Growing vegetables: A gateway to biodiversity in domestic gardens?

As a key representative of ‘nature’ in cities, domestic gardens are the subject of research in several disciplines, including urban ecology and urban agriculture. However, the potential conflicts between two distinct objectives for domestic gardeners, wild biodiversity conservation and vegetable production, are rarely examined. In this study, we investigate whether and how growing vegetables relates to the conservation of biodiversity in domestic gardens. We approached this question using two complementary methods: a nationwide online survey assessing the perceptions and practices of a stratified sample of French gardeners, and a smaller-scale study combining survey data with ecological monitoring of domestic gardens in a suburban area near Paris.

Vegetable gardening remains a common practice in France, with 67% of nationwide surveyed gardeners having a vegetable garden (‘Vegetable gardeners’). Our results revealed no significant conflict between vegetable production and biodiversity conservation among French gardeners. On the contrary, several synergies emerged, particularly in the attitudes of vegetable gardeners, whose commitment to their gardens, the wild species within them, and nature as a whole appeared stronger than that of other gardeners. Synergies also appeared in their practices, such as more frequent planting, which may increase the diversity of ornamental flowers and provide resources for pollinating insects. Our study shows how vegetable gardening is associated with distinct practices, although their effects on biodiversity are neither clearly synergistic nor antagonistic. It thus argues for a more rigorous consideration of food production in urban ecology research on domestic gardens.