MacKellar: A productive permaculture garden

LGA: ACT

BUDGET: $20-$50K

STATUS: Concept complete. Build in progress.

A large block in suburban Canberra on the slopes of Mount Painter. A resourceful and energetic client seeks to clarify design ideas for a productive permaculture garden with chooks and bees.

The design uses the contours of the land on a steeply sloping site to make swales and berms to capture maximum rainfall into the soil and to prevent erosion of valuable top soil. These swales and berms form a kind of terrace and can be made of simple materials including branch cuttings, hay bales and compost.