Transforming an abandoned magical walled garden into a thriving multidimensional growing and cultural project.
With this becoming my first complete experience of growing in the walled garden from the very beginning of spring/late winter, I’m in awe through witnessing such a dramatic transformation, beginning with the typically bleak lifeless browns, yellows and greys and then emerging towards an immense explosion of life, colour and abundance, almost as if it… Continue reading From Equinox to Solstice
Whilst gardeners across southern parts of the UK are normally underway with all sorts of gratuitous sowing and planting activities - I'm reminded of what the reality of late-winter/spring is like at Bamff. Since moving here in late 2018 I have lived now through four Bamff springs - and the story is usually the same:… Continue reading Spring arrives…or not
The north west quadrant of the Bamff Walled Garden helped to kickstart the whole project by becoming its very first focal point. The north west quadrant after scything, 17th December 2021, to the right is the allotment of the ex-gamekeeper, a resident of Bamff for around 40 years Before I took the garden on as… Continue reading Progress (in the forest garden)?
The construction of a polytunnel was a fairly hasty decision taken at the beginning of 2022, resulting in a baptism by fire during construction, and a sense of achievement when finally completed. During the long construction period, the whole point of it - to grow some food - was sometimes almost forgotten, and this was… Continue reading Produce!
So far, 2022 has been mostly about the polytunnel. But over the months since June, I have been gradually looking at what can be done in the area immediately outside of it. The beginnings of a compost bin, a small hugel bed, and an old heap of topsoil from an ancient garden experiment. 18th June… Continue reading Shifting Focus
As inappropriately situated as they there are, something is still arrestingly beautiful about these giant mirrored structures. Their clean functional forms, with an attractive and dilapidated ordered array of giant poles and planks, makes them feel like timeless monoliths - both ancient and modern. Something dramatic needs to happen to them though, for they'll, in… Continue reading Cattle Shed upgrade: version 1.01
As the tunnel wasn’t finished until fairly late in May, it felt like time was running short for sowing seeds. On my PDC course we already experienced a friendly seed swapping session which gave me some promising candidates for sowing, additionally I went on a shopping spree online on the Real Seeds website - looking… Continue reading Seed Choices for the Tunnel
Having read various articles, posts and books about polytunnels, I settled on emulating a simple idea that I had personally encountered in a lovely looking tunnel from (Permaculture Design Course tutor) Carole Egner’s project in Fife. One of our PDC weekends involved a site visit there, which generously included the permission to binge on all… Continue reading Planning the Tunnel Interior
Site chosen for the tunnel, roughly scythed in January 2022. After much research and much angst, I decided to go with Northern Polytunnels for a 16ft X 35ft "hobby" tunnel. I opted for a non-commercial tunnel for a few reasons: saving some money, allowing for an easier installation, but also maintaining a decent structural integrity… Continue reading Polytunnel Dreams: Realised!
In an attempt to accelerate growing some produce in the garden this year, and to provide a new interior, multi-functional space that can be erected quickly, I have been looking at installing a polytunnel in the north east corner of the garden. Artist’s impression I’ve spent a bit of time clearing the area; the ground… Continue reading Polytunnel Dreams
The Bamff Walled Garden. 