At Heart Beet we try to go beyond the mere definition of “organic” and design gardens that are balanced, productive, and healthy.

We base our methods on the principle that a garden is also an ecosystem where plants, soil, water, bugs and other critters, and of course, you, work interdependently.  These are some of the key components of an ecological garden that we uphold in our work.

Nutrients

In a natural system, there is no waste: dead plants are decomposed and their nutrients are re-used by new plant growth. Today in the city, most of that valuable plant “waste” is thrown into a landfill.  We encourage our clients to let us install a compost bin to recycle their kitchen scraps and garden waste back into the soil.  When we start a new garden, we use purchased organic compost to amend the soil, and often sheet mulch to start a new edible landscape.

Water

With our scarce water resources, it is important that our gardens use the minimum water required to maintain a healthy garden. We heavily mulch all of our gardens at planting to help the soil retain moisture and install drip irrigation systems in all gardens where it is appropriate.

Pest Control

We try to avoid pest problems by ensuring that our plants are healthy, utilize plants that attract beneficial insects and deter pests, and generally assure that our garden is a healthy ecosystem where pests may be present but don’t get out of control.  When infestations happen we use organic methods of control, such as physical barriers, soap sprays, and neem oil.

A robust garden can take time to become established depending on the current health of your yard’s ecosystem, so please be patient with your garden and understand that it may take a few seasons to really get your garden’s groove going.