{"id":12250,"date":"2022-05-30T15:44:31","date_gmt":"2022-05-30T22:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=12250"},"modified":"2022-05-30T15:49:09","modified_gmt":"2022-05-30T22:49:09","slug":"gardening-for-the-greater-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=12250","title":{"rendered":"Gardening for the Greater Good"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sustainable Gardening and Agricultural Best Practices from Santa Barbara\u2019s CEC and Lotusland<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Originally published in the Santa Barbara Independent. Credit: Neslihan Gunaydin \/ Unsplash<\/p><\/div>\n

The benefits of sustainable gardening and regenerative agriculture took the spotlight at a recent sustainability salon featuring Community Environmental Council<\/a> (CEC) climate resilience program director Sharyn Main<\/a> and Lotusland<\/a> sustainability manager Corey Welles<\/a>. Here are some of the nuggets they shared at the gathering in Belle Hahn<\/a>\u2019s beautiful garden on the Upper Eastside.<\/p>\n

1) Change Can Happen:<\/strong>\u00a0 After 32 years at Lotusland, Welles certainly has the dirt on the esteemed garden\u2019s best practices in plant healthcare. \u201cLotusland wasn\u2019t always a perfectly organic operation,\u201d he admitted. \u201cIn the very beginning, it was completely conventional, and they used pesticides. If you were an organic farmer walking in, you would have been horrified.\u201d But the will to become more environmentally sound was there, and they worked to find the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe literally cracked the code; we stopped listening to the conventional minds and started listening to biologists,\u201d he said. \u201cFertilizers caused 80 percent of the diseases at Lotusland. Once we got the pesticides and chemical fertilizers out of there, we never went back. It was a moment of taking responsibility\u2009\u200b\u2014\u2009\u200bif something\u2019s wrong, you take responsibility for it.\u201d And it worked. The first year, they had a 70 percent reduction in pests, and it increased from there.<\/p>\n

2) More than No Pesticides:<\/strong>\u00a0 A sustainable garden<\/a> involves more than just getting rid of chemical pesticides. Other key principles include using natural materials such as alfalfa meal, sea kelps, and organic nitrogen sources to feed plants and the soil.<\/p>\n

Building up insect ecology is also important. While it may seem counterintuitive, Welles shared that increasing the number and variety of insects in the landscape and providing a habitat for beneficial insects helps control invasions of plant pests. Native plants are especially good for this.<\/p>\n

The other key sustainable practice at Lotusland is recycling all of the plant material removed from the garden back in the form of compost teas and mulches that are reused in the garden.<\/p>\n

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Originally published in the Santa Barbara Independent. Credit: Courtesy<\/p><\/div>\n

3) Demonstrate the Way:<\/strong>\u00a0 Lotusland wasn\u2019t yet open to the public when Main was a teenager in the 1970s, but she confided that it didn\u2019t stop her from sneaking in to explore. As one of the first wave of environmentalists working for CEC, Main and her colleagues had an organic demonstration garden at the organization\u2019s first offices on the Mesa in one of the earliest green buildings in the country. They had composting toilets (\u201cthe cutting edge for energy efficiency\u201d) and a green rooftop with plantings to help cool the building, and they taught people about organic agriculture and gardening while discouraging the use of pesticides. She even co-wrote a book called BUGS (\u201cBeneficial Urban Garden Strategies\u201d), which was published in both English and Spanish.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat garden was super important to our program,\u201d said Main. \u201cWe talked a lot about the value of using native plants to protect biodiversity and improve soil health as part of an organic food garden.\u201d<\/p>\n

4) Regenerative Ag:<\/strong> \u00a0One of the ways CEC is working to reverse the climate threat today is by encouraging regenerative, climate-smart agriculture. \u201cThese practices\u2009\u200b\u2014\u2009\u200blike applying compost on working lands and planting native plants along edges of fields\u2009\u200b\u2014\u2009\u200bcan actually help sequester carbon from the atmosphere. By restoring a natural balance in this way, plants respond by pulling more carbon from the air (through photosynthesis) into the ground, where it\u2019s beneficial to the soil and plants,\u201d said Main.<\/p>\n

Carbon farming, a land-based, natural solution to climate change, is a way to transfer excess carbon out of the atmosphere\u2009\u200b\u2014\u2009\u200bwhere it is causing a lot of harm\u2009\u200b\u2014\u2009\u200band store it in the soil, where it does a lot of good.<\/p>\n

CEC is actively working with ranchers and large landowners, said Main. \u201cIf we can apply compost to just 10 percent of our agricultural lands, we could offset the emissions of the entire agriculture sector in Santa Barbara County. So this is doable. This is actually a reasonable thing we can achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n

5) Everyone Can Compost:<\/strong>\u00a0 One of the simplest ways for people to help at home is by making and using compost, said Main. Mow or trim weeds instead of pulling them out at their roots, and compost instead of landfilling yard waste and food scraps.<\/p>\n

6) Watch Your Water:<\/strong> \u00a0Last but not least on the path to sustainable gardening is the importance of carefully managing water use, a key factor that was mentioned by both Welles and Main. Water conservation is made much easier when pests are under control through the promotion of pollinators and beneficial insects, natural materials are used to feed plants and soil, plant materials removed from the garden are recycled into compost or mulch, and native species are primarily what is planted.<\/p>\n

Following sustainable practices includes avoiding polluting chemicals, preserving natural resources, and reducing waste whenever possible. Sustainable gardening is not just about growing plants and maintaining a garden; it\u2019s also about growing a greener future. As Welles said, \u201cYou don\u2019t have to sacrifice beautiful, breathtaking gardens to be responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Originally published in the Santa Barbara Independent. Credit: Courtesy<\/p><\/div>\n

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Santa Barbara Independent, May 19-25, 2002. ON THE COVER: Madame Ganna Walska, taken c. 1958. Photo by J.R. Eyerman\/Lotus- land Archives. Design by Ava Talehakimi.<\/p><\/div>\n

Originally published in the May 19-25 issue issue of the Santa Barbara Independent<\/em><\/a>. To see the story as it originally appeared click\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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