As well as a larger area of garden at the front (where the chickens live) we are lucky to have a small, north facing, patch of garden just outside the kitchen door. When we moved in this consisted of; a ‘sooty mould’ infested Lilly Pilly hedge, a scrappy patch of grass with a washing line, and a well worn deck. After several failed attempts at curing the hedge of its black leaves, I decided to pull the whole thing out. What a great decision, it made the garden much bigger, and lighter.

I had wanted to grow veggies and herbs here, but had tried in pots for the first two years, with not a great deal of success. Now we had more space I enlisted Mr Rambles’ help in building raised beds around the fence boundary where the hedge had been, and in the central grass area where we had moved the washing line from. The washing line is now attached to the side of the house, where it can be folded away, takes up much less space and gets more sun.

Since putting the veggie beds in I decided that the rest of the garden would be created from found and reused materials only. It is still changing and evolving and has now become one of my favourite outdoor spaces to spend time in. I have had various failures and sucesses with my edible plants, and I am still experimenting and learning what, when and where to grow. Last summer we enjoyed some of the best successes yet, including chillies, cherry tomatoes, beans, spinach, spring onions, beetroots, potatoes, pumpkins and various different herbs.