463-Ecological Gardening Essentials for Working in Concert with Nature
4/2/202652 min
At the heart of ecological gardening is learning to work in concert with nature, not against it. That's how gardeners come to understand how they can create beauty while fostering biodiversity and healthy soil. To explain some of the many ways anyone can practice ecological gardening, joining me this week is Matt Mattus, the senior director of horticulture for the American Horticultural Society.
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First 90 secondsJoe Lamp'l· Host0:00
Hi, everybody. This is Joe Lamp'l, the Joe behind Joe Gardener, and welcome to The Joe Gardener Show. Today's conversation is on one of my favorite topics, ecological gardening, and we have quite the plantsman to talk to us about it. Joining me today is Matt Mattus, senior director of horticulture for the American Horticultural Society. Matt is someone whose curiosity about plants has taken him into just about every corner of the horticultural world, widely respected among serious gardeners as someone who doesn't just write about plants, he grows them, a lot of them. And many of you already know Matt through his widely followed blog, Growing with Plants, and through his books, Mastering the Art of Vegetable Gardening and Mastering the Art of Flower Gardening. He's also been deeply involved in the broader horticultural community. And today, we're talking about the newest release from the American Horticultural Society, Ecological Gardening: Techniques and Know-How for Gardening with Nature. Matt is very well-equipped to talk about this subject, which explores how gardeners can work with natural systems, supporting biodiversity, building healthier soil, and creating gardens that function more like living ecosystems. So today, we're going to dig into what ecological gardening really means, why it matters more than ever, and how gardeners can begin putting the ideas into practice right where they live. So here's my conversation with Matt, and as we get started, thanks to our sponsors for this episode, Soil Cubed and the Ultimate Gardening Sheath. You probably know by now, having access to high-quality compost is my not-so-secret