The Garden of Plenty is an interpretative and productive garden based on the award winning design featured in the 8th Festival Internacioanal de Jardins de Ponte de Lima 2012, Portugal. It was voted best design by an overwhelming majority of the 100.000 visitors. The concept underlying this garden is multi-layered, like the very soil that feeds it and the sustainable wood that encloses it.
There is a poetic, educational and sensory dimension in its design and realisation. Its form and organic foundation draw on cyclical themes of seasons and growth as well as the natural systems on which the edible productive garden depends. Wood in various forms is used as a support and an enclosure for a rich diversity of edible planting, celebrating sustainable lifestyle in balance with nature. These are revealed through a series of outdoor rooms, creating a microclimate and heightening the experience of the garden. The sustainable element includes the maintenance of soil for healthy crop growth and the returning of organic matter to the soil.
Eugene Boyle of Woodcollective has conceived and produced collaborative design works in Ireland and overseas since 2006. The work and its educational foundation draw strongly on place making, sustainable design and landscape-conveying ideas and techniques for adaptation and interpretation to different scales and contexts. An architect by training, and has worked for 20 years in multi-disciplinary design practice. Eugene’s creative approach fuses art design and craft influences and his collaborations with those spheres has facilitated a dynamic forum for inspiration and invention in design of the built environment and visual arts. Exhibitions include annual collaborations with Wood Marketing Federation at Electric Picnic, Bergen Norway International Wood Festival and Festival Internacioanal de Jardins, Portugal. Carol Melody: Carol Melody has a degree in Agricultural Science (Horticulture) from UCD. She is currently studying for a PhD entitled ‘Soil biology and residue management for low carbon land uses’, with particular interest in earthworms and their beneficial effects on soil functioning. She has maintained a long interest in gardening and plants and this garden encompasses many of the passions that she has discovered through her studies in horticulture and soil science.
Source: Bloom – Garden of Plenty-Sustainable Living | Concept Gardens | Bloom 2013
