Meet the gardeners and their garden

This exquisitely crafted garden reflects Paul’s background in horticulture, Fran’s artistic skills and their mutual interest in biophilia. Biophilia is about deriving pleasure from being surrounded by nature. Paul and Fran designed their home and garden at the same time, so that every room of their home looks out onto greenery and nature. This garden stimulates all the senses – food for the body, beautiful flowers to admire and enjoy their perfumes, and unusual plants to spark curiosity and wonder.

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How does your garden grow?

On our block of just under 600 square metres, my approach is to plant small quantities of many different plants. Our edible garden has about two dozen vegetables, over two dozen fruiting plants and about a dozen herbs, so there’s plenty of variety in our diet. To take full advantage of the small space, I have espaliered fruit trees and grow berries against a fence. Our garden is organic using homemade compost and worm castings (no artificial fertilisers or sprays) and also has plenty of flowers.

What are some of your gardening challenges?

In Cape Paterson, strong southerly and westerly winds and sandy soil are ever-present challenges. This year, I have started using a new organic compost that is based on black soldier flies – it improves soil health and keeps the soil much wetter to reduce the drying out impact of the winds.

Be inspired and learn!

Paul says: Succession planting is critical. I plant berries that crop in different seasons such as strawberries, young berries and different seasonal raspberries. I use the same principle with fruiting vegetables such as tomatoes, growing some for fresh eating and some for bottling to enjoy later in the year.

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Garden extras

Paul will have available for sale high-quality gardening tools at gardenacious.com.au

Courtesy of Bass Coast Landcare Network, here’s a sneak preview of Paul and Fran’s Garden