What is Nart and why is sustainable gardening so important?

Nart is where art and nature meet. It is a way of living based on sustainable practices and artistic expression. It involves the use of basic ecological principles such as food webs, ecosystems and nutrient cycles. It is a holistic approach to gardening in contemporary society which combines our human need to express ourselves with a modern scientific understanding of our place in nature.

A Nartscape is a garden which is part of the local ecosystem. It is beautiful, abound with thriving plant and animal life, highly productive, a joy to spend time in and totally sustainable. Its design is based on an understanding of the life-cycles of plants and animals, nutrient cycles between the air, the earth and the biosphere, and the interactions between living and non-living factors in the ecosystem. It uses non-invasive, environmentally friendly gardening techniques which allow the development of a balanced natural ecosystem that is part of a broader local natural environment. The beauty of a nartscape comes not only from it being in tune with nature but also from the imagination of its designer and custodian. A nartscape is designed as a work of art and is developed over time. It is continually changing from year to year, from season to season and from day to day.

Synthetic herbicides and pesticides upset natural ecosystems, can damage the soil and can be toxic to humans and other animals. A sustainable garden comes from the development of a balanced ecosystem. This takes time, patience and care but it will result in a garden that requires less maintenance and is more productive in the long term.

The beauty of a sustainable garden is that the “owner”^* can spend their time and money enjoying the garden rather than continually battling against pests and weeds. They can design and create and allow their artistic awareness to express itself throughout their garden. Any gardener can be a nartist and any garden, with care, can become a nartscape.

* Note: the word “owner” is used very loosely here and indicates a person who is the legal caretaker of a section of land. It is not used to suggest that anyone actually owns the land or the plants, animals and other organisms that live on it. Ecosystems are not bound by fences, they are affected by large-scale environmental and climatic factors that extend well beyond the confines of the suburban block.