URBAN - Compact Organic
This Brighton garden is situated behind an Edwardian end of terrace with a back garden on two levels.
The brief was to create two functional spaces yet retaining the same design language. The biggest challenge was making this big 2 metre drop safe and maximising usable space for the whole family in a very small garden .
We needed:
Family dining and entertaining space at lower, kitchen level
Smaller seating or mud kitchen at garden level
New handrail that makes the garden safe and useable
Planting: edible or medicinal
Lawn for the kids
Seasonally interesting and pollinator friendly planting
Play area with mudkitchen /playhouse
Given the very different spaces over two separate levels, we re-orientated the garden into a more structured layout. Using the geometry of the stairs, we introduced raised beds and a second patio that would work on a diagonal grid.
Our clients wanted to make their modest budget go as far as possible whilst also keeping the ecological footprint minimal. The materials we used were recycled where possible, low maintenance and as sustainable.
reclaimed brick and paving slabs
untreated oak sleepers to build raised beds
match the existing boundaries to same colour instead of replacing them
plants we introduced were small rather than large instant impact specimens which take much more watering but are also more pricey.
Arguably the most important design element in this garden, both visible from the lower kitchen level and the upper garden level, is the hand fabricated hand rail that secures the garden level. It was crucial to find the right detail so after researching different designs and finishes for our client who wanted a simple, contemporary solution rather than glass or other off the shelf solutions, we had it custom made by a local blacksmith, .
The boundaries were painted the same colour to tie all the different neighbouring fences together without having to replace any. We added a small slatted screen to the neighbours on the right to give both parties more privacy.
Planting was to be mostly medicinal plants and edimentals. If you haven’t heard that term before, those are edible plants which double up as ornamentals.
Our concept was based on the Permaculture principles of a Food Forest shrunk to a small scale but using the idea of edible layers. This is still work in progress, a garden is never finished!
To start the raised beds off, we included:
Ground and Herb layer: Strawberries, Thyme, Sage, Marjoram, Lemon balm, Calendulas, Lady’s Mantle, Wild carrot.
Shrub layer: Rosemary, Rasperry canes, Black and Redcurrants
