WALLED GARDEN DESIGN
The Problem
Our client lives in an extremely attractive, period property on a large, well-known estate.
The garden benefits from a superb, south-facing original garden wall, but it has become overgrown with weeds and shrubs, and has several trees that have past their best.
The Brief
The Client wanted to take advantage of the fantastic south facing wall to grow vegetables and espalier fruit trees.
They asked us to work in two phases.
Phase 1 was to clear the area such that they had a "blank canvas" on which to visualise their walled garden.
Phase 2 was to create the fruit and vegetable walled garden
The Process
We met with the client on several occasions to understand the brief, and to discuss materials and design approach.
For this project, we worked in two phases which allowed the client to visualise the space once the weeds, shrubs and trees had been removed.
The Work
The original area for this walled garden was covered with overgrown shrubs and trees that had gone past their best.
In addition to removing all the top growth and the obvious trunks and roots, the client was concerned that no roots or shoots should make a reappearance in the new garden.
To that end, we completely cleared the area. We hired both a 5-ton and 3-ton excavator to remove tree roots and to dig down to remove all traces of remaining suckers.
We then laid hardcore to create a level and solid base for the paths. This was installed on top of a weed matting which both prevents new weed growth and also prevents the hardcore and soil mixing.
For stability and longevity, the vegetable and fruit beds were secured using 150mm steel stays drilled through the lower bed and driven into the ground.
Finally, we completed the path using Cotswold Stone chipings, to give a clean, high quality finish.
The Result
A new walled garden ready in time for the client to purchase and plant their espalier fruit trees and vegetables for the summer.
“Our fabulous south-facing wall was neglected and overgrown. We needed to see it cleaned up to know what we could work with, and to have a blank palette to build on.
Phase 1; The team from Solutions4gardens came in and delivered the clean up in a timely fashion and to our satisfaction. We then sat down with them to plan the way forward. We had our idea(s) of what we wanted and where we wanted to go.
Phase 2; The team took our input and produced a plan that exactly met our vision. They then came in and executed that plan. We loved the “drawings” but love the final “product” even more. The quality of the work is excellent.
We are looking forward to getting on with Phase 3.”
