Do you have a decked area in your garden? It’s a really popular choice for creating a patio area, and can really enhance the overall impact of your outdoor space. In a family garden decking is a great multi-tasker, providing an area for supervised play, dining, entertaining or simply relaxing in the sunshine. Traditional wooden decking is a popular choice, but when it comes to using it in a family garden, it has it’s drawbacks. In wet or ...
Hard landscaping: getting it right in your garden design
When it comes to designing your garden, the main element that often springs to mind is the plants themselves. It’s very tempting when planning a new garden layout to get carried away designing borders, choosing plants, shrubs and trees, and looking ahead to when everything is blooming nicely. This is all time well spent, but if you’re going to create a successful garden it’s crucial to also give careful thought to the hard landscaping. Hard ...
An English coastal country garden
This week's slice of garden loveliness comes from my mum-in-law's garden in Devon. We visited at the start of the school holidays and while the sun shone I spent a happy hour amongst the flowers with my camera. When Penny and Mike moved to Devon 16 years ago their house had a large patch of land at the back but no garden to speak of - so they just created one from scratch. Among the countless hours of work this involved was the scarily huge ...
Potting heaven: my dream secret shed
I am a gardener. I love my garden and I garden most days, certainly every week. So if I asked you to guess what is in my garden shed you would logically assume it was pretty much dedicated to gardening equipment, right ? Wrong. Here's what's inside our garden shed: Bike x 6 (but only 4 people in our family) Kids' bike seats, spare bike wheels, bike rack for car (can you see a pattern emerging here?) Huge shelving unit full of paint ...
Statement sheds: the latest garden trend
Today’s guest post introduces a whole new side to the humble garden shed. Enjoy! Sheds: a British passion and tradition we already know, but a fashion trend and the latest must have accessory - are you serious? Just a few years ago, you would never have believed that the next big, must-have fashion trend was the humble garden shed, and a television programme dedicated to them would draw in millions of viewers every week. If you had been ...
Using a water pump to enhance your garden
I spend a lot of time daydreaming about my perfect garden. As I learn more and find more inspiration the design changes in my mind, but one thing always remains constant: it has to have a water feature. All that wonderful sensory enjoyment that a water feature brings to a garden is a must-have for my dream outdoor space. Back in the real world, I’d love to see a little bit of my dream made reality by installing a water feature in our ...