From ornamental to forest garden
One of the projects I work on is a private garden in Totnes. It is just under 1000 sq meters in size, has a couple huge yew trees and large laurel hedges surrounding it, which give it quite a lot of shade. It's been mostly kept as an ornamental garden, but includes some fruit trees and some nice edibles with ornamental value such as solomon's seal on the second picture. The brief for me is to turn the garden from an ornamental into a food forest, which is right up my street.
The landlady wants to be involved with the designing, actually design first herself and then have me support and consult her and make the transition happen.
I spend on average about a day per week in the garden (more in the summer, less in the winter) and I like to see it as my mental health day; I enjoy the quiet, the movement of the body, the connection to the plants and wildlife, the pottering and the slow progress towards what we are trying to achieve. Give it some time and there will be something to eat, that also supports wildlife on pretty much every square meter - but there is no rush here, nature likes to take it's time and I am learning to go along with her..
I will share some of the interesting plants that are there already and those we will plant as we go and will make an effort to also share about the other growing projects that I am working on currently. So hopefully you'll see more of those updates on here soon.
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