This is a comment I made earlier this year, in response to an article about building up your decking area outdoors.
There are lots of factors to bear in mind, with small gardens and decks, bio-diversity - do we leave room for more than one genus of animal, plant, insect (to mimick natural systems and keep pests under control), urban run-off (having porous surfaces that enable bio-filtration, replenishing of ground-water), trees for shading/wind-breaks/lowering heat-island effect, and space for growing produce/composting.
Watch out for Outdoor Room fads and consider how well these cope with extreme weather events. Timber has lowest carbon foot-print of all decking materials (and C02 sequestration makes it practically carbon neutral except for finishing and maintenance inputs) but the source of all materials must not come from active habitats. Buy locally if you can because decking timber is a top main cause for prize rain-forest destruction next to paper, and palm-oil in countries where chain of custody, forest stewardship may not exist. Natural turf is a fantastic carbon sink, and lawn is child-play friendly.
Nicolle Kuna Sustainable Landscape Designer and Blogger
Blooming and Bold
Without the buzzards and bees
Where would we bee?
A blog by Nicolle Kuna
A blog about sustainable landscaping and some eco-humour and eco-creativity.
Inside this blog we look at everything that is encroaching in to our natural urban landscapes – outdoor rooms (errchkem), weeds, urban noise, excess nutrientsThere’s a bit of art to add extra colour and inspiration. We believe in making sustainability fun - more gaming, less shaming.
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To contact us – go to the contact us page http://www.converseconserve.com as the contact facility on this blog has been giving us mischief.
Attribution for above garden design goes to
Andrew Jones, talented artist and designer.
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