Caring for the Land: Ecological Landscape Stewardship

Landscape maintenance in our current culture is summed up in three little words, “mow, blow, and go.” This conventional approach is convenient but fails to account for ecological benefits to humans and non-humans alike. Instead, implement an approach to ecological stewardship—where pollinators, habitat systems, water management, and soil health are the focus. This increases yields of fruit trees, herbs, and veggies, creates havens for life, and ensures jaw-dropping aesthetics. In this way, we steward ecosystems responsibly for future generations, while generating vast yields for our families and communities.

At my company, Permaculture Artisans, we’ve been designing and building regenerative landscapes for decades. These landscapes are the foundation for regenerative living, but it’s the maintenance program—where our skilled landscape managers share their deep care for the land—that gives landscapes the capacity to thrive. It’s not enough to design and build a landscape; it must be cared for appropriately to grow successfully.

Ecological landscape maintenance is a form of art. Trees, shrubs, and perennials all follow cycles. Cycles of growth, death, flower, and fruit. How we intervene in, support, and care for those cycles is the make-or-break factor for all members of our ecosystems and the health of our gardens. Each year brings a new set of challenges, and knowing how to dance with the changing of seasons, of storms, of disease, and insect populations is the knowledge we are excited to share with the community.

Humans could be the “keystone” species of the land. In a world where we take responsibility for the health of soil, the care of water, the cycles of plants and animals, we become the force that all life depends on for vibrant, functioning, biodiverse ecosystems. I hope the tips below help folks manage the land in an ecological way. Responsibly.

Permaculture Artisans Landscape Management Tips: 

• Water is Life: Manage gardens to receive rain and surface waters during winters to reduce irrigation needs, mitigate erosion, and increase water availability. Use drip irrigation and Smart timers to use the least amount of water for your landscape to thrive. Flush your drip system annually and check for leaks regularly.
• Summer Prune Fruit Trees: This manages the tree’s energy to ensure an easier structure for harvest and care, prevents branch breakage by thinning fruit, and reduces disease.
• Manage Plant Succession: Plant, cut back, and mulch gardens at the right times by understanding plant seasonality. Let them have their moment.
• Feed Soil Life: Manage soil/vegetation to feed the beneficial life in soil. The health of gardens is directly related to the health of the soil. Feed soil life through compost applications, compost tea sprays, responsible vegetation management, and strategic mulching.
• Manage Habitat Systems: Grow a haven for birds, butterflies, and native pollinators by planting the appropriate succession of flowering and seed-producing plants, then cutting them back at strategic times to ensure access to forage, nectar, shelter, and homes for biological communities.

Need landscape support? Our award-winning landscape maintenance team at Permaculture Artisans will strategize and implement a stewardship plan fit specifically to you, your land, and your budget.