Mixed border on poor, damp slighly acid soil, in our former garden in London. A mixture of herbaceous plants and small shrubs, in the foreground Rosa spinossissima. We did not use fertilisers, and once the plants were established we did not dig the soil. Dead leaves and stems which are left throughout the winter tend to breakdown and are recycled by soil organisms, and also a system of mycorrhiza (symbiotic underground fungi) will develop in undisturbed chemical-free soils. This became a settled plant community, but of course annual intervention was required - some weeding, some pruning to keep it looking good and to stop the more vigorous plants from swamping the less-vigorous ones.
All gardens need the attentions of a gardener, even those were natural processes are encouraged.

© Marc Carlton 2010