Growing Together
Creating Regenerative Landscapes That Feed
People & Place
If you’re dreaming of a food forest, a productive garden, or a regenerative system that grows with you over time, I’d love to help bring it to life.
Hi, I’m Dean!
The person behind Dean’s Permaculture Installs.
I design and build food forests, vegetable gardens, and integrated permaculture systems that work with nature and people’s lifestyles. My focus is on practical, productive landscapes that are tailored to your land, your needs, and the way you want to live.
For me, permaculture isn’t just about growing food — it’s a way of seeing and interacting with the world. It’s about reading the land, understanding how water, soil, plants, and people interact, and then bringing those elements together into aesthetic productive landscapes that feel harmonious, abundant, and alive.
I love helping people reconnect with their land and their place within the natural world. Well-designed systems don’t just produce food — they reduce maintenance, build healthy soil, support wildlife, and create spaces that people actually enjoy being in.
Galleries
Port Macquarie Food Forest
Planted for a family of four, this thriving system features three 20‑metre rows protected by a wallaby-proof fence. Multiple fruit tree varieties, mid-story herbs, berries, and edible ground covers all work together in harmony. Three swales on the uphill side of each bed capture and retain rainfall, supporting long-term water health and resilience for the food forest.
Lake Macquarie - Home Garden/Food Forest
Designed for a family of three, this suburban backyard features a harmonious mix of food forest and vegetable garden. Timber‑bordered vegetable beds keep the lawn neat and tidy, while a swale behind the banana bed captures water to maintain a moist environment for the fruit trees. The design is tailored for suburban life, easy maintenance, and productive yields.
Moruya - Food Forest
Transformed from a bare patch of lawn for a middle-aged couple with a green thumb, this project combined coaching and hands-on implementation. Five 10‑metre beds host a rich mix of fruit trees, native edibles, long-term shrubs, and edible ground covers. Three tree rows are interspersed with two berry rows featuring loganberry, youngberry, boysenberry, and raspberry — perfectly suited for dappled light as the forest canopy grows. A productive, diverse system designed for learning, enjoyment, and long-term yields.
Deua River Valley - Food Forest
Transformed a dry, rocky slope into a fertile, productive food forest. Using a small excavator, we loosened the soil and added compost, manure, and organic minerals. Two swales high in the landscape capture and retain water, creating a moist foundation for long-term growth. The design features a diverse mix of edible trees, berries, shrubs, and ground covers all working in harmony. After just one year, the peach trees produced a harvest and are already growing well above head height — a testament to the swales’ water and nutrient retention.
Pickled Octopus - Thai Restaurant in Tuross Heads
The restaurant owner approached me with her vision to grow culinary herbs on-site and recycle food waste. I designed and built a productive garden alongside a 1,000‑litre worm farm. The garden provides year-round herbs including parsley, spring onions, chives, Kaffir lime leaves, mint, Thai and perennial basils, and chilies. The worm farm turns food waste into nutrient-rich compost, keeping the herbs thriving and creating a closed-loop system for the restaurant.
My Core Principles
With over a decade of hands-on experience, I aim to keep things practical, transparent, and grounded — no unnecessary fluff, just thoughtful design and solid implementation.
Landscapes that:
- Produce fresh, local food
- Build soil health and biodiversity
- Manage water more effectively
- Reduce ongoing maintenance
- Feel beautiful, functional
In a world where global ecosystems are having ever more increased pressures upon them as global keystone species we have the capabilities and I believe responsibility to be active beneficial players in our ecosystems. Permaculture is a well thought out pathway to reach this goal.