Ecology

The Holistic Garden is also designed to enable the gardener to interact with nature in the garden, to enable the gardener to cooperate with nature in the gardening process and to minimize the damage to the environment that is often caused by the gardening process. There are many ways nature is a part of the garden.

Most techniques used in the Holistic Garden are organic. These use natural fertilizer materials and natural pest control measures. Compost is made in a compost facility at one end of the garden. Vermicomposting is also done to provide worm castings which can be used as a soil ammendment. In addition to compost, these mulch materials include such things as: newspaper, wood shavings, tree leaves, pine needles, hay, or lawn clippings.

Pest control in the garden is through the attraction of beneficial insects, use of gardening techniques that minimize the attack and damage from insects, and the use of relatively safe, natural pesticides such as diatomaceous earth, Bacillus thuringiensis, insecticidal soap, rotenone, pyrethrum, etc.

The most important "wildlife" in the garden is the diverse array of microorganisms maintained in the soil through the use of organic matter, mulches, green manure crops, and the avoidance of synthetic pesticides.