Private Garden Ecosystems“Private Gardens are continuously becoming a larger % of our planets ‘Planted Green Space’. This inevitably makes these spaces increasing more important to the functionality of the broader global ecosystem.”
In some parts of the world this is hold more ‘weight’ than in others. This really became something I started to think about in 2004, when Australia (where I was living and working at the time), in the midst of a drought introduced strict water restrictions. These restrictions where introduced periodically in stages as a response to the growing water shortage. As storages reduced across the country, restriction became increasing more server. Restrictions started with the banning of washing of driveways & hardstand areas (good practice anyway) and continued to no washing of vehicles, specific irrigation applications timing (morning & evening), then moved onto alternating days which one was allowed to irrigate (based on your street number), ultimately this lead to a complete ban on irrigation of private gardens. "Inevitably, this lead to the 'death' of many private gardens." Inevitably, this lead to the ‘death’ of many private gardens, for one this highlights the need for a more sustainable approach to the design of these spaces, but it also draws attention to the fact that as our development footprint increase and we occupy natural landscapes for the purposes of residential development, the importance of these ‘gardens’ in our ecosystem is only going to increase. For clarity I’m not against the restrictions, at the time there was only a finite amount of this precious resources and having something to drink was of paramount importance! Ultimately the challenge moving forward will be balancing these resources against the growing demand on them and our constant occupation of additional natural environments.
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AuthorLUKE MAIDEN Archives
September 2015
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