THE BONES Make arches and other plant supports from rustic poles rather than planed and finished wood. Wigwams for beans and sweet peas can be made from hazel rods or woven willow.
Rambling roses (with soft, pliable stems) can be trained along ropes slung between posts.
Use discreet materials for paths: gravel, flagstones, recycled bricks (although these may get slippery), crushed slate, or bark mulch. Plain concrete slabs may be used also: you can blur the edges with planting, and time will soften the harsh surface. Don't use decking.
Plant the edges of paths and beds with dwarf box or London pride, or line them with stone, recycled bricks, railway sleepers or other salvaged material. Or use pressure-treated timber. Or don't edge them at all, but let the plants spill into other areas.
Keep containers simple: use traditional terracotta or recycled objects such as chimney pots and ancient kettles. Avoid stainless steel or highly glazed ceramic surfaces.
THE PLANTS All plants are easily grown and easily propagated, and are hardy, unfussy specimens. Avoid modern cultivars with overlarge or double flowers. Edibles, herbs and ornamentals are mixed together. The following are some of the flowering plants that are suitable, but there are hundreds of others in the same vein.
Shrubs: abutilon, buddleia, ceanothus, chaenomeles, cistus, fuchsia, hydrangea, philadelphus, old-fashioned roses (or modern David Austin roses, which look similar), box and privet (the latter two clipped into ovoids or other shapes).
Climbers and ramblers: clematis, honeysuckle, rose, runner bean, sweet pea.
Creepers, edgers and floppers for front of beds: creeping campanula, dianthus, hardy geranium, lady's mantle, primula, Viola cornuta.
Spires for the back of the border: delphinium, foxglove, hollyhock, lupin, monkshood, verbascum.
Mid-sized perennials: achillea, Japanese anemone, aster, columbine, dahlia, shasta daisy, daylily, euphorbia, hardy geranium, hellebore, peony, phlox, sedum.
Bulbous plants: anemone, bluebell, daffodil, fritillary, iris, lily, nerine, snowdrop, tulip.
Annuals and biennials: calendula, love-in-a-mist, poppy, nasturtium, sweet rocket (Hesperis matronalis), sweet William, wallflower.