Poppy Okotcha Shares Her Ecological Gardening Tips
By
2 days ago
The horticulturalist and advocate gives us a glimpse into her daily life
Horticulturist, regenerative gardener and advocate Poppy Okotcha give us a glimpse into her wild ways (and her dream garden).
Poppy Okotcha Talks Regenerative Gardening & Her Design Icons
Hi Poppy! What does your typical work day look like?
We have a one year old, so if I’m doing computer work, I’ll leave him with my mum or husband and head to the library. Otherwise, my mornings can include anything from writing to calls with my agent, planning content, placing seed orders and compost deliveries. Then we usually spend the afternoon together in the garden.
Where do you find inspiration?
Untended ‘wild’ spaces are my main inspiration, from how they look to what they can teach us about ecological gardening. I think about cottage gardens a lot too. Beauty and productivity is a combination I find very exciting and traditional cottage gardens exemplify it so well. They often featured little orchards, fruit bushes, lots of food and herbs, native flower plantings and livestock like chickens or bees. Before the widespread use of herbicides and pesticides following the Second World War, they would have been organic by default.
View this post on Instagram
What’s moving you at the moment?
Soil: The World At Our Feet exhibition at Somerset House was an incredible exploration of something overlooked yet so powerful. The Garden Museum has recently digitised its archives, which is exciting. I also love Knepp estate, a 3,500-acre rewilding project in Sussex. Their work there is incredible – and it’s well worth a vist.
Are there any design items or furniture you are coveting?
I’m always in the market for vintage baskets à la Jane Birkin and glass garden cloches (the best for protecting plants from slugs). Our cottage is dug into the ground, so a little footbridge connects our living room to the garden. It’s made of concrete but I am planning to pave it to give it a ‘cuties’ vibe, so currently I’m mostly obsessing over reclaimed slate Cathedral flagstones. Niche but necessary.
Who are your design icons?
Beyond the garden, I love the Bloomsbury group and Vanessa Bell’s artistry at Charleston. I’m also obsessed with the pre-Raphaelites; the politics that drove their art is fascinating – they were pushing back against the mechanisation of the Industrial Revolution and highlighting the value in nature. When it comes to outdoor spaces, I respect all permaculture practitioners and designers. I once visited a permaculture forest garden in Auroville, India, which was incredibly inspiring – Krishna, the guy who designed and maintains it, is one of my icons. I love Piet Oudolf’s, Jo McKerr’s and Masanobu Fukuoka’s work too.
View this post on Instagram
What would your dream garden look like?
A cottage garden and pottager meets edible woodland. It would feel wild and full of food and flowers, with a huge compost area. You’d wander around tasting things as you go, a true forager’s garden. It would have a babbling stream and mossy stepping stones that weave into a secret area full of flowering bulbs. I’d also like a big swing like the one Truly Scrumptious sings on in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and a meadow and natural swimming pond. We’d eat dinner in a huge vintage glass house among the tomatoes. Think The Secret Garden meets Marie Antoinette’s faux-village.
What are your sustainable gardening hacks?
Grow organic and focus on cultivating a healthy garden ecosystem. That way the predators in your garden will manage any pests for you. Having a compost heap, pond, standing deadwood, hedge or log/brick pile is a great way of doing this. Step away from the pesticides, herbicides and synthetic fertilisers. They might seem to help in the short term but wreak havoc in the long term. The garden becomes dependent on them.
A Wilder Way: How Gardens Grow Us (£18.99, Bloomsbury) detailing a year in Poppy Okotcha’s Devon garden is out now. Okotcha is speaking at Hay Festival on 29 May. poppyokotcha.com
