page_title: Climate-friendly gardening
section_title: Protecting and increasing carbon stores in gardens
hierarchical_section_title: Climate-friendly gardening / Protecting and enhancing carbon stores / Protecting and increasing carbon stores in gardens
caption_attribution_description: English: Wild strawberries in flower below a British hedge.
context_page_description: Climate-friendly gardening is gardening in ways which reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from gardens and encourage the absorption of carbon dioxide by soils and plants in order to aid the reduction of global warming.
  To be a climate-friendly gardener means considering both what happens in a garden and the materials brought into it and the impact they have on land use and climate.
  It can also include garden features or activities in the garden that help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions elsewhere.
context_section_description: After rocks containing carbonate compounds, soil is the biggest store of carbon on land.
  Carbon is found in soil organic matter, including living organisms (plant roots, fungi, animals, protists, bacteria), dead organisms, and humus.
  One study of the environmental benefits of gardens estimates that 86% of carbon stores in gardens is in the soil.
  The first priorities for climate-friendly gardeners are, therefore, to:
  Protect the soil's existing carbon stores;
  Increase the soil's carbon stores.
  To protect the soil, climate-friendly gardens:
  Are based on plants rather than buildings and paving;
  Have soil that is kept at a relatively stable temperature by shelter from trees, shrubs and/or hedges;
  Have soil that is always kept covered and therefore moist and at a relatively stable temperature by groundcover plants, fast-growing green manures (which can be used as an intercrop in kitchen gardens of annual vegetables) and/or organic mulches.
  Climate-friendly gardeners avoid things which may harm soil. They do not tread on the soil when it is wet, because it is then most vulnerable to compaction. They dig as little is possible, and only when the soil is moist rather than wet, because cultivation increases the oxidation of soil organic matter and produces carbon dioxide.p. 54–55
  To increase soil carbon stores, climate-friendly gardeners ensure that their gardens create optimal conditions for vigorous healthy growth of plants, and other garden organisms above and below ground, and reduce the impact of any limiting factors.
  In general, the more biomass that the plants can create each year, the more carbon will be added to the soil.p. 54–55
  However, only some biomass each year becomes long-term soil carbon or humus. In Soil Carbon and Organic Farming, a 2009 report for the Soil Association, Gundula Azeez discusses several factors which increase how much biomass is turned into humus. These include good soil structure, soil organisms such as fine root hairs, microorganisms, mycorrhizas and earthworms which increase soil aggregation, residues from plants (such as trees and shrubs) which have a high content of resistant chemicals such as lignin, and plant residues with a carbon to nitrogen ratio lower than about 32:1.
  Climate-friendly gardens therefore include:
  Hedges for shelter from wind;
  A light canopy of late-leafing deciduous trees to let in enough sunlight for growth but not so much that the garden becomes too hot and dry (this is one of the principles behind many agroforestry systems, such as Paulownia's use in China partly because it is late-leafing and its canopy is sparse so that crops below it get shelter but also enough light);
  Groundcover plants and organic mulches (such as woodchips over compost made from kitchen and garden "waste") to keep soil moist and at relatively stable temperatures;
  Nitrogen-fixing plants, because soil nitrogen may be a limiting factor (but climate-friendly gardeners avoid synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, because these may cause mycorrhizal associations to break down);
  Many layers of plants, including woody plants such as trees and shrubs, other perennials, groundcover plants, deep-rooted plants, all chosen according to 'right plant, right place', so that they are suited to their growing conditions and will grow well;
  A wide diversity of disease-resistant, vigorous plants for resilience and to make the most of all available ecological niches;
  Plants to feed and shelter wildlife, to increase total biomass, and to ensure biological control of pests and diseases.
  Compost made from garden and kitchen "waste".
  Lawns, like other grasslands, can build up good levels of soil carbon, but they will grow more vigorously and store more carbon if besides grasses they also contain nitrogen-fixing plants such as clover, and if they are cut using a mulching mower which returns finely-chopped mowings to the lawn. More carbon, however, may be stored by other perennial plants such as trees and shrubs. They also do not need to be maintained using power tools.
  Climate-friendly gardeners will also aim to increase biodiver
caption: Wild strawberries in flower below a British hedge.
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