Beaconsfield

Whether we wanted it or not, this site became a blank slate. When we first visited, the front was a semi-formal native garden and the back a large lawn — classic suburban style. The house was a cottage from around the 1940’s / 50’s. In collaboration with Ross Mars of Candelight Farm we developed a design for a backyard forest garden centering on several citrus trees with vegetables and some nut-tree guilds in the front.

It was quite a challenge when we came to actually implement the design. After the builders had been there — the house had been significantly remodelled with a large extension but on the back to make it suitable for a young family — the site had changed dramatically. We had a blank slate.

We worked around the builders as we got the dingo in for the backyard earthworks. After changing the levels quite a bit (with the excess soil going to build up the retained lawn area) we got on to path construction. The path is a circuit around a central guild which makes for easy access and (most importantly) for fun skateboarding / bike-riding — this was a much used element even during our site works.

With the hard elements in, we sheet-mulched, layed irrigation line, added some good quality soil and planted up with a few new citrus trees and lots of Mediterranean climate adapted herbs, flowers and nitrogen-fixing shrubs. At the same time, a greywater system was installed which watered the plants we were planting. I’ve never seen so much growth as you can get with several loads of dirty nappies and a greywater system. It should almost be mandatory that people establish a forest garden watered with greywater before having a child! Now that’s nutrient cycling. Baby => nappies => fruit => baby.

Having got the basic system completed out the back, it was time to get some annual veggies going. In the front we installed five intensive garden beds, two apples, a macadamia and an almond along with another cornucopia of herbs and flowers. In fact, the front garden became quite a jungle of broad beans and borage — fixing nitrogen and attracting lots of pollinators. The two potato beds had quite a yield too.

Espalier was the next step — two pears. One pear (which I don’t have a photo of yet) forms a kind of fan-espaliered window frame for the back garden as you look out from the verandah.

This was a great job with some great clients. Its nice to get an opportunity to work from a blank slate, even if it is a bit more energy intensive.