Portfolio 2020

Raised bed stepped to accommodate the hillside

2020 was a challenging year for all. While some clients focused on other matters, other new clients made productive landscapes a priority and came on board, so that the business grew to the same pace as other years. Here are some highlights.


Westmount home
In April of 2020 this client made the commitment to begin ensuring food security for his family. We designed and installed two raised beds of 4′ x 8′ and 4′ by 12′, container gardens, a pest resistant compost system and planted 2 hazelnuts, 1 peach, 2 bush cherries, 2 currant bushes and a strawberry patch. Water security plans were designed for installation at a later date. This was done within a $500.00 budget
Long lasting hemlock raised bed
A visual plan for the property to be accomplished in 2 years, including fruit and nut trees and rainwater accommodation on site.

Daylighting gutter
The owner of this North End Heritage Property experienced excessive heat and dryness in a front yard due to a south-facing wall reflecting sunlight, and wanted to improve the health of his lawn and garden. We updated a storm gutter that drained into the basement to be directed away from the foundation and into a rain-garden. It is anticipated that the lens of water directed into the ground will rehydrate the lawn and garden and allow desired plants to gain a foothold over scotch thistle and Norway maple saplings with continued weeding management and mulch. This cost $72.79 in materials and around $400.00 in labour.

Water is directed to the garden rather than the basement

The owner of this North End Heritage Property has a garden bordering the driveway that experiences 30-45 degrees of slope over a height of 2 1/2 feet. Existing limestone retaining wall was unstable and insufficient. Our team and I created a wall with composite and gravel foundation to accommodate the grade. This cost about $2’500.00 

A retaining wall is built

Graham’s Corner
This homeowner was looking to expand food security, ecological value and noise buffering using permaculture principals for her and her tenants and cat rescue. Together we created a staged 5-year plan and budget for each year for the client to implement herself. This was $200.00.

A five-year plan for the client’s garden

April – August 2020
Some old friends bought 6 acres on the south side of a drumlin in Lunenburg county. Experts already in their permaculture knowledge, they hired me to work with an earth mover to turn a black spruce forest into an advanced food system with woodlot. I surveyed the land and submitted a scale topographical map and cross section plan of the final design to the earth mover, along with a species map with suggestions of plants for different areas based on function. The design accommodated 30 vertical feet of grade in a way that respects our abundant rainfall, pacifying the flow of water and directing it into a pond for food and recreation, which itself discharges into the woodlot.

Species map for 6 acre homestead
A scale cross-section for the earthmover