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Imagine a stunning wildflower meadow filled with a variety of flowers, buzzing bees and alluring scents. Now, picture strolling through this meadow, gathering edible beans for preserving, leaves for stir-fries and roots for roasting. Wildflower meadows have a special ability to capture people’s imagination and inspire a love for nature. i b b o n s GJ a c o b Creating the Bowel Research UK Microbiome Garden at RHS Chelsea 2024 with my colleague Chris Hull was an extraordinary opportunity to tell the story that we are nature. All life is bound together by microbes, the invisible glue that sustains the living world. Our design was inspired by the latest scientific discoveries, which suggest that cultivating plants in ecologically rich environments fosters diverse microbial communities. By spending time in these environments and incorporating these plants into our diet, we can enhance the beneficial microbes in our microbiome, promoting overall well-being. Current microbial science is pointing to the link between many modern ills and our compromised microbiomes. Consuming processed foods, spending all our time indoors, and using antibacterial agents may not cause immediate illness, but over time, these habits can lead to cancer, obesity, food allergies and autoimmune diseases. Microbiome science offers a holistic approach to health, emphasising the need for diverse microbial communities within and around us. Over millions of years, animals and microbes have evolved intricate relationships. We are a moving ecosystem of microbes. Much like the macro ecosystems of the world, such as rainforests and savannas, we have varied ecosystems on a micro scale within and on our bodies. Without these ecosystems, the body fails to function. Growing a garden, eating fresh unprocessed food, and spending time in healthy ecosystems are key to maintaining our microbiome. The closer I look, the clearer it becomes that we need to invest in ecological food systems for our health and the planet’s health. My Journey My journey into doing this work began in my childhood. I was home-educated and grew up learning sustainability skills and permaculture on our family smallholding. I first became an ecological gardener and designer because I saw it as a way I could actively work to have a positive impact on the environment and society. It is time for humans to regenerate ecosystems and remediate the effects of climate change. I have spent my lifetime preparing myself to help people do this work. As someone passionate about permaculture, ecology and ethnobotany, I naturally became interested in health and food. These areas are interconnected. Cultivating diverse gardens allows plants to harvest the best nutrients and host beneficial microbes that support our health when we consume them. The Microbiome Landscape When you work with ecology and microbiology, you soon understand that the health of all life is connected. To be healthy, we must invest in the health of all beings. The Microbiome Garden aims to inspire people to rewild their diets, gardens and relationship with the land. When we grow plants in diverse ecological gardens, the plants support flourishing microbes on their leaves and roots, and help foster a healthy aero-microbiome in the environment (yes, that’s the microbiome of the air we inhale). These diverse microbes transfer to our skin, hair and internal digestive system, boosting our immune system, helping us fight disease, and allowing us to cope better with physical and mental stress. While many people take probiotic supplements to transfer beneficial © l l p h o t o s A diversity of plants is key to the health of us, but also the natural world. Here we have chives, lupin and bistort within a groundcover of grasses. A microbes to their gut, few realise that thriving landscapes with plants and animals support billions of microbes in the environment. Such landscapes can act as probiotics for our health. This emerging research supports the cultivation of edible plants in ecological communities, like the edible meadows and food forests humanity has tended throughout history. Studies show that gardeners generally have more diverse and healthy microbiomes than non-gardeners due to their contact with soil, plants and outdoor environments. Interestingly, this benefit extends to the whole family, likely due to the sharing of microbes among those we spend time with. Simply getting outside can have a huge impact on our microbiome. Edible Meadows It was exciting to bring a pioneering edible meadow to RHS Chelsea in 2024 for the first time. My edible meadow designs draw inspiration from both ethnobotany and the current field of ecological planting design. Edible forest gardening has become popular in recent years; however, few people are talking about the edible meadows different cultures have tended to for their staple food crops. I believe that there is a lot of opportunity in creating beautiful, biodiverse and edible meadows throughout our gardens and public landscapes. Chelsea Flower Show was a big stage to inspire people to play with this experimental idea in horticulture. Why Create an Edible Meadow? I have been thinking about this question for years. There are lots of benefits such as nutritional quality, flavour and freshness. However, I now recognise that this is likely one of the best things you can do for your microbiome and overall health. Edible meadows provide a diversity of issue 121 autumn 2024 | 5

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