As a 31st birthday present to myself I decided to build a garden. I’ve been reading through The Permaculture Garden by Graham Bell and thought the design for a German Mound looked interesting.

I cleared out the first layer of top soil and collected a bunch of sticks and other “woody material”. I chose a cute little lime tree that had sprouted from a discarded seed alongside the pathway for the center of the mound and then followed Graham’s directions in surrounding the tree with first the sticks, then heaping leaves on top, the “inverted turfs” that I had removed when I cleared the layer of top soil, and then I sprinkled top soil on top.

The concept goes that as the woody material breaks down it nourishes the plant and in the meantime adds a pleasing elevated shape to the garden. My mound isn’t particularly high, but I do like the look of it. It will be interesting to see what the lime thinks of it’s new environment.