Make A Metre Matter
Make a Metre Matter is all about encouraging people to dedicate 1m2 to something that will make a difference to the environment, to their health, or to the food that they consume. At this year’s Gardener’s World Live, Nick Bailey’s ‘The Plant Based Garden’ showed a series of ideas for gardeners of all levels including pollinator patches, single ponds, food production, and compost heaps. Something potentially not as easy to replicate in one’s own garden, but impressive nonetheless, was the multi-occupancy birdhouse which has three different hole sizes and three different orientations to house three different bird species: a larger hole for the likes of blackbirds, medium holes for the tits, and the smaller holes on the top row for the likes of wrens.
When it comes to the interplay of planting and structural design, I don’t think anyone puts it better than Nick himself when he says “The best design is about flirtation and revelation”, and let me tell you, the way that hessian walls and small windows lead the eye through to the different areas of this garden are the perfect demonstration of this.
The attention to detail in the planting choices is very well thought through as one would expect from a show garden. The pollinator patches are full of Gaura and Geum, with these long-flowering species chosen especially to provide nourishment for pollinators for the longest possible period of time. Burgundy Penstemon are placed against Angelica with near identically coloured leaves, the purple flowers then echoed with the placement of Alium ‘Bubble Bath’. This kind of subtle attention to detail is what makes this garden really sing. The floral attention to detail didn’t stop in the meadow area either. Even in the edibles section Agastache ‘Fire Bird’ showcases its delicate beauty and extraordinary minty scent as one passes by.
Back to the name ’The Plant Based Garden’ - everything (with the exception of the clay pavers) was made of plants, and sustainability really was at the heart of all the decisions made in the design of this show garden. The structures were all constructed from untreated Douglas Fir (sourced from Derbyshire to keep transportation miles to a minimum). Being a high resin conifer Douglas Fir copes well being untreated, but to add some contrast and visual appeal, some of the timber had the Japanese shou sugi ban (aka ‘burnt planks’) technique applied to it to create the rich blackened wood. A few other notable sustainable features were the the hessian walls used to divide each area of the garden, the wine cork mulch used on the veg beds, the self-binding sweetcorn-based alternative to vegetable netting, and my personal favourite - the baskets woven from bindweed!
The garden really was full of inspiration and I hope that those who visited were inspired to get involved with the Make a Metre Matter campaign. If you are interested in getting involved or would like to find out more information there is plenty of information and inspiration on the Gardener’s World Live website.