Sustainability in the Garden

By Ross Lamond

A growing awareness is creeping into community perceptions about sustainability, and the relationship it has with natural resource conservation and mankind’s use of them.
Exploitation of natural resources such as timber, fisheries, minerals and land over the last twenty or so years has accelerated through technological innovation in communications and transportation, alongside the relentless growth of cities. The need to support surging urban populations (and their growing affordability), has led to depletion of global fish stocks, unsustainable use of fresh water, and continual destruction of forested lands and natural places. These issues and others are putting at risk natural food chains, climate stabilisation mechanisms, unique animals and rare plant forms.
The growing interest in resource management and conservation is not the realm for grandiose global visions, but comes back to real choices we make in use of land, soil and water, and tempering physical demands on them, in other words, becoming ‘sustainable’.
One of the most accessible and logical places to practice individual sustainability is within the garden. Sustainability in garden practice is likely to become instructed in horticultural institutions and colleges which produce architects, urban planners and garden designers. There’s a compelling reason because sustainability has a past (history), a present and a future.
When I first produced ‘Harmonious Chi Gardening’, I did not wake up to the realisation that Feng Shui is a sustainable practice in itself. Successful Feng Shui practice in the garden or natural environment relies on its parts remaining in harmony, and if we extend Feng Shui practices to encapsulate notions of Taoism, maybe some Zen, we invite our self to link with nature and recognise natural energies associate themselves with nature’s perpetuity, stability and health. We can become part of the equation.
When I produced ‘’Sustainable Feng Shui Gardening’’, I sought to take Feng Shui notions or my understanding of them to another level. I thought OK; gardening can support the relationship Feng Shui has with sustainability, but gardens are also places of energy movements (other than Chi) and these could be assessed in their willingness to perpetuate harmony. They are places of energy inputs such as machinery, labour, chemicals and fertilisers which all have energy pathways extending far beyond the garden gate.
Secondly, I saw gardens as places of creation evolving from something bare to places of beauty, creativity, wonderment and wondrous home for auspicious Chi, but these could be part of everyday places such as an extension to a forest, woodland or prairie, or created from nothing to that of naturalness. A wild, unkempt, native styled garden is a masterly example of a place where nature becomes free to roam and interest its users, and we as their gardeners or protectors, becoming passengers, rather than drivers of their energy and sustenance of their intrinsic qualities. I wanted to explore the relationships natural places have with gardening.
Finally, I recognised the garden place as a place of personal interaction, and the gardener becoming part of the gardens energy, an extension of its energy, and its auspicious or beneficial Chi. The garden’s energy becomes empowering and uplifting for those inside, and hey, that is being sustainable!
Sustainability in the garden could relate to almost anything, if only we knew, or could just accept what becomes sustainable practice? A natural area could be termed sustainable, but it’s not when subjected to climatic influences beyond its control, or changes its characteristics relative to disturbance and modification, and those changes reflected in the age and health of living things.
In the modern day garden, being sustainable is somewhat trendy but how does the gardener become involved, and to what extent do they push themselves to become sustainable gardeners?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ross Lamond
• Release date: Jul 2, 2013
• ISBN: 9780987477002

Ross Lamond

Ross Lamond is the youngest member of a well-known and respected dairy farming family of the New South Wales South Coast, Australia. He schooled away from home, completing secondary studies at Sydney Grammar School, Sydney. Upon leaving school, Ross returned to the family farm and over a forty year period, gained extensive experience in dairying, beef cattle production, sugarcane, small crop cultivation and horticulture. An ever present interest in the garden naturalised into that of a nurseryman, landscape gardener and grower of in ground trees for landscape. Concern about environmental issues such as tree decline, dry land salinity and habitat degradation led Ross into external studies in Environment at Mitchell College of Advanced Education at Bathurst, followed by post graduate studies in Urban and Regional planning at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane. A chance reading of a Feng Shui publication in 1998, introduced Ross to Feng Shui and its influence on our lives and surroundings. He applied some of its principles into the garden and developed his own interpretation of Feng Shui garnished through personal experience and observation. The interest has led Ross into a journey of self-discovery including that of nature, environmentalism and spirituality. It’s an ever growing interest. Ross lives by himself, has four grown up children, and likes to travel and garden and write about his experiences and observations.

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Sustainability in the Garden

Published by RossLamond.com at Smashwords

Copyright © 2013 by Ross Lamond

All rights reserved.

This work is owned by Ross Lamond and may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any manner without the exclusive permission of the owner. All materials including photos, illustrations, diagrams and character names are subject to copyright.

Cover design by Jannette Tibbs

Diagrams by Jannette Tibbs and Ross Lamond

For information regarding other books by Ross Lamond, please contact

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ISBN: 978-0-9874770-0-2

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge the generosity of people who kindly let me photograph their gardens. The images presented through the text were photographed by myself and represent individual places and themes. Jannette Tibbs of Holistic Therapy Connections, Bahrs Scrub, Brisbane, has kindly lent support and advice throughout my writing career. Her knowledge as a professional Feng Shui Practitioner is appreciated, while Jannette’s skill preparing my books for installation onto the internet has been very gratifying.

Quotations used throughout the text are attributed to Ross Lamond unless otherwise acknowledged.

About the Author

Ross Lamond is the youngest member of a well-known and respected dairy farming family of the South Coast of New South Wales. He was educated at Sydney Grammar School and upon leaving returned to the family dairy farm at Nowra.

Over a forty year period, Ross gained extensive experience in dairying, beef cattle production, sugar cane, small crop cultivation and horticulture. A continued interest in the garden materialised into that of a nurseryman, landscape gardener and grower of in ground trees. Concern about environmental issues such as tree decline, dry land salinity and habitat degradation led Ross into external studies in Environment followed by a Post Graduate in Urban and Regional Planning gained through QUT, Brisbane in Queensland.

A chance spiritual reading in 1998 introduced Ross to Feng Shui and Chi energy. Sustainable Feng Shui Gardening is the compilation of extensive experiences and hopefully introduces a unique vision towards sustainability in our lives and surroundings.

Contents

Introduction

Sustainability in the Garden

The Feng Shui Garden

- Yin and Yang in the Garden

- Sha (inauspicious Chi)

- Influence of Climate

- Water in There Somewhere

- Mimic Nature through Birds and Animals

The Energy Garden

- Design of the Energy Efficient Garden

- The Home and Garden as a Cohesive Energy Unit

- Low in Everything (Maintenance, Money and Inputs)

- Energy Inputs versus Energy Outputs

The Natural Garden

- Design with Nature

- Planning and Care of a Natural Garden

- A Natural Garden for Chi Connectedness

The Personal Garden

- Extending the Gardening Experience

- Connectedness

Appendix

- List of ‘sha’ Chi influences in the garden

- Five element balance (extract from Harmonious Chi Gardening)

Sustainability in the Garden

Introduction

A growing awareness is creeping into community perceptions about sustainability, and the relationship it has with natural resource conservation and mankind’s use of them.

Exploitation