Case Study: The Icebreaker Garden

This is probably the most fun I've had with container gardening for a long time. The brief I was asked to help with was to create an apartment garden 2 metres long, as a prop in a photoshoot.

We followed the exact same process as in the course curriculum:

1. Get measurements
2. Choose containers: we picked 4 wooden planters each measuring 50cm x 50cm. We also picked out a trellis, to give some extra height to the display.
3. Choose soil: we placed logs in the bottom of each planter in the hugelkultur style, and then filled with a mixture of commercial compost, biodynamic compost, garden soil, and some commercial potting mix.
4. Choose plants: It was spring, and we got a lovely range of herbs, flowers, salad greens, and some capsicums, tomatoes and eggplant. Where I would normally plant small plants, for this particular job we needed the garden to look well established on day 1.
5. Planting it all up: the climbers went at the back, the taller plants like fennel and kale at the back, and all the smaller plants near the front.

Here's the plant list for the four beds:

Video tour below of the relocated garden in its final home in the Ponsonby offices: