| Gardening: Green in the extreme There aren't too many places you can go where you can indulge all of your passions at once, but I've found one. As we made our way back to the cafe for what promised to be a spectacular lunch, the partner became enamoured of Heronswood's famous vegetable parterre, inspired by the medieval potager gardens. The restaurant uses an enviable range of freshly grown and picked organic fruit and vegetables. Heronswood is no place for rushing. My love affair was with an area where four raised vegetable beds, each 20sq m, were planted in a way that would feed a small family. Although the menu isn't vegetarian, vegetables take priority, and each dish is named for the main vegetable component rather than the meat or fish it contains. It's a smart, subtle and very tasty way gently to shift our attitude. We each tested the produce of our favourite gardens in the thatched cafe. "Imagine how much work it is," sighed my partner the landscaper, who lamented the other day that he could work full time in our own 1ha garden and still not keep on top of it. Questions will be asked. The thatch was made from reeds gathered in a nearby swamp, most of the timber was recycled, and the mellow yellow walls are of rammed earth sourced locally. Back then I'd probably have wondered why anyone would grow vegetables in flower beds, and how a garden that's open to the public could get away with being a bit, well, tatty. The garden at Heronswood is a living catalogue of the evergreen fruits and vegetables described in its catalogues and books. A feature is the integration of vegetables and flowers with fruits and herbs. The garden area is the equivalent of about 25 average sized suburban sections, and is so intensively landscaped and gardened that it's no problem to spend several hours there. The spectacular lunch tumbled down the timetable as the partner snapped photographs, made sketches and took notes for several of his clients whom he felt must have a circular parterre. The place is Heronswood, just over an hour from Melbourne at Dromana, on the Mornington Peninsula. Heronswood limits its environmental footstep by using green energy, recycling, composting and reducing consumption of resources, and everybody who works there is strongly encouraged to be green in their practices and even to drive green-energy cars. Yet style, beauty and design have not been sacrificed, proving that when it comes to sustainable gardening, you can,in fact, have everything. |
Monday, 4 June 2012
Gardening: Green in the extreme
