Pavers give way to forest of food at Perth gardener’s home

What is the single greatest difference between a gardener and a regular person? An affinity for vegetables? A passion for pots? A complete disregard for clean nails and neat hair? No, no and no.

The single greatest difference between a gardener and a regular person is the insatiable urge to relentlessly rip up pavers and chuck manure in their place.

On this count (and others) Chrissie Anderson is most certainly a gardener.

“When I moved in two years ago there was not a green leaf,” Chrissie tells me cheerfully as we descend the steps from her back veranda into the food forest she has been cultivating since she bought the place.

“My mate and I pulled up all the pavers in 6 hours — it cost me $500 at the physio!”

It was worth the effort. Where once there was nothing but hot, bleak paving, surrounded by brick walls, Chrissie’s garden now sways in the breeze; leafy, green and filled almost entirely with productive plants — bananas, apples, curry leaf and citrus trees — all underplanted with bright pink and red vincas and blue-grey chalk stick succulents.

“I’ve already picked one bunch of bananas,” Chrissie says brightly. In the centre of the garden, grape vines cover a pergola and bougainvilleas and passionfruit vines climb the sunny side walls.

Along the fence, growing vigorously, are a line of pawpaws that Chrissie cultivated herself.

“I grew the pawpaws from seed,” Chrissie explains, “they actually grow better from seed as the roots are stronger.”

The rest of the plants came Chrissie’s friend, the inimitable Sabrina Hahn, who helped design the garden.

“Sabrina sourced all the plants locally, everything she hand-picked,” Chrissie says. The two sketched an outline for the beds, pergola and planting arrangements in situ, into the bare earth with a stick, then Sabrina went home and drew up the plans.

Chrissie enlisted local landscaper, Sam Beckford of Edulis Gardening, to help bring the designs to life and to spare Chrissie another trip to the physio (“he did a lot of the labouring as I have two dodgy knees”).

Once the design was complete, Chrissie and Sam focused their efforts on soil improvement.

“The first thing we did was get really good quality compost delivered, then we brought in tonnes of lucerne mulch. I keep that topped up now, so I only have to water twice a week.”

Through their combined efforts, Sabrina, Sam and Chrissie have produced a garden that proves you don’t need a big space to grow a productive patch.

As I go to leave, Chrissie points out her pride and joy — a 100-year-old staghorn that she inherited from her grandmother. Clearly, gardening is in her DNA; the staghorn is in good hands and thriving. When asked for her secret to keeping it so happy, Chrissie says with a grin: “I feed it my banana peels.”