We started with intros and what space we wanted to design. I hadn't actually thought that bit through.
We were given a mini personal survey to help up collect our thoughts down, which was a handy way to start. Key questions included:
- What foods do you like to eat?
Courgettes, carrots, onions, peppers, okra, yam, grapes, peaches, figs, garlic, tomatoes, cucumber
- What personal skills do you have / don’t have?
Um... creative, adaptive, curious
Not very handy/limited on my construction skills, newcomer to the world of growing plants
- What are your barriers to action?
Other questions included things like:
- Time available for making and maintaining?
If yes - work with multiple iterations of design
If no - try and be less precious - you can change the design after it’s finished.
The design is a learning process!
Once you’ve answered the questions in your personal survey, set your declaration of intent / hopes for your garden.
Answering the survey questions helps you think about your personal motivations and reduce barriers to creating and maintaining your garden
Keep a garden journal as go along - sketch designs, thoughts and ideas
What is an edible garden: the four tenets of edible spaces
Next was talking through the principles of what an edible garden is. This was covered in quite a lot of detail - I’ve captured the four broad areas below:
I particularly liked the part about ecological solutions - in both management and production. This is all about partnering with ecology and finding synergies in the garden and with you.
When designing an edible space
Next we covered the overall approach for design:
Observation/survey: what is right now?
Develop design directives: principles to inform thinking and choices
Element selection: what’s appropriate in the space?
Design: Make this participatory with others (family, housemates etc)
Reviewing an idealised medium garden
The final part of the session was looking at an ‘ideal garden’ design. We discussed in smaller groups and as a larger group why the particular plant types had been designed in those spaces. The spaces were broken up to include:
Cane fruit strips e.g. blackberries, raspberries, wild strawberries
Edible hedge e.g. hazelnut, mulberry, elderberry
We then applied the design directives to each space to help us understand why the particular space was chosen and placed where it was in the garden. The design directives for this garden were:
Design from the outside in
Design for existing features
Design for existing microclimates
Create/augment microclimates
Make use of verticle space
I found this useful - going backwards - starting with the designed garden and thinking about the reasoning behind the plant types and their placement in the space.
- As much as possible you want to put the work upfront, so the maintenance time is low. The key work you will be doing will be spending time harvesting your food
- When doing a site review, consider the orientation of the space and how that impacts on design. In particular:
Sunlight - there will be lighter/warmer areas and colder areas. This is known as a microclimate
Wind - prevailing wind comes from the south west. Local housing will also influence wind direction - in long streets, the wind tends to blow up and down. As a rule of thumb, in the summer, the equator dominates the weather system.
- Choose design/plant types that meet multiple design directives
- When doing initial design elements, you don’t need to get lost in the detail e.g. decide that you will have an edible hedge - you don’t need to decide the exact plant at the initial stage
- Spacing out - think about your traffic. Have you allowed enough space for wheel barrows? If you pop out in pyjamas are the leaves going to get in your way/ soak you if it’s been raining? Basically, design your garden so you don’t p*ss yourself off.
And finally... it’s all about the soil. That’s for next week
