Jack is an old friend of mine that I connected with on social media when I first started my farm in 2019. He’s a very talented guy, well known for his environmental filmmaking and ‘Earthrise Studios’ amongst loads of other things! Back when we met Jack did not have a passion for growing his own food but a seed was planted when he came to visit my farm. Fast forward to present day, Jack has a beautiful water mill cottage in the Cornish countryside. Alongside the house and the grounds is a beautiful garden with a stunning Victorian style greenhouse, surrounded by a pond - a haven for wildlife!

This project had already been started by Jack, he’d made a lot of ground work using diggers and bringing in topsoil to create a blank canvas, ready for design.

My job was to guide Jack on optimising growth across his vegetable beds and growing areas. This involved me showing him how to layer the soil to create the strongest foundation to grow organic vegetables on and giving thorough advice on when and where to plant his crops for the best yield.

The first days of this project were physically demanding, involving filling dumpsters with maure and laying in place with a layer of compost, but without a solid foundation you cannot expect a garden to thrive. My vegetable planting plan was based on permaculture principles, involving companion planting, strategically growing flowers and vegetables together that help each other thrive.

We wanted to preserve the ‘Old English Country Garden’ Cornish character of the space, so we created styled market garden beds, as well as other beds filled with an abundance of grasses and flowers.

This has been one of my favourite jobs to date, not just because of the beauty of the property and the land, but also knowing that there are areas that could be utilised as amazing workshop spaces in the future. It has all the necessary ingredients for a great success!

This project is an on-going work in progress.

Photography: Joya Berrow