Visit Clodagh 8 December 2013

On Sunday 8 December we visited Clodagh's garden at Lindisfarne

When Clodagh moved into her modern brick home at Lindisfarne she inherited a garden that had potential, but was very bare and had simply been covered with coarse pine bark after all the weeds had been killed with glyphosate. The back fence was ivy a few metres high and you could not even see the fence itself. She knew she had a challenge ahead of her.

Four years on and after a lot of hard work Clodagh has transformed her garden into a very welcoming colourful mix of ornamental and productive plants that she can be proud of.

Clodagh (light blue top) shows us her veggie beds

Here Clodagh shows us her veggie beds in her front garden. The frames made from ag-pipe over star pickets were interesting. The ag-pipe makes the arcs sturdy yet flexible. Some of us may follow this example. Ag-pipe can be bought at hardware stores or tip shops.

The ag-pipe on star pickets so every bed can be netted

Clodagh has used every available spot either for flowers, natives or productive plants. She put various types of berry bushes all around the garden.

A raised bed with herbs and behind that raspberries

Here are her very well constructed composting bays

People brought a wonderful lot of produce, preserves, plants and seeds and we all went home with something interesting.

Clodagh had a jar of cabbage in vinegar for each of us that was much appreciated.

Thanks everyone who brought something for morning tea. It was all yummy. Because this was the last food garden visit of the year we also had a glass of champagne. 

Thank you very much Clodagh for your hospitality and showing us your wonderful garden!

After the event Clodagh commented that she had had lots of fun and had learnt a lot from helpful suggestions during the visit. She has now found some trace elements and rock dust to add to her compost.

This text was previously published on the Food Garden Group blog. It was written by Max Bee.