Our new gardening columnists Dina Kingsnorth-Baird and Neil Kingsnorth run Patch of the Planet, which specialises in ecological garden design and training in Warrington and the surrounding area

IMAGINE if we were to add all the gardens, community green spaces and allotments in the UK together.

They would cover an area bigger than all of the country’s nature reserves combined. At least 10 million acres.

We see potential in that. To us, every garden is a little patch of the planet. In our eyes, every patch of the planet wants to thrive and be abundant and productive, just as nature itself is.

With some smart design, our gardens and green spaces can work just as we want them to, while inviting in and enriching nature.

Gardening is a national obsession and understandably so. A garden can be a place of retreat, a venue, a sensory experience and a bounty. There are few things as grounding and mindful as spending time nurturing plants or the soil.

We have created Patch of the Planet because we want to help people to enjoy all of these benefits that their own patches offer, in ways that work in harmony with the planet.

It’s never been more important to start to listen to and work with nature, so it’s something of a mission for us.

We work in community green spaces as well as individual gardens and we run courses on ecological gardening too. The more we can support and inspire gardening with nature, the better.

We’ve been working with nature one way or another for a long time now, for national environmental charities, with community green space projects and on our own patches. Patch of the Planet is the natural next step, working to build nature’s beauty and abundance, patch-by-patch.

At the core of our approach is something called permaculture design, which is an intelligent design system informed by the natural patterns and systems of nature.

It’s a system that’s gathering pace all over the world, in gardens, farms and communities and its basic principle is that by working with nature rather than against it, everyone’s a winner.

In common with permaculture design the world over, we often integrate edible plants in to designs – often striking and unusual ones – because when a space produces something you can eat, you love it even more. And we design in ways that tread lightly on the earth, reusing and reclaiming materials wherever possible.

The end result of all of this is a space that works for people and planet in harmony. It’s not rocket science. As we see it, it’s simply what garden design should always be about.

We look forward to sharing our tips and tricks for gardening with nature over the coming months.