Text and photographs: Loren Shirley-Carr. Plan by: Alice Shirley. Article from the September 2012 issue of Garden and Home Magazine.
This Underberg garden is a delightful mix of herbs, veggies and ornamentals, satisfying the owners desire for fresh edibles, colour and fragrance
Those of you who loved Judy and Bruce Hansen’s colourful garden (featured in June 2012) will adore their beautifully laid out kitchen garden. To make the most of their limited outdoor space, they designed this area to be dual purpose. It not only offers a seasonal crop of fresh herbs and vegetables, but because these edibles are framed with a border of shrubs, flowering perennials and annuals, it doubles up as a decorative garden retreat.
This combination of culinary and ornamental plants is a delight to the senses and Judy loves nothing more than to breathe in the mixed aroma of herbs and roses while watering them. “It brings me such joy,” she smiles.
Central to the design is a chequerboard pattern laid with square pavers framed with cobbled edging. The squares of soil are planted with parsley, thyme, chives, cabbage, oregano, lettuce, rosemary and basil. “This design allows me to pick the herbs and vegetables without getting mud on my shoes,” says Judy, who enjoys using them in her cooking. In the middle of the chequerboard is a variegated ligustrum topiary, giving height and providing a focal point.
It’s all in the preparation
The thriving garden you see today is due to a lot of preparation. When the Hansens moved in, the soil consisted of hard rock and clay. The rock had to be removed with a crowbar and loads of lime and compost were added to the soil to improve its structure. Organic fertilisers like chicken litter and Gromor Accelerator were added every three months for two years.
This central section is surrounded by borders of roses, foxgloves, gaura, bottlebrush and ornamental kale neatly edged in by a hedge of euonymus.
Judy does all the planting herself with no help from a gardener. “I love the exercise and the feeling of achievement it brings me.”
Two benches, placed on either end of the garden, provide spots for relaxation after a hard day’s watering and fertilising, or simply a place where Judy can sit back and enjoy the rewards of her hard work.
Keeping it growing
- Judy applies Gromor Accelerator to the garden in spring and about three times during summer, as well as 2:3:2 fertiliser, compost and recycled soil, which is soil left over from growing bags available at her local nursery, Heritage Plants.
She hand waters her garden as she likes to see what’s growing on a daily basis. “There is always something different coming into fruit or flower.”- Due to severe allergies, Judy doesn’t use any sprays on her plants. Her strategy is to keep her plants in tip-top health with ample fertilising. As a result, her eco-friendly plant paradise is a haven for beneficial insects such as bees. “I love bees and they love my garden. I’m busy, they’re busy, and I never get stung,” says Judy. Bees are, in fact, essential for the growth of certain crops, such as squashes. Without them, the female flowers wouldn’t get pollinated or form fruits.
Plant list
- Standard bottlebrush
- Chequerboard design including square pavers interplanted with thyme, Vietnamese coriander, parsley, marjoram, celery, variegated sage, rosemary, lettuce, flat-leaf parsley, winter savory, cabbage, butter lettuce, origanum, chives and parsley
- Variegated ligustrum topiary
Clipped euonymus hedge- Mixed plantings of iris, aquilegias, daylilies and prunella, with box elder tree (Acer negundo)
- Silver birch
- Ornamental kale
- Lamium border
- Ligustrum topiary
- Nandina domestica
Red maple (Acer rubrum)- Mixed bed of irises, Inca lilies, impatiens, ornamental grasses, sedums, salvias, berberis, daylilies, hydrangeas, geraniums, dietes, lavender, arums, foxgloves and agapanthus
Hard landscaping
A. Bench
B. Paving
C. Bird bath
D. Water feature
Source:
Heritage Plants 033 701 2234
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