Gardening is more than just a hobby — it’s the environment’s social glue, bringing people together to raise the next generation of eco-warriors. Unfortunately, climate change is rendering some conventional gardening practices futile. It’s also threatening the viability of traditional growing spaces, compelling adults with green thumbs to rethink where and how to cultivate growing spaces that ensure seamless multigenerational knowledge transfer.

How Does Climate Change Affect Gardening?

Experienced gardeners feel the urgency to pursue climate resilience. Evidence shows that global warming is worsening, particularly in recent decades, when it has accelerated faster than the long-term trend.

This phenomenon alters plant life cycles, intensifies weather events, jeopardizes soil health and depletes water resources. It also widens the window for pests to wreak havoc on crops and encourages the spread of invasive species to the detriment of native plants.

Adaptation and climate resilience go hand in hand. If you wish to continue doing what you love and mentor future horticulturists, food growers and homesteaders, you should dispel your outdated gardening beliefs. At the same time, you’d adopt ideas that can neutralize the effects of changing climate conditions.

Start with the cradle of fruitful, sustainable gardening — the growing environments. Protected growing spaces shield vegetables, herbs, flowers, ornamentals and even fruit trees from the elements, mitigating the impact of climate change on gardens.

3 Strategies to Design a Climate-Resilient Growing Space

Protected growing spaces, such as greenhouses, polytunnels, shade houses and cold frames, lend climate resilience to gardens. With the right design, they can be conducive to socialization, where the young and old can plant side by side and exchange ideas.

Here are three tips for designing climate-resilient growing environments that support gardening mentorship.

1. Open an Outdoor Garden to the Public
It takes a village to raise young growers, so community gardens are natural nurseries for them. Educators in South Australia’s Adelaide Hills region use them to teach youths science concepts and organic food production.

Unlike backyard gardens, communal growing spaces encourage neighbors to band together, strengthening social connections while bridging generations. Many retirement communities understand these merits, and more are using urban farming to help residents make friends through community involvement and contribute based on their ability level.

There can’t be too many community gardens in a town. If you own a vacant lot within walking, biking or easy driving distance, consider lending or leasing it to a local gardening group or a nonprofit passionate about urban farming. Protected growing environments come in different shapes and sizes, so your unused land, regardless of its square footage or acreage, is a good candidate.

2. Add a Sunny Botanical Room
An indoor space dedicated to vegetation appreciation is a practical introduction to horticulture. Consider building an attached greenhouse and filling it with potted plants, preserved moss, rattan cabinetry, stone figurines and floral rugs. This climate-controlled room makes replicating your desired growing conditions less challenging than growing plants in an ordinary room.

An attached greenhouse is conveniently accessible, helping you and the kids plant under the sun indoors. The back of the house is an advantageous spot. It’s usually more spacious than the side yard and can accommodate more garden beds and plant benches.

This home extension’s orientation determines how much sunlight it can receive throughout the day. For example, a south-facing botanical room can get up to eight hours of direct sunlight daily. It can sustain natural-light-loving plants like the pencil tree without relying on artificial light.

3. Let Living and Growing Spaces Coexist
Getting kids interested in gardening is easier when greenery surrounds them, especially where they relax and play. If you have a porch, patio or deck, make it a climate-controlled extension of your living space.

Sunrooms, conservatories and solariums are excellent candidates. Although architecturally distinct, these spaces can all offer the comforts of the living room while doubling as protected growing environments. Any of them makes a convenient training ground for little gardeners year-round.

These rooms can house less vegetation than full-blown greenhouses, but a few pots with drainage holes are all you need to teach younger people about the basics of plant care. Learning to ensure proper sunlight exposure, water adequately, add organic fertilizer, check for pests and mold, and prune is key to developing a green thumb early on. Keeping one or two plants alive and healthy can give children a sense of accomplishment and confidence in caring for more demanding crops later on.

Design Climate-Resilient Growing Spaces With Multigenerational Benefits

Gardening skills are a family and community heirloom. However, climate change dramatically affects time-honored gardening practices and can disrupt knowledge transfer. Protected growing environments make adapting to this new reality easier and can allow gardening knowledge to be shared from generation to generation.