THE ART of GROWING

Rachel Graham meets Chi Chi Tseng, head kitchen gardener at Sculpture by the Lakes near Dorchester, an internationally accredited botanic garden. She joined the team in 2022 and now manages the quarter-acre biodynamic kitchen garden, which supplies the on-site café and restaurant with seasonal fruit, vegetables, herbs and edible flowers

- Chi Chi Tseng

Although it's a working plot, the Sculpture by the Lakes garden also forms part of the visitor experience. Paths wind between beds of colour and texture, with tall arches and trained fruit echoing the sculptures beyond. “We wanted it to have structure and beauty,” says Chi Chi. “People walk through and see where their lunch has come from – it connects them to the food.”

A graduate in forestry and resource conservation from National Taiwan University, Chi Chi later trained as a biodynamic gardener and is currently studying for an RHS Level 3 diploma. When she arrived in July 2022, the garden was already well established. “It had been no-dig since 2017,” she explains. “It began as a kitchen garden for Mo and Simon Gudgeon, the owners. They care deeply about the quality of the food, so when the restaurant expanded, the garden did too.”

The layout — framed by handsome metal fruit cages designed and built by Simon himself combines practicality with elegance. “He's a sculptor, so everything here has to be beautiful. The cages are tall - you open the door and walk in like it’s a house - but they blend into the landscape. They're functional and decorative.”

Visitors often comment on how achievable it looks. “People say, ‘Oh, we could do that at home!’ That makes me so happy,” she smiles. “Because it looks achievable – and it is.”

Initially, Chi Chi focused solely on vegetables but, over time, her planting evolved. “The first two years I played safe - just veg - but now flowers play a big part of the kitchen garden as well. They bring in pollinators, and people just love them. The garden feels happier.”