Gardening: forget sustainable and go regenerative

Resilience 10, August 2025: What does it mean to garden regeneratively? And how can gardeners adopt the same principles that farmers and growers are already putting into practice.

🌱 I'm Sally Morgan, an organic gardener and botanist who loves to experiment. Here you can read about matters relating to climate change, regenerative organic gardening, growing veg and biodiversity, all helping you become a
climate savvy gardener 🌱☀️🌧️❄️🌡️

Resilience August 2025

A few weeks ago, I gave a talk to the Bride Valley Garden Club in the delightful village of Litton Cheney located beneath the Dorset chalk hills near Dorchester. As I was getting ready, a member came over to me and said he was really looking forward to my talk and proudly told me that he was a regenerative gardener. As he walked back to his seat, another member popped over to me and asked: ‘What does that mean?’

So this month, Resilience explores regenerative gardening, looking first at regenerative agriculture and the core ideas behind it and then examining how those same principles can be applied to our gardens, transforming them into spaces of renewal, biodiversity, and resilience.

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‘Regen Ag’ is a buzzword right now, not just within farming circles but among consumers and even venture capitalists. We see regenerative grains, flour and bread, even mint sauce and mustard on the shelves, while investment companies are racing to pour billions into regenerative agriculture projects ($1.17 billion in the first quarter of 2025). But the term has no clear meaning or definition, no certification, yet it’s been adopted by farmers and growers around the world. And to make matters even more confusing, the supporters of Regen Ag often have conflicting views of what is actually is.

So back to the beginning. The term regenerative agriculture was first coined in the 1980s by Robert Rodale of the Rodale Institute, a US-based organisation dedicated to advancing the organic movement through research and education. The phrase fell out of common use for a while, but its emerged again with a renewed strength. Robert Rodale used the word ‘regenerative’ to describe farming that goes beyond sustainable - farming that actively rebuilds soil health and biodiversity, and restores ecosystems. He felt the word regenerative was more powerful than sustainable and I tend to agree.

Others have used similar terms: Allan Savory described holistic land management, Storm Cunningham used the term restorative agriculture, while permaculturalist Eric Toensmeier discussed it in his book, The Carbon Farm Solution in 2016, emphasising the fact that regenerative agriculture is both climate-smart and ecologically restorative.

I like this definition of regen ag which I think originates from Rodale:

“A holistic system of farming that prioritises soil health, while simultaneously regenerating degraded land, improving biodiversity, increasing resilience to climate change, and strengthening the health and vitality of farming communities.”

Regenerative practices typically involve minimal soil disturbance (such as no-dig / no-till, or reduced tillage), diverse crop rotations, and the integration of cover crops. Natural fertility inputs, such as compost and manure, are highly valued, and synthetic chemicals and GMOs are avoided wherever possible, while on organic regenerative farms they are never used.

The transition to regenerative methods introduces greater diversity and complexity to farming systems, both in cropping and livestock. This may include the use of resilient crop varieties and livestock breeds, and the introduction of pollinator strips and trees, all of which help improve agrobiodiversity and system resilience.

Regenerative systems often encourage a return to mixed farming, for example, arable farms reintroducing livestock to close nutrient loops and reduce reliance on external inputs. This shift can also help shorten supply chains, encourage more localised food systems, plus strengthen ties with the surrounding community. (Check out my recent post on Gothelney Farm in Somerset and its journey from conventional to regenerative.)

What is regenerative gardening?

It’s about working with nature rather than against. At its heart are the key principles of restoring soil health, increasing biodiversity and enhancing the garden’s role in the larger ecosystem.