RHS Journals
The Garden
August 2007
Changing climate means changing ways
After having written his new book, Matthew Wilson believes that gardeners – now more than ever – must work with, rather than against, climate change.
Image: Neil Hepworth
Despite what we might think are our strengths as human beings, the ability to cope with change is one with which we are not always blessed. If you think I am wrong, try sleeping on the ‘wrong’ side of the bed or watching TV from a different chair. While some, especially children, can embrace change (for example, changing technology), adults seem unable, or unwilling, to assimilate the reality of climate change and the effect it will have on our lives.
Assessing the change
Gardens and public green spaces are likely to be at the forefront of our experience of climate change as native and exotic flora both wax and wane under its effect. Parched lawns and shrivelling plants are just part of the story; more serious is the potential collapse of the balanced relationships between plants and animals. But it is hard to find a navigable path through the miasma of often contradictory, sometimes hysterical (mis)information that is put about.
So exactly what is the likely impact of climate change on our treasured gardens and landscape? The current predictions are for an increase (depending on who you believe) of 1–5°c on average temperatures by the end of the century. The impact of even a modest shift would result in southeast England experiencing conditions more akin to Bordeaux in France: hotter, drier summers and milder, wetter winters. For the rest of the UK the model suggests the increased incidence of unpredictable and violent summer storms, interspersed with hot weather, and wet, mild winters similar to those in the South East. If this is sounding familiar then we should not be surprised: we are already feeling the effects of climate change, albeit a change unpredictable in pace and nature, and often hard to measure.
Reality check
So should we all down trowels, lock our garden sheds and take up sand-buggy racing rather than gardening? Absolutely, and emphatically, no. For the past year I have been writing a book on the subject of how gardeners can employ a mixture of new and tried-and-tested techniques to garden with climate change. I am now more convinced than ever of the importance of gardens and gardening in helping us to understand the natural world. This is crucial if we are to learn how to respect natural resources, reduce our carbon footprint and enhance the environment around us. In the current air of continual chastisement and hair-shirt rhetoric that must be a good thing. But to continue to garden successfully, and responsibly, we will have to learn to love change and challenge received wisdom. But how?
To start with, we must learn to redefine what is beautiful and wean ourselves from the notion of the traditional British garden – whatever that is. There are plenty of inspirational examples of waterless, climatically-attuned gardening in the UK already, such as the smattering of zero-irrigation elements in gardens from Essex to Norfolk, including Paul Spracklin’s extraordinary subtropical garden and the Dry Garden at RHS Hyde Hall. The driver for all of these gardens is primarily climatic – Hyde Hall’s 30-year average rainfall is lower than Jerusalem and Tunis – but they are nevertheless aesthetically pleasing and broad in plant choice.
The sheer diversity of plants provides limitless opportunities to continue gardening, providing we are willing to take the time to research the microclimate and soil conditions in our gardens and then select appropriate plants. Modifying the timing and manner of soil cultivation to reduce water loss and then preserve moisture content is of critical importance, too. Shifting to low-dig or no-dig regimes does not just preserve soil moisture but also prevents harming the so-important soil fauna.
Using plants in the correct density and applying mulch post-planting also has a measurable effect on soil moisture. Harlow Carr’s Main Borders, replanted in 2005, contain more than 5,000 perennials, grasses and shrubs, most of which originate from the prairies of North America or European steppe. By mulching annually with organic matter the borders have been maintained with no more than a good watering after planting, and nothing since.
Where we do grow plants that require regular watering, such as vegetables, we must do our best to harvest rainwater and use mulch to preserve moisture. And we should also remember that by ‘growing our own’ we have a beneficial effect on carbon emissions by not relying on imported food – which in itself justifies the responsible use of water.
If we are willing to embrace change then we should learn from nature, the better to inform both home and professional gardener and, in so doing, we will establish new common practice. Climate change does not mean the end of gardening; in fact, I believe it points to an exciting new future – but it does mean changing our outlook.
What do you think? How are you adapting your garden to cope with climate change? mailto:thegarden@rhs.org.uk; please include a postal address.
Matthew Wilson is Head of Site and Curator at RHS Garden Harlow Carr, North Yorkshire. His book, RHS New Gardening: How to garden in a changing climate, (Mitchell Beazley in association with the RHS, 224pp, £18.99 ISBN 9781845333058) will be published next month
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