The Quick Garden Audit
A simple table that allows you to record what comes in, what happens and what leaves your garden.
Introducing the Quick Garden Audit
A productive garden is not just a collection of beds, plants and jobs. It is a set of flows. Water arrives. Kitchen scraps and prunings move through compost or worms. Seeds are saved and sown again. Leaves fall, break down and return to the soil. Time and energy move through the garden too.
In The Productive Garden Companion, I describe circular design as designing so that as little as possible is wasted and everything is connected. One of the simplest ways to begin is to look at what is already moving through your own space.
This Quick Garden Audit takes about fifteen minutes. Walk through your garden and record three things: what comes in, where it moves or changes, and what comes out.
The first column is inputs: things such as water, kitchen scraps, prunings, fallen leaves, bedding, seeds, sunlight and your own time and energy. The second is processing sites: the places or systems that transform, store or move those inputs, such as compost bays, worm farms or tunnels, chickens and deep litter, wicking beds, rain tanks, shade or wind structures and propagation areas. The third is outputs: what those systems produce, from compost, worm castings and mulch to seeds, eggs, leaf mould or water that can continue moving through the garden.
Then look again. Circle any output that could become an input somewhere else. That is a loop you can strengthen. Mark the places where a useful resource is currently leaving, being wasted or creating unnecessary work. Those are your leaks.
This is not a scorecard, and it is not about achieving a perfectly closed system. I still have things that leave my own garden. The value is in seeing the flows clearly enough to make one useful change at a time.
Your audit will look different depending on your space. On a balcony, a loop might be as compact as kitchen scraps to a worm farm, then castings back into pots. In a larger garden, it might connect roof water, tanks, beds, compost, chickens, harvest and the kitchen. The scale changes. The principle does not.
Start with what you have. Notice what is already working. Find one place where an output could feed something else, or where a leak could be reduced, and begin there.
Download your copy here
The Quick Garden Audit — a simple table that allows you to record what comes in, what happens and what leaves your garden.
Related Resources
If you’re starting any projects in the garden, the Garden Design Brief and the Zone-Planning Worksheet from the book live in the resources library too. And The Productive Garden Companion itself is the long version of everything here.
Workshops
My workshops are about fostering the reconnection between the layers of everyday life, the self and the natural world.
Time: 10am to 1pm
Dates:
Saturday 21st November 2026
Location: Stonewalls, Musk.
For as long as I can remember, I have tended a productive garden. From childhood veggie patches to the abundant landscapes of Oak and Monkey Puzzle, growing has always grounded me and shaped how I see the world. This workshop draws from that lived experience.
Whether you're working with a courtyard, a veggie patch or a larger garden, this is about creating a productive space that offers both beauty and abundance.
We explore what productive gardening really means. I share how my process has evolved across very different properties—Oak and Monkey Puzzle and Little Cottage on a Hill and for the first time, Stonewalls—blending hands-on learning with thoughtful intent.
We cover soil care, compost systems, green manures, vertical growing, chickens, worms and closed-loop cycles. You’ll see how I use wicking beds as productive, water-wise microclimates, and how I approach different soil types and site conditions.
We talk about heirlooms and hybrids, perennial and medicinal layers, espalier techniques, and the role of beauty in even the most functional plantings.
This is not a technical how-to on growing food. It is a practical and inspiring session on preparing and shaping a garden that is generous, resilient and connected to place. You’ll leave with tools and ideas to help you begin.
Dates: Sunday 1st November 2026
Time: 10 AM – 12.30 PM
Location: Little Cottage on a Hill, Daylesford
For years, I’ve designed gardens that balance beauty, productivity, and sustainability, but when I discovered wicking beds, they transformed the way I grow. These self-watering garden beds have changed everything—from reducing water use to making gardening more accessible, efficient, and abundant.
In this hands-on workshop, I’ll guide you through the practical steps to create your own wicking beds—whether you’re working with a small courtyard, a backyard, or a larger productive space. You’ll gain an in-depth understanding of how wicking beds work, how to build them using IBC containers, and how to create a thriving, water-wise garden with minimal effort.
We’ll explore my own wicking bed garden at Little Cottage on a Hill, where I’ve grown everything from celery and purple sprouting broccoli to sugar snap peas and edible flowers—all with less watering and less maintenance. You’ll leave with the knowledge and confidence to build a garden that is not only sustainable and resilient but also deeply rewarding to tend.
This workshop is designed for anyone looking to garden smarter—not harder. Whether you’re just starting out or a seasoned grower, wicking beds are a game-changer in sustainable and productive gardening.
Time: 10.00am - 1.00pm
Dates:
Saturday 7th November 2026
Location: Daylesford, Victoria
Whether you're starting from scratch or reshaping an existing space, this half-day garden design workshop invites you to see your garden differently. From the structure of the land up, this is not a plant-by-plant session. It is a place to think like a landscape architect and begin shaping your dream garden with clarity and purpose.
Together, we’ll explore the fundamental principles that guide thoughtful garden design. You’ll learn how to observe and respond to the unique conditions of a site, and how to work with what already exists to support the kind of space you want to create. We’ll talk about how to create rhythm, balance and a sense of flow in the garden. Not through formulas, but through a practice of observation, clarity and intention.
Using tracing paper and bold textas, you’ll begin a layered, iterative design process based on Natasha's own garden. A technique that prioritises experience over detail. This isn’t about where your grandma’s rose will go. It is about learning to see the bigger picture, and how to design in a way that brings coherence and life to your space.
You’ll leave with the tools to create your own garden brief, a new approach to site mapping and design thinking grounded in landscape architecture, and a renewed way of seeing and shaping your garden. No matter its size or complexity.
We draw from real projects such as Oak and Monkey Puzzle and Little Cottage on a Hill, and explore how to reimagine constraints as creative opportunities. There is also a guided tour of Little Cottage on a Hill, where we see how theory comes to life in a compact space.
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If you're here, you've stepped a little further into the pages of my book — and arrived a little ahead of everyone else. The book is in your hands early, and everything behind this page will be ready on 11 September, just before publication day on the 15th. I can’t wait to share more with you.
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Everything I do is about connection and community. I’m deeply passionate about meeting and working with people, brands and businesses that align with my values. If you think we’d create magic together — I want to hear about it!
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We acknowledge the first custodians of the land on which we live and work, the Wurrundjeri People of the Kulin Nation. We pay respects to Elders past, present and emerging and to all First Nations People. Sovereignty was never ceeded and treaties were never signed.
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