Award-winning UK author and editor Kim Stoddart outlines five ways to help shore up the defenses against greater extremes of weather
Lovingly home-grown food has always been good for us. The ability to nurture seed into food to bring to the table is magical and feels incredibly good. Less plastic, less cost and fresh as you like produce to pick and enjoy. Now, with all the stressful things happening in the world, it is arguably become more important than ever. It is a way to switch off and plant your seeds of hope and home-grown goodness for the future.
Here are my top five easier-to-employ recommendations for climate change savvy vegetable gardens.Β
Think soil first
This is the heart, soul, the healthy foundation for your veggies, so itβs important to make it as healthy as can be. There are many natural systems below ground that can also help build a greater resilience overall on our plots. A mainly no-till approach is key.
Mulch, mulch, mulch
Further to your no-till base, there are many materials that can be used to help protect plants. This especially comes into its own after too much rain and during a period of drought, when the soil is likely to be more compromised. As well as shop-bought or home-made compost, there are many freely available materials that can be used to improve your ground-up resilience. These include thin layers of wood chip, leaf mould, comfrey or even chop and dropped plant material. It all helps.
Donβt over pamper plants
It can be tempting to give plants lots of food and water once planted out, it can make you feel like a good gardener doing so. Container plants do require more attention yet in the ground, less can be so much more as over fed and watered plants can become much needier of your attention and therefore a bit lazy. They wonβt send their roots as deep and tap into the potential e.g. mycorrhizal fungi support that is feely available. More deeply rooted plants are more resilient and lower-maintenance for you the gardener, they are better able to cope with extremes. So a little carefully-employed tough love can go an incredibly long way.
Create a biodiverse space
A greater risk of pest and disease is unfortunately one of the main challenges we face with climate change. More pests are able to overwinter, breed more, and we have new pest challenges moving in. Plus, plants that are weakened by an extreme weather event are more vulnerable to attack also.
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The more natural predators we can attract to help keep plant munchers in check therefore the better. This way a pest can become food for something else and although there isnβt a quick fix, it creates a more level playing field where itβs much harder for one creature to cause issues.
Finally, look after yourself
In order to build a resilient vegetable garden we need to build resilience in ourselves. This is stressful and in order to problem solve around the next extreme weather event we need to create space to let the ideas flow on it.
We are all in this together, we are stronger together for person, plate and planet.
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Kim Stoddart is an award-winning UK journalist and a leading authority on climate change resilient gardening. As well as editing Amateur Gardening magazine, Kim is the author of books on climate change resilient gardening including her latest, The Climate Change Resilient Vegetable Garden. You can find out more about Kim at Green Rocket Courses and on InstagramΒ