Summary and Lessons Learnt

Project 10

Isabel’s Garden (2012)

Summary and Lessons Learnt

This project taught me a lot about working for a customer. Like Tracey’s Garden this was a domestic garden, but with a lot of hard landscaping and fairly solid initial ideas about being self-sufficient in fruit and veg and connecting to nature. The design fulfilled the brief but the project taught me a lot about really hammering out the real requirements and developing a longer relationship with the client beforehand. People don’t always know what they are really wanting in a design and can often be overly enthusiastic – you can’t just accept what they say, sometimes they need more help coming to an understanding, so you need a period of observation with the client as much as with the land! But even if this design is not fully implemented, it has had a positive effect on the client’s outlook and awareness and enabled me to go through another design process iteration.

Ethics

Earth Care – Sustainable food production, composting better and improving soil, creating more wildlife food and habitat, capturing rainwater, increasing wood burning use rather than coal.

People care – More satisfying connection to land, providing nutritious food and enjoyment rather than all garden toil as they get older, lifting spirits and providing retirement activity.

Fair Share – Increasing connection to local residents by sharing and swapping more produce, being more present in the front garden whilst gardening, having conversations about permaculture techniques.

Criteria & Principles Demonstrated

This project used OBREDIMET for the design framework and also demonstrates the use of Functions and Elements Analysis, Overlays, Sector Analysis and Evaluation and Costing.

The Key Principles demonstrated are Produce No Waste, Catch and Store Energy, Obtain a Yield, Use & Value Edge, the Problem is the Solution, Use and Value Diversity, and Slow and Small Solutions.

Isabel’s Garden

Observation

The Starting Point – Site Visit and Interview

Isabel contacted me for a permaculture design in February 2012 having met for a second time at a meditation course. She was aware very loosely about permaculture, but having no real knowledge she was mainly interested in itsholistic philosophy, having felt a strong spiritual connection to the Earth and Nature for a long time.She had wanted to start growing fruit and vegetablesand was drawn to the idea of raised beds but did not know where to start, being nervous of making costly mistakes.

Since moving to the house and garden Isabel feels she has been fighting against its square, sterile feeling and now feels it’s imperative to incorporate her garden into her spirituality.

She also seems to have been getting stressed by gardening – it always seems a chore and like fighting a losing battle. She wants a new way to interact with the garden which is more natural and in harmony, reducing workload but also gaining a deeper understanding of nature, wildlife and eco-systems.

Her husband Graham seems to be willing to let Isabel make most decisions but I get the feeling he needs to feel things are done properly and is a lot more conventional. He hates mowing but thinks there ‘should’ be a lawn!

Wish List

Not to be self-sufficient but to grow a reasonable selection of the following including surplus to freeze as had freezer capacity, unable to eat jams and preserves though.
Soft-fruit -raspberries, strawberries, currants, tayberries, blackberries
Rhubarb
Top fruit – apples (eaters as get cookers from neighbour’s tree), plum, maybe something like nectarines? Not keen on pears.
Salad stuff, lettuce, celery
Roots – potatoes, carrots, swede, turnip, parsnip, beetroot
Brassicas – cabbage (all year round and red), cauliflower, broccoli and calabreese,
Onions, leeks
Peas, runner beans, French beans
Courgette, squash, marrow
Tomatoes – cherry and big, cucumber
Willing to try other things – eg broad beans

(Note: very conventional annual veg choices, what they normally buy in shops. High on brassicas with potential pest problems)

Would like raised beds to avoid bending too much, knee problems
Soil very heavy clay – too difficult to work, dries out. Help! (do have access to horse manure)
Already composting but would like to make easier process
Wood storage important – currently distributed over several places including garage and covered over goal area! Also currently using coal as well, problem with coal ash and large amounts of coal dust.
Meditation space – would be nice to have dedicated area, make attractive
Existing seating/patio area – only sunny in summer but secluded and protected from wind
Existing pond – was a fish pond once, would like it to be more of a wildlife pond – do have a grass snake that eats the frogs!
Space for bringing on seedlings as existing conservatory was more a restful house space, didn’t want clutter of seed trays etc
Improvement to concrete pathways? – surfaces lost integrity, look unattractive, too square lines for Isabel, not sure what can do
Isabel likes circles, hates straight lines but accepting for raised beds
Graham – more conventional, doesn’t like mowing but thinks should have some lawn!
When asked about costing – told anything reasonable so I took this to mean money was not too much of a problem but we couldn’t be lavish!
TIME? Graham working full-time but coming close to retirement, Isabel has time available – approx. 4 hours a week once all up and running.
Would like to start something growing this season if possible
NB – Front retaining wall is collapsing and will need to be rebuilt soon, have had a builder suggest a curving wall set back from front perimeter – which suggest a large amount of soil will be available

Ethics

This design is a perfect example for demonstrating the ethics of Permaculture

Earth Care – Sustainable food production, composting better and improving soil, creating more wildlife food and habitat, capturing rainwater, increasing wood burning rather than coal,

People care – More satisfying connection to land, providing nutritious food and enjoyment rather than all garden toil as they get older, lifting spirits and providing retirement activity.

Boundaries and Resources

Site Survey - 6th March 2012, 1 pm

The house is a detached modern house sitting on a generous corner plot but divided equally to back garden, front and side garden. The property faces entirely south so this means the back garden is shaded and the slope of the plot has meant the terraced back garden has a sunken patio. The front is sunny and open with only one tree shading a part of the lawn but itcan be windy. The road is a quiet side street in a village location.

The back garden feels quite ‘built up’ with stone walls, steps, paths patio, pond surround and garage wall. The side and front garden are really mostly lawn with hedge and some shrubs and feel very open but not inviting (though this was March). The front garden pathways are concrete and straight lined and the surface is deteriorating.

The only access to the back garden is either from through the garage, the drive being not adjacent to the house, but behind the side garden, or via a narrow alley on the far right (east) of the property.

Back Garden – site survey

Front Garden

Base Plan

Sectors and Site Survey

Evaluation

Functions and Systems

Having has several chats about the garden and visited Isabel three times in the last few months the main functions she and Graham require can be summarised as

Food production
Providing utility space
Creating a more ‘natural’ space for spiritual connection and enjoyment
Concern about safety of the front wall

I then broke these down into possible systems and elements that could work within the very different sections of garden.

Functions / Systems / Elements
Food Production / Top fruit / Ballerina apples & plum
Nectarine?
Soft-fruit / Raspberries, tayberries, blackberries, strawberries, currants, gooseberries
Vegetables / Large selection of annual vegetables listed, suggest perennial options?
Garden structure / Greenhouse, raised beds,pathways
Rainwater harvesting / Guttering, diverters, tanks
Water delivery / Hoses, soaker hoses,
Soil Improvement / Compost, mulching materials – lawn mowings, paper/card,
Manure from local stables
Utility / Dry /accessible wood storage / Wood storage box, additional covered space
Washing drying / Rotary line – in more sun
Tools & equipment storage/access / Shed, garage, increased and more accessible wood store
Pathway improvement / Planting options for edge softening – low growing herbs
Reduce stress of gardening / Reduce lawn areas, easier access and less effort composting
Garden relaxation, nature/spirituality
connection / Seating areas / Tables and chairs, occasional seating, lawn and plants, pots that work well
Meditation space / Privacy, seating, attractive and fragrant planting, wildlife attraction, creating roundness?
Wildlife / Existing pond, additional planting to increate bio-diversity, habitat improvement,
Bird feeders, nesting boxes/habitat/site management
Insect beneficial planting
Front wall problem / Additional terrace to relieve lower wall / Terracing, remove large shrubs whose roots are destroying wall

Zoning , Elevation & Aspect, and Placement

Access and desire lines are very obvious on this property as there are limited ways in which to get into the property. The back door, patio, lawn and pond, steps to garage and front pathway from pavement to front door are high visit . Also fairly frequent in the summer months is through the conservatory onto patio and garden. Less frequent access is via side alley gate to back door (as kept locked) and side garden (only really for mowing and hedge maintenance now children don’t play here).

In such a small area zoning is often merely a matter of identifying high visit and low visit areas.

Zone 1 is therefore the Front garden pathway and rear patio, garage steps and lawn/pond.

Zone 2 is the less visited Side gate and Alley, Side garden and Front garden lower lawn.

Zone 3 – side garden hedgerow. Lower front garden wall beds?

Zones 4 and 5 are not really relevant to this garden and can be said to be the fields and hedgerows surrounding the village.

Aspect and Elevation suggest the ideal location of vegetable annual crops be in the south facing front garden where water can also be delivered from higher elevated water storage containers near the house. The least successful place for annual crops (and of course where most often tried to date) is on back garden patio.

The secluded back garden is most suited to developing wildlife and a meditation space, already with established pond and warm sunny space at top of garden.

The full shade areas suggest water and wood storage space, thankfully the shed is already ideally located near back door and within a shaded space so not taking up valuable growing space.

The solar gain and vertical space areas of the garage wall, rear garden fencing, west facing house wall and side garden wall are all unused at the moment and have great potential for food production.

The side garden with low visit rate and partial shading is ideally suited for fruit and perennial crops , which could also be attractive to wildlife and top fruit trees could provide some extra wind break potential for strong south westerlies.

Design

The Design – Back Garden

With such hard landscaping and infrastructure in the rear garden there was not a huge amount of change that could be suggested for this garden. The main focus has been on developing opportunities for insects and birds by planting suggestions (see plant list appendix) and making use of the garage wall as a perfect solar gain aspect for a greenhouse. A more defined seat with an arbour would increase the feeling of peace and seclusion in a sunny spot for Isabel’s mediation space.

(Note: scale refers to original drawings, see portfolio)

Food Production elements:

Greenhouse -seedlings, tomatoes,cucumbers, overwintering salad, nectarine, water capture from roof for internal watering, solar gain from wall,
South facing fence – soft fruit climbers
Using semi-shaded stone wall ‘beds’ for strawberries, especially alpine for temporary summer sun benefit.

Wildlife elements:

Planting - long grass, wild flower meadow, ivy, nectar rich climbers and plants,
Food and habitat - increased birdfeeders, nesting sites, overwintering ‘untidyness’, brash piles, mulches.
Suggest not replacing gold fish in pond and allow natural eco-system to develop. More marginal planting at edges of pond maybe by ‘wicking’ water from pond or identifying overflow.

Meditation space:

Increasing Isabel’s spiritual connection with nature by biodiversity encouragement
Vertical growing space for more fragrance and seclusion,
Help Isabel with permaculture techniques for gardening, allowing certain weeds, using mulches and ground cover plants, planting hardier more native species and generally ‘relaxing’ into her garden so she can become more attuned to it.
Create more ‘softness’ and ‘curves’ to counteract square harshness of infrastructure by planting more low growing ground cover to spread onto patio edges, hang over walls, climb fences, especially circular wildflower meadow.

Utility elements :

Wood storage under kitchen windows – increased capacity, no need for access to garage and steps, unused space, relatively dry
Water storage containers- again under kitchen window - making use of relative elevation to deliver water to the front garden, using a shaded, unused space.
Butts to collect more water from garage roof – maximising collection for greenhouse and for topping up pond to reduce mains water use.
Reducing mowing by creating wildflower meadow spiral.

Move washing line further north in the garden would give extended sunshine and perhaps more access to southerly winds, but Isabel seemed reluctant to move her line when I suggested this and asked me to remove it from the design. The only thing she disagreed with!

The Design – Side Garden

This area was easy to identify as a perennial and fruit Forest Garden because of its zone and partial shading. Graham needed to be able to access the hedge for trimming (though I am attempting to suggest less rigid trimming to enable birds to benefit from the privet berries, hence need a season of flowering and fruiting) and wanted to be able to keep pathways tidy my mowing. I have suggested a process to plant trees first, then create shaped sheet mulch beds with cardboard and manure , then adding perennials, soft fruit canes and plants after bed shapes created. I foresee lawn mowings being in short supply after this design has been implemented fully, but the front garden and rear lawn will provide some material for keeping weeds down in this area at least at the beginning. Privet hedge trimmings could be shredded as mulch on these beds. Will blackbird and thrush ‘mulch kicking’ proof too much for Graham that he will want tidy edging? Maybe mowing up the ‘mess’ will be enough!?

Food Production elements:

Top fruit, apples, plums/damsons, cherry – on dwarfing or ballerina root stock to prevent too much additional shading, Graham concerned about root invasion to house and drain

Soft fruit - trained against wall, strawberries at base of wall and along footpath, raspberries can be kept in check by mowing.

Perennials – mainly soft herbs and rhubarb, tentatively suggesting other edibles such as Jerusalem artichoke…

Wildlife attraction elements: insect attractors, that can be cut and left as mulch, hedgerow left to be more wild, top fruit and mulched beds will attract birds, blossom attracts bees.

Utility elements: Reduced mowing and hedge trimming, water storage from front down pipe can act as reservoir for front irrigation, again reducing effort.