Spring Gardening With Little Time to Spare

Like most people these days, I find I have a long list of things to do, and little time in which to do them. (Hence the delay in updating this website.) Spring is a very busy time of year for me as a permaculture garden designer and consultant, and also a busy time for meContinue reading “Spring Gardening With Little Time to Spare”

Spiral Form Gardens: Beyond Basic Herb Spirals

If you are familiar with my writing and designs, you will likely also be familiar with the concept of a herb spiral. This idea, extremely popular in permaculture circles, involves creating a pyramidal, spiral-form raised bed to grow a range of herbs that like different growing conditions in a relatively small area. However, the potentialContinue reading “Spiral Form Gardens: Beyond Basic Herb Spirals”

Practical Design Tips for a Low Maintenance Garden

Low maintenance – these are words that come up again and again when clients describe what they are looking for in their gardens. Careful design can certainly help us to achieve our goals of being able to use our gardens more fully without having to take on more work than we can handle. While IContinue reading “Practical Design Tips for a Low Maintenance Garden”

Achieve Your 2025 Goals Through Gardening

Happy new year and best wishes for 2025! I do not always update this website as often as I should. Like many people, I find that time can often be in short supply. Now, as the new year begins, I fully intend to share more of my designs, and more design tips and advice forContinue reading “Achieve Your 2025 Goals Through Gardening”

Getting Starting With Permaculture: Where to Begin

Some who are new to the concept of permaculture find the whole thing overwhelming. Looking around online, having heard about permaculture for the first time, it is easy to get information overload. Cutting through the buzz words and jargon and getting to the heart of things can be important. There is of course plenty toContinue reading “Getting Starting With Permaculture: Where to Begin”

Permaculture Garden Design: Strategies for Reluctant Gardeners

When I speak to people about what I do as a garden designer, or show people my own garden, I often get one of two different reactions. People who are already keen gardeners tend to lean in, ask questions, and try to learn more, if they come across an idea with which they are notContinue reading “Permaculture Garden Design: Strategies for Reluctant Gardeners”

Commercial Agroforestry – Vietnam Permaculture Design

This is the initial part of a design for a commercial farm in Vietnam, where the owner wishes to implement agroforestry and permaculture principles to improve carbon sequestration and sustainability on site, and boost biodiversity, while also earning an income as a viable business. Slow, Steady Solutions for Sustainable Transition A work in progress, thisContinue reading “Commercial Agroforestry – Vietnam Permaculture Design”

Trees and their Roles in Permaculture Designs

Trees are of course very important elements in many permaculture designs. The specific roles that they can play, however, can be many and varied, and trees must always be used in the right places, and within the right type of design, to achieve the right results. Tree planting is almost invariably talked about as aContinue reading “Trees and their Roles in Permaculture Designs”

How a Permaculture Garden Design Can Allow a Garden To Get Better Over Time

Permaculture designs help us to make the most of a current site and/or situation. But, of course, permaculture does not just concern itself with the here and now. Permaculture also looks forward. In the context of garden design, permaculture can allow us to design for the present and the future, for a garden that isContinue reading “How a Permaculture Garden Design Can Allow a Garden To Get Better Over Time”

Colorado Permaculture Design: Mountain Garden Design

Perched high in the mountains, this Colorado homestead in the case study concept plan above has some truly stunning views. But the owners were unsure where to start when developing plans for their steeply sloping site. They wanted to make sure that they could use the land for recreation and for food production, while alsoContinue reading “Colorado Permaculture Design: Mountain Garden Design”