This project from late last year sets out to create a beautiful, welcoming, and inspiring native plant demonstration garden that celebrates the unique character of northern Utah’s native landscapes. The goal is to show how gardens and community spaces in the region can thrive with less water, fewer inputs, and greater ecological sensitivity while still offering colour, interest, and a strong sense of place throughout the year.

In environmentalism, we often focus on the damage that humanity has done and is doing to our planet home. But it is important to remember that as a species we also have the capacity to leave the world around us in a better shape than we find it. We have the power to alter the world around us in positive as well as negative ways, working in harmony with nature to restore ecosystems around us.

Contemporary farming faces a huge range of challenges. The urgent need to protect the soil, decarbonise, reduce pollution in all its forms, protect the wildlife on which we depend, adapt to our changing climate, and create more resilient agricultural systems means that radical solutions are required. Agroforestry provides many of the sustainable solutions we seek. Designs that combine trees with agricultural production are at the forefront of a sustainable farming revolution.

In an era marked by ecological crisis, climate emergency, and growing inequality, more and more people are searching for systems that heal rather than harm. Permaculture is one such system—a holistic, regenerative design philosophy that offers practical solutions to some of the most pressing challenges of our time. So what is permaculture? At its heart, permaculture is a design system rooted in ethics and inspired by natural systems.

Cerritos has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate with mild, wet winters and warm, dry summers. Average annual precipitation is about 12–14 inches, most falling November–March. The soil conditions are characterised by good drainage, modest natural fertility. There is a need for irrigation in summer, and occasional soil amendments (of organic matter) to boost water-holding capacity and fertility. This landscape design is deliberately structured to capture, slow, store, and sink water onsite while using drought-tolerant native plants to minimize irrigation demand.

This is my design for a client in Yorkshire, in collaboration with a client excited to be taking the first steps towards a more self-reliant and resilient way of life on this small plot of land. Like many of my clients, this one wanted some reassurance that they were on the right track, and some pointers to ensure that they continued to take the right direction as they proceed with their project.

You don't need to have a massive budget or a large space to create a beautiful and productive garden. My designs often incorporate materials that my clients already have on hand - and I am an advocate of making use of what you already have before you even think about buying anything new. This recent design for a yard area in urban New Jersey is a great example to show that great things can be achieved on a very small budget when you reuse and upcycle, making the most of natural materials and things that would otherwise be thrown away.

Whether you are dealing with high rainfall or drought, a boggy site prone to flooding, or land that becomes parched and dry, managing water effectively and sustainably is crucial to long-term success. If you have not thought much about water on your property then you are in a fortunate position. Increasing numbers are now having to think more carefully about water, and more and more people are going to have to think about it in future, even in areas where water is not presently a huge concern.

As a garden designer, I have worked with clients to grow food in an amazing range of situations. Typical gardens are not the only option for food cultivation. There are so many other places where food can be grown - from polytunnels or greenhouses, to rooftops, balconies, or interior spaces in homes, restaurants, offices, business premises and more... However, when growing food indoors or undercover, there are a number of special considerations different from the normal considerations for growing food outdoors.

A local community group in England approached me to create a plan for a community orchard that they wished to create on a brownfield and scrub site adjacent to their existing car park and community building. Community Hub and Community Orchard Design The creation of the concept plan involved collaboration with several local societies and clubs, whose disparate interests and preferences all needed to be represented on site.

Photo by Bernd Feurich on Pexels.com In the northern hemisphere, the summer solstice marks a moment of profound significance — the sun reaches its highest point in the sky, and we enjoy the longest day of the year. For millennia, people have celebrated this turning point, recognising it as a time of abundance, growth, and potential. But beyond its cultural and spiritual importance, the solstice offers an invitation to reflect on how we design our spaces — and our lives — in harmony with the rhythms of the natural world.

This is my design for a property of approximately 2 - 2.5 acres in Maine, USDA zone 5a. Like many of my designs, the starting point for this project was the desire of the property owners to increase the amount of food that they grow for themselves and their neighbours. They were also excited to learn how they could also restore somewhat degraded farm and forestry land to improve the ecological health of the site.

Shared gardens can often be challenging and underutilised spaces. But even when people do not agree on every detail, a space can still serve to meet multiple needs while also being a boon to local wildlife. This design for a client in Glasgow, Scotland, aims to overcome the challenges of this largely shaded shared garden. It aims to tackle an issue with flooding by the entrance to the space, and runoff from the slope and raised lawn/ garden area that makes up most of the area.

I am sometimes asked how being a permaculture designer is different to being a more generic 'landscape designer'. Permaculture designers are one type of landscape designer, and they can do many of the same things. It is important, however, to recognise that permaculture approach to landscape design goes far beyond that of most conventional landscape designers. This article aims to show why permaculture design is a far better choice than employing a more traditional landscape designer.

I am the main human gardener on our property, but I am far from being the only one who does things and makes choices that influence what happens in the garden. One important thing that human gardeners need to remember is that they are not gardening alone. Any human gardener is just one of a great many living beings who manipulate the natural environment around them.

This design aims to make the most of this sloping site in South East London, while creating a biodiverse, ecologically complex, beautiful and productive family space. The design aims to incorporate plenty of wildlife-friendly and child-friendly features while also ensuring effective and efficient water management and diverse food production for a resilient and sustainable way of life. Natural Stone Patio, Wicking Beds…

This plan for a property in Iowa aims to provide relatively low-maintenance but highly productive food producing habitat for humans, and wildlife, including deer as an additional wild food source. It aims to boost biodiversity and improve the health of natural ecosystems on the site. The site is within an ecoregion where a mosaic of bluestem prairie and oak-hickory forest was the typical vegetation type, and though much of the original prairie and forest land has been converted to agriculture, remnants of these ecosystem remains as repositories of biodiversity.

Photo by Magda Ehlers on Pexels.com Raised beds are a common feature in many productive garden designs, and when used wisely, they can be an incredibly effective solution for growing food. But they are not always the right choice for every space or situation. As with all elements in a permaculture design, it's essential to assess your specific needs and context before deciding to construct one or more of them where you live.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com Like most people these days, I find I have a long list of things to do, and little time in which to do them. (Hence the delay in updating this website.) Spring is a very busy time of year for me as a permaculture garden designer and consultant, and also a busy time for me as a gardener, as the gardening year begins in earnest.

As well as working on designs for private properties, I also work on community projects. This is something that is very important to me, since I am very much aware of the criticisms of permaculture relating to its inaccessibility for many... and seek, where I can, to remove potential barriers. Permaculture offers concepts and design methodologies that work, and we should aim to make sure even those who are traditionally underserved can benefit from them.

Many gardeners feel challenged by the length and width of their gardens. Having a long, narrow garden is a common complaint. I've worked on a number of designs for gardens like this over the years. Like any garden, long, thin spaces have both their advantages and disadvantages - with permaculture design - with the right approach - you can overcome the challenges and make the most of your space.

This design, which I worked on towards the end of last year, aims to provide a pleasing recreational space where wildlife is welcomed throughout the seasons, and where predominantly native planting is used to give aesthetic appeal, as well as some edible yields. The design significantly boosts biodiversity on the property, while also dividing the space up into a number of child-friendly and multi-purpose areas.

If you are familiar with my writing and designs, you will likely also be familiar with the concept of a herb spiral. This idea, extremely popular in permaculture circles, involves creating a pyramidal, spiral-form raised bed to grow a range of herbs that like different growing conditions in a relatively small area. However, the potential of spiral gardens extends far beyond just herbs.

This design for a site of approximately 44 acres, 33 of which are currently plantation woodland that I created towards the end of last year. I provided site plans to guide the formation of a sustainable, beautiful and productive homestead for the extended family, including planting schemes and plant lists, alongside the information given below: Key Features and Planting Areas:

Low maintenance - these are words that come up again and again when clients describe what they are looking for in their gardens. Careful design can certainly help us to achieve our goals of being able to use our gardens more fully without having to take on more work than we can handle. While I would argue that some higher maintenance elements can be extremely beneficial in many ways, I always aim to minimise the work required overall to maintain the gardens I design.