A stylish, inspirational and practical guidebook to maintaining a more environmentally friendly outdoor space, now shortlisted for the GMG GARDEN BOOK OF THE YEAR award!

Sustainable gardener Marian Boswall walks us through the process of creating and maintaining a sustainable outdoor space, offering tips, guidance and step-by-step projects designed to help you lead a more low-impact lifestyle. Whether it’s by harnessing natural energy, converting to peat-free compost, reducing your consumption of plastic, saving seeds or creating garden areas from reclaimed materials, there are numerous ways – both big and small – to make a difference. 

Entries cover every aspect of the garden, from how to create a space and draw up a plan for your sustainable garden from scratch, to advice on boundaries and fences, and guidance on how to ethically source materials to make sure your garden is as environmentally friendly as it is beautiful. This book also contains several projects with easy-to-follow instructions that you can replicate at home, such as creating a frame for succulents to grow in out of recycled materials.

Projects include:

Plant an edible hedge - This berry-laden boundary brings joy into your garden and offers a great way to connect to and notice the seasons for both children and adults, 
Make a lawn spiral - This innovative approach to lawns will reduce mowing time by half (thereby saving energy) and will create a beautiful, textured swirl of flowering grass which is good for pollinators,
Make your own frame for succulents - Using recycled and found materials, create your own vertical planter for a host of succulents, perfect for balconies or other small spaces,
Saving your seeds - Collecting seeds from your garden is the perfect way to start planning ahead for your garden next year, all while reducing waste.
 

Sustainable Garden will guide anyone hoping to take informed and intelligent decisions to make a difference, but who perhaps don’t know where to begin.

Photographer(s): Jason Ingram