The Hedge Garden

The Hedge Garden is not to be seen as a division or barrier. It is really an oasis of biodiversity that links areas of the garden together. It offers the following yields and benefits:

• culinary herbs
• flowers for cutting
• flowers for eating
• berries which are a forage food for both us and the guinea pigs and chickens
• herbs for garden treatments such as home-made sprays
• shelter for the guinea pigs - shade in summer and shelter from the wind/rain in winter
• the diversity of flowering plants is a major draw-card in the garden for bees and predator insects
• this diversity also creates a sheltered area and feeding/breeding area for insects
• it acts as a small wind break in the garden and offers shelter to the main garden bed plants while,
• also allowing insect traffic from the Hedge to and from the vegetable garden
• it permits me to grow a wider range of herbs, flowers and fruits that didn't quite fit with the short term planting of other areas of the garden. Bulbs, herbs, berries can grow and self-sow and the Hedge Garden can change from season to season as new plants take rein over older ones. It really is an area of the garden that can largely be left to itself with minimum disturbance.
• attractive to look at given the various colours, textures and levels of the plants growing
• it permits the transferal of compost worms to and from other areas of the garden

All of these benefits are gifted to the garden from an area that is probably not even 2m square! Plus it was an area of the garden that was always going to be a problem due to where the reticulation pipes run (which are never used) and the chooks accessing it and scratching soil from the garden. Both of these 'problems' have been sorted completely and effectively through the creation of the hedge garden. So it is a productive area of the garden on many different levels.

These are some of the plants currently in the Hedge Garden:

• pyrethrum daisy
• fennel
• borage
• cape gooseberry
• elysium
• alpine strawberry
• various grasses wild, native and exotic
• sugar cane
• parsley
• freesias
• cockscomb
• various succulents