This garden was started back in 1999 & I was involved in co-creating it for the first two of those years. These photos demonstrate what can be done with enough time & effort (two people in this case) in one growing season, beginning with a heavily compacted base of hardcore overlayed with gravel. When this photo was taken the garden was only a few months old; previously it had literally been a gravel covered parking area for the cars of the previous residents.... almost all of it. What vegetation that did exist had been recently hacked back to virtually nothing. This included some beautiful shrubs & some trees that were never to recover.

 To a gardener, the first sight of the garden was one that generated both feelings of dismay & of great excitement for the great potential it held. Not many plants were available to begin with, but it was early Spring & we did have an large number of seeds. These were the first of our resources; a key element to address as part of the Permaculture design process. Other resources were as diverse as the large amount of space in the garden (a virtually 'blank canvas'), concrete pots & stepping stone seconds bartered from a friend, gravel(!) & our imagination & enthusiasm. Two neighbours were also not using their greenhouses that Spring & we were able to make use of them both as well as the one we bought secondhand & put up ourselves, so as luck would have it we were able to germinate a large number of those seeds that first year.

 With so much to do, it was hard to know where to start, so we undertook the customary observation phase while we started bringing on the seeds. This gave us time to notice the different microclimates within the garden & begin to decide which elements would best be placed where. The garden was to provide several needs, a place for adults to relax, for children to play, to provide nourishment (that can include beauty as well as food) & for two ex-battery hens to enjoy a much improved lifestyle. Some elements were worked out very quickly: the hens needed access to the shed & the greenhouse needed a sunny spot.

 Some other elements of the design evolved over time, through trial & error & a good deal of intuition (never ignored) & so the garden gradually took shape. Finding a new home for the gravel was relatively easy, neighbours were keen to have it for their own paths & drives (but all things in moderation!). Breaking up the heavily compacted ground under the gravel was a different matter. We were told stories of lorry loads of hardcore & heavy motorised rollers packing it all down. By contrast we had a single pickaxe to break it all up again, but we did have all the time we needed & each new bed was its own reward. Working with nature would have been our prefered method, but although tree roots break up rock very efficiently in the wild, we would have required a lot of patience to wait for them to do so in our garden. Planting potatoes to break up a heavy soil is one thing, but......

 This corner of the garden was very dark because of the fence, so we removed one panel, but we had to then negotiate a short bank. Once again a quick check on our resources enabled us to make these steps from logs cut from the trees. We also fashioned a bird table from a birch trunk that was lying around (see left of picture) & then set about making a pond using an old bath. We were lucky enough to find a particularly wide one & we set it halfway into the ground, using the excavated rocks & sand to pack around the sides. A sloping bottom was made by using old bricks (from the hardcore) to make steps up towards one end & then covering it all with gravel, making a 'beach' at one end.

 The flatter rocks were ideal for edging it with & by the time a bit of imported soil was placed around & more beds made, it blended in very well. Pond plants were obtained from friends as gifts or bartered for & in no time the pond became a hive of activity. Insects & pond creatures appeared seemingly out of nowhere, occasionally a frog or toad would turn up & the birds would queue up to bathe at the shallow end on a regular basis. Once again, we could see that we had made a valuable habitat for wildlife & for virtually no cost either. The best picture of the finished pond can be found in my more detailed Diploma Portfolio record of this garden, with a small version on the site map page.

 This children's playhouse was also made with recycled materials & proves to be popular to this day. The wood was old fencing stakes which were being thrown away & which we decided were far too useful to be firewood (I made a big greenhouse staging bench out of it too). The old chicken wire that formed the support for the turf roof was found in a corner & the turf came with some topsoil we collected. We didn't want to use plastic as a base for the turf as it would have been seen from the inside, but in retrospect it did need something to keep the moisture in from underneath as it dried out too easily.

 Turf roofs are usually laid on a waterproof layer & so next time I would try to incorporate one in a subtle manner. Despite the dry roof, the playhouse still looks great & with all the new plantlife in the garden it almost disappears into its own magic jungle.... Another popular Permaculture idea is the spiral bed, usually used for planting herbs, but ours was a bit more varied. The idea behind it is that it provides several diverse habitats in the same place, having both high (drier) & low (damper) beds as well as planting spaces facing all four directions. Thus, sun-loving, dry climate plants can be grown almost adjacent to shade & moisture lovers. It also looks quite unusual & gives height in such a flat area. Spirals are often made in combination with digging out a pond. The soil from the hole has to go somewhere, so it makes sense to make a feature of it & leave it there next to the pond!

 We didn't make our spiral the usual way though, soil was a very scarce resource & couldn't be wasted at the bottom, but we did have plenty of tree prunings... After pickaxing the circle (on a particularly hot day I remember), we hammered in the spiral uprights (more of those useful old fencing stakes!). Then we used branches from the cut down trees to weave in & out & make 'walls' for the beds. Then we piled in plenty of green waste (mostly conifer clippings & unrotted compost on top) & finally topped it off with more soil & then the plants.

 Over the first few months the spiral's soil level sunk a bit as the green waste settled & more soil was put on top to maintain it. A few years on, some plants have thrived there, whereas others have fallen victim to the chickens. The experiment in hen-proof plants is ongoing, but like the rest of the garden, has provided useful information to make each season easier. The greenhouse provided bumper crops for a couple of years, but as needs change it has found its way to a new home & that corner has become a children's garden. All that remains of the gravel are on a few pathways, the last remaining large area (see below middle & right) now being a play lawn. The diversity of plants in the garden still increases & it becomes easier to maintain each year, there being little room for weeds to grow in between the myriad of plants. It is most certainly a garden for plants & wildlife & whilst some might find it a little overgrown for their tastes, I really enjoy the way everything grows together so well. It has certainly come a long way since being a car park.....

For a more detailed look at this design, see my Diploma Portfolio Cottage Garden Design.