FOODSCAPING

An exciting new trend is the growing of food gardens. Edible landscaping is a rapidly growing movement in Australia and around the globe. More and more, people are embracing the desire for a more hands on and sustainable approach to the food they eat.

Nothing quite compares with the satisfaction of eating your own organic food, fresh from the garden.

Many people are becoming increasingly concerned about the toxic chemical residues in conventionally grown fruit and vegetables and the effects on their health.

Garden Deva can help you to create a colourful, attractive organic food garden. Gone are the days when the vegie patch was to be hidden away. Edible landscapes may now be considered a design feature in their own right; and structures like vertical gardens and espaliers make a great conversation piece for visitors. Designing using colour, texture and form applies just as much in the edible landscape as it does in the ornamental garden.

We specialise in converting ugly spaces into edible paradises with minimal effort. Perth's Mediterranean climate means that, with thorough soil preparation and a little effort, it is possible to harvest something from the garden every day, all year round.

We believe that growing food is not only healthy and delicious but is also an excellent way to reconnect with nature. Children in particular, benefit from learning that the supermarket isn't the only supplier of fruit and vegetables.

The joy on a child's face when they have helped grow some of tonight's dinner is worth bottling! Many of us have fond memories of helping Mum or Dad in the vegie patch when we were little, so why not continue the tradition?

You do not need a large garden to grow edible plants. Utilising tasty espalier and hedging or screening plants is a beautiful and practical way to create 'garden rooms' thus maximising use of space.

Advances in grafting techniques have enabled an abundance of dwarf varieties of fruit and vegetables to be available to the home gardener.

For those with limited time or space, potted food and/or herb gardens are becoming very popular and may surprise you with their high yields.

Climate change issues have given rise to the term 'food miles'; which is simply a calculation of how far the ingredients in your meal have travelled to arrive at your plate.

Surprisingly, gardening (and in particular, growing food) is seldom mentioned in the media but it has an enormous impact on reducing global warming – and what an enjoyable way to do your bit!

CHOOKSCAPING

Chookscaping means designing a garden to incorporate chickens. To design a chookscape in order to maximise beauty and minimise destruction is a fine art. It is crucial for the designer to take into consideration the breed of the chicken, the number of the flock and size and style of the garden.

Chickens are a wonderful addition to the garden and we believe that chooks, and indeed all animals, help to make a place really live. Nothing beats collecting warm freshly laid eggs in the morning and hearing the gentle clucking of hens.

They also provide valuable manure for our compost, feathers for fertiliser (yes, feathers are an excellent very slow release fertiliser - great at the base of trees, particularly fruiting ones); and of course, entertainment.. and let's not forget their expert pest control abilities. Pests like fruit fly and cockroaches maybe a headache to us but to a chicken, they are protein rich treats.

Here at Garden Deva, we love to incorporate chooks into the garden. If you have a medium to large sized property, you may even be able to let them wander through the garden without too much devastation. This depends on the breed, garden design and layout.

Varieties of chickens also vary immensely. Heirloom chickens are generally a lot stronger, have more personality, and lay more eggs over a longer period. They have greater longevity than the intensively bred modern hybrids used in commercial egg farms which are also sold to the public. The life span of these poor hybrid chooks is usually only 3 years and usually after 2 years, they generally stop laying or lay a lot less before their untimely demise.

Is it a form of chicken slave labour to force a chook to adhere to a 6-7 day a week egg laying regimen only to die after a few short years? We believe so! Garden Deva recommends supporting quality local breeders who love their chickens and aren't just in it for the money. For more info on where to buy chooks in Australia, visit chooknet

Chickens may also be kept in small gardens. They don't necessarily have to be kept in small pens all day, however, please remember, chickens must have shade in hot weather as they become heat stressed quickly in our long Perth summers. Creative and beautiful chook run solutions are our speciality. Why not CONTACT US to see how we can help you?