Rewilding a Northern California Garden

Learn more about the gardening movements of rewilding and regenerative gardening — and see them in action — in this year-long garden makeover from expert, author and homeowner Emily Murphy.

April 08, 2022

By: Emily Murphy

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Photo By: Emily Murphy

Photo By: Courtesy of Timber Press

First, What Do I Mean by Rewilding?

Gardening trends are moving toward a deeper, more holistic approach to growing. Two such movements are rewilding and regenerative gardening, but what exactly do these words mean? Rewilding is a form of ecological restoration. It asks us to consider how nature grows itself and how we can mimic and encourage natural systems, create habitat and support biodiversity in our home gardens and communities. Rewilding involves regenerative practices, a set of common-sense principles for regrowing and supporting nature. Some of the core tenants of regenerative gardening are caring for soil, feeding soil organic matter such as compost, planting a diverse range of plants and considering how we can “grow more good.” It’s a step beyond organic. A no-dig practice called sheet mulching (which I’ll show and explain later), and native plantings are two regenerative practices I rely on for rewilding — they create habitat for people and wildlife.

Collectively, my garden, your garden, your neighbor’s garden and so on have the power to make a difference. Together, we have the opportunity to support biodiversity, mitigate the climate crisis and grow resilient communities — places that are good for us too. Considering that 139 million acres in the United States are dedicated to urban and suburban living, the possibilities are profound.

After: My Beautiful and Resilient Garden Makeover

January of 2021 marked a new beginning for my family and me. We moved into a new home, a property best described as a garden with a house attached (thanks to its oversized yard), and we couldn’t have felt more fortunate. Here was a place where we could put down roots after renting for nearly 10 years — a place to call home, and a place to restore and rewild. While the house was move-in ready, aside from some interior painting, the yard needed a thorough renovation. Much of it was abandoned lawn with rock-hard soil littered with unruly weeds. For me, the expanse of deferred maintenance (weeds and all) was a blank slate and the perfect opportunity to bring the landscape back to life with the regenerative principles outlined in my new book, GROW NOW: How to Save Our Health, Communities, and Planet — One Garden at a Time. This image is the front garden six months after I began transforming the area with a no-dig, beyond organic approach and with plantings to support biodiversity.

Before: The Bare Garden Is Ready for Rewilding

Every garden has a story to tell. We picked up the story of our new garden here, as you see it in this image taken from above. Wood chips edged a recently compacted entryway path comprised of road base, and the weeds were cut short to tidy up the property before going on the housing market. Now that it was ours, the big question was, what story would we tell? Between the fence lines was an opportunity for Growth — what I like to call Growth with a capital 'G.' As we grew the garden to create habitat, wildlife corridors and nectar paths, so too would we grow. This image is from January 2021 when we bought the property.

Late Winter 2021: Layering Up Rather Than Breaking Ground

An important, alternate perspective of the property before the makeover is from the ground. This image is from early March of 2021. If you look carefully, you'll see I began sheet mulching the far part of the front yard by layering organic materials over the soil surface, existing grasses and weeds. Sheet mulching is the practice of layer organic matter over existing lawn or weeds to build up soil rather than removing or tilling in the existing plants.

Perhaps this seems counterintuitive? You may be wondering why not turn the soil over or till it to prepare the planting area? The easy answer is weeds. Tilling and digging soil unearths weed seeds, bringing them to the soil surface where they have the perfect opportunity to germinate and grow. Some studies have found as many as 130 million weed seeds per acre! The no-dig approach of layering up rather than digging down ensures weed seeds stay underground.

Late Winter 2021: Sheet Mulching to Improve Soil and Reduce Weeds

Layering up with organic materials such as compost rather than digging down cultivates healthy, life-filled soil from the outset. If you think about it, this is how nature grows itself. Trees, grasses and other plants drop their leaves and other plant parts to the ground, where organisms of all kinds live, recycle organic matter and create soil. A healthy soil ecosystem cares for plants while supporting biodiversity, sequestering carbon and growing a more resilient garden.

Sheet mulching is an easy method for layering organic materials to improve soil, smother weeds and transform the toughest spaces into a thriving garden. To sheet mulch, simply layer cardboard or newspaper over the ground, cut grass or weeds. Then, wet the surface and add a layer of compost or another organic mulch. The type of compost or mulch you use depends on what you plan to grow or not grow.

Late Spring 2021: Preparing Infrastructure Before Planting

While sheet mulching was in process, my family and I built veggie boxes and flower beds (seen on the left and right of the image) and took time to determine the materials and design of the front path. I originally envisioned changing it from a straight line into a large curving ’S.’ It would have been lovely while solving several design challenges. However, it would require moving the gate, which had downstream ramifications. In the end, I kept the original layout, lined it with hardware cloth to prevent the gophers from digging it up, and topped it with 3/8-inch crushed bluestone.

Early Summer 2021: Choosing Plants Suited to the Climate

Finally, with the path in place, planting could begin. The initial goals were to create a welcoming entrance while managing the water budget. Typically, the best time to plant is fall into early spring, particularly in Northern California, when new plantings can easily establish robust root systems thanks to winter and spring rains. At this point in the renovation process, it was nearly June, and all chance of spring and early summer rain had passed. Years of drought combined with our summer-dry climate required thoughtful planning and plant choices, so I focused my attention on the area around the path, knowing that these plants had to be resilient.

Early Summer 2021: Continuing to Sheet Mulch While Planting

Native grasses, yarrow, penstemon, sage and native sunflowers, among others, went into the ground, and, in this case, I sheet mulched around them when planting. Some selections, such as the ‘Bee’s Bliss’ sage in a rectangular planter, came from my prior deck garden.

Late Summer 2021: Improved Soil Provides the Foundation for a Thriving Garden

By August, the perennial border along the path was thriving, thanks to regenerative, no-dig gardening practices. ‘Moonshine’ yarrow (in the foreground) grew exceptionally well. If you were to look carefully at the soil, you would find it was holding more moisture and had already improved in tilth (the condition for seeds to germinate and roots to thrive) thanks to the sheet mulching process from just a few months prior.

Late Summer 2021: Wildlife Friendly Waterwise Plantings

The textured greys, blues and greens of 'Elijah Blue' fescue and deer grass pair beautifully with verbena lilacina 'De La Mina.' All are waterwise and provide multiple ecological services. Many butterflies like skippers use grasses as host plants, and verbenas are excellent nectar sources for pollinators.

Late Summer 2021: Inviting Native Bees to the Garden

Native bees such as this bumble bee are essential pollinators that play a vital role in the greater ecosystem. They’re also facing numerous environmental threats. In fact, bumble bee populations have declined by nearly 90% in the past few decades. Habitat loss, pesticides and high heat days due to the warming climate all contribute to their decline. We can help them by rewilding our home plots and cityscapes using regenerative, no-dig techniques and plants that bees, butterflies and other pollinators love, like this 'Purple Haze' agastache, a hardy perennial in zones 6-10.

Fall 2021: The Beauty of Rewilding

By September, the welcoming entrance I had hoped for grew into being. The yarrow continued to thrive, and the red blooms of California fuchsia (behind the yarrow) had a continuous stream of visiting hummingbirds. Overall, the border has become an important haven for wildlife.

Spring 2022: The Rewilding Extension

The area west of the path waited, unplanted, for a year. Remember, it was sheet mulched first in March of 2021. I then sheet mulched again that summer to continue the soil building process and manage weeds. Now, 12 months later, the soil is rich, light and full of life yet with fewer weeds. Though the bindweed continues to thrive, there’s much less of it and it’s easy to pull or cover again with cardboard and compost or wood chips. Winter was the perfect time to consider the planting design, and spring rain will help this extension of the rewinding project establish and thrive.

Learn More About Rewilding and Regenerative Gardening

My new home and garden makeover has been an incredible opportunity to put the ecological practices outlined in my new book, GROW NOW, into action. It’s a process that continues to evolve as I learn more about the greater landscape, who’s visiting (birds, bees, other creatures?), and as I discover more ways to grow more good while providing a place to call home for my family. In reality, I’ve been gardening this way for a long time, in many situations, and you can too. We can’t forget the value of container gardens, food gardens and forgotten spaces such as empty lots, tree lawns and hell strips (the space between the sidewalk and street) — all gardens matter! Whatever your situation, you, too, can rewild and grow regeneratively. You’ll find advice and ideas for all kinds of spaces in my new book.

Buy GROW NOW: How to Save Our Health, Communities, and Planet — One Garden at a Time.