The structure of the new Clifftop Garden clearly visible
I create and landscape wildlife food forest garden designs that are sustainable and low maintenance. Based in West Wales, I offer both a local and remote design service, see my portfolio for examples.
A food forest garden can be an intersectional garden, a beautiful wildlife haven producing edible crops
Central to the design is working with nature, working with what is already on-site and figuring what plants will thrive in the specific conditions. I prefer to use locally sourced materials and avoid costly groundworks where possible.
I aim to create a diversity of habitats and use a diverse range of native plants where possible, because native plants provide more food for co-evolved wildlife.
This creates a more resilient ecosystem, which benefits the edible crops in the garden.
Field Scabious (Knautia arvensis) in a client’s garden
There is much to consider in an intersectional garden, so I like to simplify the process by breakind it into 3 related stages:
Early draft of the ornamental, scented & wildlife Clifftop Garden
Pinterest is a useful tool for collecting & sharing ideas
For an example of the online notes, Google Sheets and Pinterest working together, please see the Clifftop Garden.
Each job is costed individually and not by a day rate. The cost of a design really depends on the level of detail required. I can provide anything from an outline canopy and windbreak plan to detailed border planting plans with costings & suppliers.
In total, it takes about 1-2 weeks to create a garden design, with good client communication.
To help with a rough estimate of design and landscaping a 1 acre forest garden, I gave a talk in February 2021: natureworks.org.uk/talks/costing
Still from Thomas Regnault’s short film of Martin Crawford’s forest garden
A forest garden works with nature to grow edible crops. It is sustainable, low maintenance and wildlife friendly and emulates the woodland edge using edible perennial and ground cover plants. Essentially, it is an edible ecosystem.
It is also called a food forest or edible landscape.
See Thomas Regnault’s short film of Martin Crawford’s garden for a more visual introduction: