Date: 18 March 2013

Designer: Joe Falzon

The 'Less is More' Garden

Garden Design Overview

The simple design structure is based on the principle of providing a garden that can be enjoyed on many levels.  These include an enclosed, quiet place for reflection, a wildlife area for added interest and ecology and a communal area that can be used for socialising and outdoor worship.  All adhering to and enhancing the LiveSimply ideals.

It will be an on-going Parish project that will take some time to mature and will evolve as time goes on providing enjoyment and a haven for many years to come.

The intention is that the whole Parish should be involved in the construction and upkeep, as well as providing donations to fund the hard landscaping, furniture and planting areas.

The design is such that it can be built in stages as funding becomes available. The enclosed quiet, reflective area will be the first area to be built; then the wildlife area and then the communal paved and raised bed areas.

The raised beds will provide easy access for those wishing to tend the garden and can be used as a vegetable, herb and flower garden that can also be educational for the uniformed groups.

The detailed planting schemes will be provided at a later date, along with the opportunity for Parishioners to sponsor them.  There are a number of benches proposed in the plan, providing views of different aspects of the garden, which again can be sponsored by Parishioners.  We will provide a shopping list of requirements and all donations will be logged in a special book, kept in the Church, with the opportunity to add a dedication.  Very much like the Remembrance Garden.

We are currently in negotiation with The Woodland Trust to provide us with the hedging that we need for the garden.  If we are successful, and I believe that we should be from conversations that I've had with them, we would receive the plants around November and these would provide the necessary boundaries.

Work is intended to get underway in April with the initial clearing of the site.  Marking out the areas will follow this.  This will also act as a visual aid for people to see how the garden progresses.  Once we have some idea of how the donations are performing we can plan the next few months better.