for us and the earth. Marian writes and lectures on sustainable design and was awarded the Garden Columnist of the Year in 2019. She has also been featured as a Country Life ‘Top 50’ Garden Designer, House & Garden ‘Top 50’ UK Garden Designer and Country and Town House ‘Top 10’ Garden Designer.

What is regenerative gardening?
Taking inspiration from large-scale regenerative projects
Practising kindness
Top ten insights for regenerative gardeners
How to use this book
PART ONE: RELATIONSHIPS –THE ELEMENTS OF THE GARDEN
SOIL: WHAT I S IT?
Taking inspiration from the soil network
Weeds
WATER: HOW DOES THE WATER CYCLE WORK?
Wetland regeneration: what we can learn from large-scale projects
Water in our gardens
ECOSYSTEMS: THE NETWORK OF LIFE
Understanding garden ecosystems
Creating a haven: a practical guide to planning an ecosystem garden
MATERIALS: HOW TO CHOOSE MATERIALS TO WORK WITH
Understanding materials for gardens and landscapes
ENERGY: RENWABLE ENERGY
How to work with natural energy
How to work with land energy
RESILIENT PLANTING
Inpsiration for our gardens: large-scale woodlands
Meadows
Prairie planting
Mediterranean planting
Establishment and management
PART TWO: MEASURING OUR IMPACT
WHY SHOULD WE MEAUSURE OUR IMPACT?
What can we assess in our own gardens?
PART THREE: CONNECTION – THE KINDEST GARDEN
OUR NEED FOR CONNECTION
How gardening for nature can be gardening for ourselves
How to build community through gardening
Reconnecting with ourselves
Sharing knowledge: a final note
Appendix 1: Comparison of pond liners
Appendix 2: Grey water recycling
Resources and further information
Index
Acknowledgements

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