ABOUT
Maye Gill
BAppSc.Hort (Burnley, Melb. Uni)
Over 20 years experience in the industry
How I see gardening...
Gardening is about getting back to basics and letting go of the world around you. It's therapy for the mind and exercise for the body. It connects you with life around us - easily overlooked in this busy, digital world. Gardening creates a wholesome lifestyle for healthier living.
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My designs...
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I see garden design as painting in three dimensions with living organisms that are constantly changing.
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Bold lines, strong geometric shapes and contrasts in foliage colour and texture have always influenced my designs.
I love semi formal and formal layouts with borders, hedges, espalier fruit, feature trees, accent pots and standards.
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So many people underestimate how great an edible garden can look. It can be disguised so well that a lot of people don't realise it's edible.
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My background...
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I completed my degree in horticulture in 2003 and have been working in the horticultural and retail nursery industry for over 20 years now. In this time I have had experience in garden maintenance, plant selection and garden design, pest and disease identification (and control) as well as experience and knowledge regarding the miriad of gardening products on the market.
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Throughout this time, my passion (some say addiction) for edible plants has grown immensely and lead to a back-to-basics lifestyle - where almost our entire back garden is edible though many wouldn't realise it. Our garden is filled with over 70 types and varieties of fruit (including trees, shrubs and climbers). These are pleached, hedged, espaliered and dwarf forms as well as 'standards' - plants pruned to be a lollipop shape. I grow subtropical and tropical fruit in our greenhouse and we harvest loads of berries, herbs and vegetables, a few spices, native bush food and tropical vegetables throughout the year.
Our ducks and geese help keep the lawn mowed, fertilised and the pests down while pumping out more eggs than we can eat! Our salvias attract gorgeous honeyeaters and our flowering plants attract plenty of beneficial insects - great for pollinating flowers (resulting in heaps of fruit) while others take care of pests like aphids.
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