Gardening and DIY: The Prince's garden

The Carpet Garden. Photo / Andrew Butler.

The real roots of The Prince of Wales' environmental consciousness are to be found in a small corner of the gardens of Buckingham Palace, where he describes how he and his sister Anne used to play.

"We had a little tiny plot hidden away by the back of a wall at Buckingham Palace. We used to fiddle about growing tomatoes, I think the thing was that the moment I had somewhere that I could start doing something I got going."

Since 1980 this 'somewhere' has been Highgrove in Gloucestershire, with the jewel in the crown being The Prince's own garden. It is run on an entirely organic basis and with a real focus on sustainable techniques and innovation, a decidedly unusual approach to take 30 years ago.

Renowned TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh has described it as "one of England's most important contemporary gardens...a place of incomparable beauty and a beacon for all things organic."

The Cottage Garden.
Its infrastructure includes a specially built reed bed sewage system that processes all the waste generated by more than 30,000 visitors to the gardens each year. The water passes through wood chip filled pits, then through a reed bed that filters out most of the nutrients and heavy metals, then through a willow bed for further filtering before ending up in a pond which then follows its natural watercourse.

Heating for some of the buildings is provided by a wood chip boiler, producing heat through the burning of woodchip produced annually by the estate. The greenhouses use ground source heating that harnesses the warmth of the Earth captured by bore hole pipework.

A huge amount of compost is made on site, recycling the trimmings and waste from the mixture of trees, some of which are rare.

Natural predators are encouraged for pest control and only natural fertilisers like comfrey tea, composted waste, and seaweed feed are used

In some areas of the garden The Prince has deliberately cultivated wildflower meadows that have blossomed from barren greenery to become the home of more than 30 native species of native grasses and wildflowers that help attract and encourage wild plants and insects. But there are decorative touches of whimsy too, including four busts of The Prince that have been given to him, undertaken at various stages of his life.

This combination of meticulous care and the flexibility to allow nature to take its course is the key to the gardens' unique appeal. A case in point is that a fallen Cedar of Lebanon was replaced with a pavilion made of oak from another part of the property, but will now probably be superseded by a young oak that has sprouted up within it that The Prince has decided to retain.

The Prince did much of the original planting himself and still confesses to being a habitual pruner of the gardens. At weekends he is known to mount what he calls his 'evening patrols', wandering his garden with shears and loppers, weeding and sawing rogue branches off as he goes. It is hard to imagine this not sometimes frustrating the team of up to a dozen professional gardeners whose job it is to keep everything in the kinds of dynamic, if not ever-so-slightly chaotic order, that the Prince favours. In winter he is also a dab hand at the traditional art of hedgelaying (he is Patron of the UK National Hedgelaying Society) in which hedgerow plants and bushes are carefully cut and woven to form a living barrier that maintains biodiversity while also enclosing stock animals.

At once an exhibition of his ideas and a sanctuary from the business of his everyday life, Prince Charles' garden clearly represents a core aspect of his life's philosophy.

"If you garden as in a dream you will take people with you," he says. "Because I believe we are all connected on that deep and fundamental level."
How to create your own organic garden fit for a future king

Element spoke to Debs Goodenough, head gardener to The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, on the principles and practices that have made Highgrove so special.

What is the key piece of advice you would give to readers looking to garden organically?

Look to your soil - feed and nurture it to give you the healthy plants that you want to grow. It is a wholesome approach which looks at the overall dynamics which make a garden thrive, rather than 'quick fix' actions.

Pest control can be one of the toughest challenges in organic gardening, do you have a secret?

Pestcontrol can be a challenge, but by taking a more holistic approach and encouraging more wildlife, which are predators of your pests, into the garden, you can deal with many of the problems.

Highgrove is a haven for wildlife: we encourage slow worms, toads, hedgehogs and song birds which in turn help us to keep the pests numbers down. One of the most popular questions that the garden tours are asked is "how come the hostas look so good?" His Royal Highness holds the National Collection of large-leaved hostas, which maintain their stately leaves with minimal slug and snail damage as their natural predators are encouraged to thrive: a balance is achieved between garden friend and foe.

Also appreciate what is 'acceptable' damage; ask yourself if intervention is necessary and if so is there an organic approach to reduce the pest numbers and how can we prevent the problem occurring again?

Organic roses are another tricky area, do you have any tips?

Feed the soil, often! Create a good watering regime in the growing season and choose disease resistant varieties. Ensure the position is suitable to plant the rose in, with enough light, wind protection and the right soil conditions.