This garden, in Gramacho Golf, shows an extensive lawn with the variety Zoysia tenuifolia, which is classified as water-saving. Despite the water-saving properties of this lawn, it did not show sufficient drought resistance in the summer on the south-facing slope and withered increasingly.
In this situation, it was convenient for all those involved to plant a bed of Mediterranean plants on this slope and to dispense with drip irrigation. The slope proved to be a challenge, the problem was solved by making furrows on the contour lines and interrupting them crosswise at shorter intervals, thus creating small basins (caldeiras), which are extremely important for additional irrigation with the hose.
A lawn terrace in my own garden (in Poio) offered only inconvenient access for the lawn mower, so it was all the easier for me to try an experiment here. Since the future use of the lawn was still unclear, it seemed appropriate to me to convert it into a terrace that would be partially planted with vegetation but would not require irrigation.
The garden redesign project in Vale da Lama was handed over to me in autumn 2021. The plot, which is directly adjacent to the golf course, was to be designed as close to nature as possible, with the focus on minimal irrigation. Lawns were excluded from the outset.
The owner and architect had specified the design of the garden and therefore left me little room for manoeuvre, but I was able to concentrate on the technical aspects and the choice of plants. A particular challenge in the preparation of this garden was the endless heavy clay interspersed with stones. The garden was therefore deeply loosened with the help of an excavator, whereby the stones on the surface of the soil were collected and transported away.