CONTENTS

Introduction 1
1. Design 7
The Soil Test 10
The Water Test 11
Creating Outline Drawings 15
Marking Out a Path 21

2. Soil 39
The ‘Diamond’ Compost Bay System 49
Making and Using a Bokashi Bin 54
Brewing Compost Tea 57
The ‘Open-Pit’ Biochar Method 61
Building a Vermicompost Stack-House 66

3. Plants 73
Turning a Lawn into a Wildflower Meadow 87
Planting a Native Country Hedgerow 92
Laying a Hedgerow 96
Collecting Seed 104
Taking Cuttings 106
Dividing Plants 108

4. Water 115
Fitting a Whisky-Barrel Rain Collector 120
Starting a Rain Garden 132
Making a Bathtub Reed Bed 136
Building a Keyhole Garden 138
Creating a Hessian-Sack Vertical Garden 143
5. Wildlife 145
Building a Pallet Bug Palace 156
Creating a Natural Clay-Lined Pond 160
Making a Raised Nettle Bed 166

6. Materials 173
Coppicing a Hazel 184
Sharpening a Blade with a Waterstone 189
Using Hessian Wraps for Plants 192
Upcycling Tin Cans for Pots 194
Making Mud Mortars 196

Acknowledgements 201
Resources 203
Index 207