Why Integrated Land Design?

The United Nations estimates that by 2050, 70 percent of the world’s population will be live in cities. In urban and suburban areas, residents can grow their own food on their property or in community plots for themselves or local consumption in order to boost nutrition, save money, and build community connections. Edible gardens enable homeowners to grow food in the ground, raised beds, pots, or trellises and produce fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

However, fertilizers used in home gardens can pollute local watersheds through runoff. To avoid contaminating watersheds and damaging local ecosystems, homeowners growing productive landscapes should practice ecological gardening by using productive plants native to their environment and limit the use of chemicals.

By employing concepts of permaculture, or agriculture ecosystems that use patterns in nature to develop sustainable environments, homeowners can ensure food production and garden systems are integrated with the natural environment. Landscape architects can help site agricultural practices to minimize ecological impact and enhance the community benefits of local food sources by increasing connectivity to shared productive landscapes.

Permacultural design also enables feedback to be incorporated throughout the process. “This is a cyclical, iterative, spiral approach.” This kind of approach allows permaculturalists to “eliminate pollution.” While waste is abundant in nature — because it produces so much — pollution is not. Pollution is the “concentration of waste to such a degree that nature can’t handle it.” Interestingly, lawns are a form of pollution because they “suppress existing ecosystems.” It's HFG-EA's aim is to integrate micro and macro lots with permaculture design, even at the small scale, giving people the chance to garden and grow their own food.

Contact us and let us help YOU start your own garden, be it, land design, integrated landscaping, setting up a kitchen garden and much much more! Its starts with YOU!