Is your garden a ‘Sagger’?

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A while ago we looked at why it is so important you plan your garden before it’s built. But there is one thing that is crucial to get right before you even get to the planning stage. The dreaded garden survey!

Why do so many people avoid this part? Well tapemeasureaphobia is usually to blame for that. But there is another factor. Let’s be honest, striding round your garden, getting tangled up with a tape measure and genuinely looking like you’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards is not one of the most fun things you could do with your free time. BUT it’s really important you get your garden plan to the right size and scale before you design it.

Here’s Why (and an exclusive on how the fashion trend ‘sagging’ actually started!)

I want you to imagine you’ve never bought clothes before and you go into a department store to get an outfit. You see some clothes you like, grab enough for your outfit, pay for it and leave.

When you get home, you try on the top you’ve purchased. It’s a bit big but it more or less fits, not wonderfully, but it will do. Then you come to try on the trousers and find that you’ve inadvertently got them with legs far too short for your legs.

You now have a problem to solve. You’ve got this far and are determined you can get things to work – there is no way you are going to measure yourself and go back to the shop and admit you’ve got the size all wrong; you’re an inventive and determined person and you WILL get this to work out if it’s the last thing you do!

You’re Smart, You Can Find a Way to Get This to Work, Right?

So the legs of your trousers are far too short – you don’t have any spare material so the only solution you can see is to pull the trousers down lower, so they are sagging and the bad fit should more or less be covered up by the slightly big top. Can you picture just how bad that would look (and feel)? Other than quite a current fashion trend, does this sound like complete craziness to you? It will, if you are over the age of 25!

What on Earth Does This Have to do With Gardens?

Now back to gardens, the exact same crazy thing can happen. And very easily, if you haven’t measured your garden correctly or at all. You’ve spent time working out your design on paper, you’re happy it looks lovely, off you go to buy everything you need. Then, when you come to build it, nothing quite fits or looks right – the area is either bigger, smaller or a completely different shape to what you thought it was…. and you’ve got all this stuff you’ve had trucked to your home. Are you going to face the embarrassment of going back to the builder’s merchant and being called ‘Luv’, ‘Dear’ or ‘Mate’ again and admit you’ve botched things up?! I’m guessing, not.

Just in the same way the poorly fitting trousers didn’t produce quite the look you were planning for your outfit, having to totally change your garden design to make everything fit also has equally disastrous consequences. Nothing fits as it should and making adjustments makes the proportion and flow not work well. It won’t ever look as good as it should, or, worse, it’ll look awful.

The mistake with the clothes is pretty minor in the scheme of things – you don’t have to wear them EVERY day, they are relatively cheap to replace and very easy to rectify. Unlike the time and money you spent on the garden. That’s not nearly so easy to get right once it’s gone wrong. And if you’ve spent a lot of time and money on it,  you may be looking at it for a VERY long time…

Moral of The Story

Don’t make the mistakes of a teenager and dress your garden like one! Measure your back yard before you design it.

Spending time getting to know your outside space intimately with a tape measure doesn’t seem quite so bad now does it? If you have no idea how to measure your back garden then head on over to the free garden video tutorials on measuring and how to draw up your plan to scale. Or if you’d prefer to be guided through the entire process with both video and written instructions, take a look at the Garden Survey Mini-Course.


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Inspirational Gardens part 2 (sort of!)

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Cambridge University Botanic Garden

Best laid plans

Don’t you just love it when you have a really good idea, one that will undoubtedly be helpful and inspiring for people but there’s a small technical glitch that throws a spanner in the works? Well, I’ve discovered a bit of a glitch with this particular monthly feature on inspirational gardens and the people behind them.

The first one I choose, the wonderful Veddw garden in South Wales, was an easy choice; great garden, lots of accessible photographs and it proved to be very popular. During my interview with Anne Wareham, I asked her to pick the next Inspirational Garden. She’s picked an absolute cracker, trouble is this garden isn’t so accessible. It’s a private garden, one that is open to viewing by arrangement. There is no website, very few photographs online and I’ve not had any luck getting hold of the owner when I’ve phoned! With Veddw, there were so many photographs, I felt like I’d been there. Not the case with this garden.

Gardening flesh

I’ve seen enough photographs to be thoroughly intrigued by Anne’s choice but not enough pictures that make me feel I could do it justice writing about it. So there’s only one thing for it – I need to go and visit it and see for myself how a garden has been constructed using just two main plants. There are other plants in the garden but two plants dominate the design.

Not that I’m a complete tease or anything, but I’m not going to reveal which garden Anne chose just yet. I will give you a clue, though; it’s in Swansea. As soon as I’ve visited it, I will tell you all about it.

Something a little closer to home

Grass Maze - Cambridge Botanic Garden

Instead, I’m going to show you a garden that’s close to my heart. Having moved to Cambridge last year, I do love to hang out at the Botanic garden. The photograph above shows part of their dry garden. Although Cambridge has lots of open green spaces (one of the many reasons I love living here) my favourite is definitely the botanic garden. On sunny afternoons, when I’m finished designing for the day, I pop over with my camera, treat my self to a nice big slice of cake and then wander around the garden taking photos for my plant design album.

Cambridge University Botanic Garden, like most botanic gardens, it is more plant focused than design orientated, there are some areas that have been well-designed and a lot of thought has gone into the planting schemes. The Botanic garden is situated on a 40 acre site, right in the city centre, though it doesn’t feel that large. It’s a great place to visit if you are looking for plants and trees to inspire you for your garden. I particularly love how they use grasses in the herbaceous borders. There is a nice mix of traditional and modern influences throughout the garden.

Stipa calamagrostis - Cambridge botanic garden

Where do you suggest?

I’d like to visit lots of great gardens this year. I’m looking forward to doing this. I used to visit gardens all the time when I first qualified, so I’ve done the usual ones like Sissinghurst, Hestercombe and Hidcote. Veddw, of course, is already on my list for the summer. I’d also love to visit less well known gardens. What other suggestions do you have? Do email me or leave a comment if you have a suggestion. Doesn’t just need to be UK gardens; I’m happy to go further afield in search of glorious gardens.

A view of Cambridge

For those that aren’t familiar with Cambridge here are some of my favourite views.

'The Backs' Cambridge

King's College Cambridge

Roll on summer…

Fancy a punt?

Fancy a punt?

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BIG ideas for roof gardens [part 2]

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In last week’s blog post we looked at how to tackle a tiny courtyard garden for reader Rachel Scott. This week we are going to look at the second part of Rachel’s question – what to do with a small roof terrace. Plus look out for the special announcement at the bottom of the page…

Most of the design tips below will also be applicable for small town gardens and walled courtyard gardens, not just roof terraces.

Photography courtesy of Simon Leonard

Well, the first thing you need to think about with any roof terrace is the structural integrity. If you require permission to turn the space into a garden in the first place. We’ll assume all is fine on that front, in this instance.

How much weight can it hold?

The answer to that question dictates where you start. If there are no weight issues, you can use almost any building materials (it is sensible not to use excessively heavy materials) and build retaining walls with built in seats and planters. If there are weight concerns, then only place planters and other heavier objects in areas that are load bearing (usually the outer edges). Use lightweight materials. But before you do anything call out a structural engineer to advise you on what you can and can’t do.

How to use the space

As much I have have grown to hate the expression ‘outside room’, this is how you should think of a roof garden. Thinking of it as a room will help you utilise the space properly. In a tiny space like this one (3m x 2m), Rachel’s next job, once she has worked out what she can do weight wise, is to work out what space she needs to function in.

Like planning any other type of landscaped garden, you need to decide the use of the area. Are you going to have a seating area? How are you going to access it? Where is the best location to be in, or to avoid the sun? Once you’ve worked out what you want to do, you are halfway there. If you have a chair and table, set them up and see how much space you have left. If it’s not much, would it be better to build a planter with a seat built in to save on space?

You need to find the right balance between function and looks. Areas need a certain amount of empty space so that they don’t feel cluttered. This is critical to your success. ‘Less is more’, as they say (I vow one day to come up with an alternative phrase).

Use the walls

In any garden, the boundary can be used to your advantage. But in a tiny roof space, you must make the walls your best friend. If you have an interesting exterior wall, one that indents, is it possible to render and paint sections? Perhaps certain parts lend themselves to some outdoor art? Is it possible to attach a canopy on the wall to pull across on inclement weather days?

Get arty

Going back to the ‘outdoor room’ theme, dress the walls like you would for an interior but with about half to a third less stuff. If you are a clutter monkey, make that an two-thirds less! A carefuly positioned ornament or some candles on an exterior shelf blends the inside and outside spaces. Exterior art can be used effectively too. A fairly inexpensive way to create some outdoor art if you aren’t an artist is to get some Ikea canvases and paint them with exterior or yacht varnish, front and back, two to three coats. They won’t last forever but will add that finishing touch to your roof garden.

As well as thinking about how to use every bit of space from the floor to the walls. Also think about the views beyond. Frame the best parts of the view, disguise and hide the parts that don’t look good. If all the views are wonderful, you may still need a windbreak to make the sitting areas more comfortable. Screens like the one shown in the photo above work well or dense planting can sometimes be enough if the area is not overexposed.

Getting the right plants

Of course no garden would be truly complete without the plants. Think very carefully about what you put in; will it survive windier and colder conditions (if on an exposed terrace), for example? Pick plants that look good all year round and can cope with some neglect. By neglect I don’t mean to cast aspersions on your gardening skills or commitment. It’s just a fact that a plant grown in a pot suffers much quicker than one planted in the ground with more soil to support it.

Hopefully that has given Rachel some ideas for her Sydney roof terrace and you as well for your garden.

How to Create Your Dream Garden…

If you’ve ever felt frustrated at trying to create a wonderful looking garden and want to know the secret to it then take a look at the Great Garden Formula Course. Grab your copy now at the great introductory price. Click image or link below for further details.

http://www.courses.successfulgardendesign.com/create-a-great-garden/

Future blog posts

So what areas of your garden/landscape are you struggling with? If you’d like some advice, leave a comment in the box below and you may just see a blog post written about it in the near future!




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What makes a great garden?

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What makes for good garden design? It’s such a subjective topic…although one should not ignore strong technical elements. Consumer garden needs are always changing which means that the ‘design sands are always shifting’. Here are just a few thoughts on what is needed to make a good garden great….writes guest blogger Philip Voice.

I am not too sure that any single aspect of a garden’s design makes any particular garden great.

Sure, there are elements that a garden designer should be keen to retain, manipulate or work with when fashioning any space to suit the needs of the client, but nothing should ever be so rigid as to hold back on expression. An experienced garden designer will use instinct and experience: experienced design development, is not even a conscious effort.

Working with your natural landscape

The existing lie of the land must always be a strong consideration – especially if the garden is large enough to retain natural slopes and contours: aspect and light must be used and I think that the very best of garden design occurs when the designer’s instinct comes before contrivance – the latter is only relied on when other aspects of the design won’t fall into place naturally.

A garden designer’s initial thoughts must be simple: access to parts of the garden have to be created using a desire line mentality. If a desire line is not feasible, creating a physical barrier so as not to create blockage, but gently lead the garden user or wanderer is the next consideration – creating rigid angles or obstacles only serve to annoy will cause upset.

Creative collaboration

Maybe the very best of garden designers can pour emotion into the space that they are designing? Many designers will ask a client for a list of their requirements…others can introduce elements based on what life is being lived around the environment the garden is to be created in.

Philip Voice is a life long professional gardener turned blogger and the author of Landscape Juice and founder of the professional industry site, the Landscape Juice Network. I hope you’ll take a look at his wonderful websites and forum which celebrated getting 1000 members last week!

If you are wondering why Philip didn’t mention plants making a garden great, then this blog post on cake will explain why!

What are your thoughts on what makes a garden great?

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BIG ideas for tiny gardens [part 1]

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This week we are looking at the more practical aspects of garden (yard) landscaping. There is always a lot written about how to tackle small gardens but what do you do if you have a really small garden? This was a question posed to me by one of our readers, Rachel Scott.

Rachel lives in Sydney, Australia and has two tiny outside spaces she wants to landscape; a very small courtyard on the ground floor and a small deck on the second floor.

A good discipline

You could almost say that a tiny garden is like micro-gardening. And in any micro environment every element is critical. Truth be told, every element in any garden is critical but on a micro scale you can see everything in one go, so it’s obvious if you make a mistake. With larger spaces you can disguise things, lead the eye where you want it to go. Not so easy in a tiny space.

Front Garden Before Landscaping

Before we get going, lets define tiny – Rachel’s main garden is 3 x 2m (nearly 10 x 6.5ft). I have only designed one garden that small before and that was for the front of my first house. As you can see from the picture, it was pretty uninspiring. I wanted somewhere to grow herbs and vegetables as I didn’t want them in the back garden.

I’d like to tell you that the design I came up with was inspired by lots of creative yearnings but it wasn’t. I was on a very tight budget of nothing, having not long moved in. I had a few paving slabs left over from the back garden and was given a mix of free samples and cobbles my father had tucked away. I laid out this odd collection of stone and then worked out how I could use it all on paper. I wouldn’t recommend anyone design like this as it isn’t the best method, but needs must sometimes.

The photo below shows the finished result. Virtually all the plants were edible except for the phormium and wisteria. The bays either side of the front door were covered in a wicker pyramid that grew runner beans in the summer. In the tubs I grew lettuce, carrots and onions and a sweet grapevine up the wall, it was a very productive tiny front garden!

Front Garden After Landscaping

What materials should you have in your garden?

Ideally, what I should have done was to choose my materials very carefully. I have a rule I tend to follow of no more than three different hard-landscaping materials. Which I did stick to here (gravel, paving & granite cobbles) but I think just two in such a tiny space would have worked better because it would be less fussy.

When you choose your materials they can either contrast with the environment or compliment it. The materials here all have a yellow tinge and therefore compliment the yellow of the front door. Had I used a dark limestone or slate, it would have created contrast.

Be careful choosing dark colours in small spaces, especially if you are low on light. It will make the area look darker and smaller if you are not careful.

Big isn’t always best!

If you use small sizes paving or cobbles, the area will look much larger. Your eyes will see the quantity which tricks the brain into thinking the area is larger than it is. Test it. On the photograph above, blot out the paving slabs with your fingers and then notice how much longer the cobble path to the front door looks without the paving at the sides to dictate the scale.

Go easy on the planting

Again, not a rule I’ve followed here because I had a very specific use for the space – I wanted as many edible things as possible. This was essentially a herb and vegetable patch that needed to look pretty because it was at the front of the house. Had I been designing it purely for aesthetics, I would have been much more careful with the number of plants.

As a rule of thumb, I tend to find in a landscape setting, two-thirds empty space to one-third mass, which can be plants or vertical features, works well. If you study the photo you will see its got too many plants and isn’t as comfortable to look at if I’d used slightly less. I got away with it because the plants are small and there is enough contrast between them that doesn’t swamp the eye.

The most important thing with tiny gardens…

Everything must earn its place. Every single thing you put into the garden must look good all year round and be in the right place. Just because a garden is tiny, you can still be bold and brave but you must keep things simple.

Hopefully that has given Rachel some ideas about her courtyard, but what about the roof garden? We will look at the ins and outs of tiny roof spaces next week in part 2.

Window boxes aside, what is the smallest space you’ve tried to create a garden in and what problems did you experience?

Want to Know the Surprising Secret of Creating a Stunning Garden (no matter what size it is)?

Watch this short garden video tutorial (warning: Some people will not be happy to learn the real way to create a great looking garden, it goes against conventional thinking…)

 

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Does it take a carrot or a stick to produce a great garden?

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Someone kindly (?) referred to this website as “porn for garden lovers.” As much as l laughed at that, it has made me think; are people just ogling and not actually doing? I want this to be a useful resource where you can come and get the tuition you need (move on from the porn analogy, if you haven’t already).

I thought if I did this website, offered free advice, people would get ideas and they would go off and make their garden* great. But it doesn’t seem like that’s happening.

Why Aren’t More People Designing Their Gardens?

Blog post tutorials are just too passive. As much as people are reporting they are loving this site and all the information provided, they are not going off and putting pencil to paper. The exception are the ones doing the online garden design course.

What’s The Key To Helping People Create Their Dream Garden?

There needs to be a big motivator. I’ve had an idea that could help provide this motivation. It came to me a couple of weeks ago, after I interviewed Anne Wareham for a new feature on inspirational gardens. She has created an amazing garden and isn’t a professional landscaper. So, if she and people like her have created great gardens by studying garden design, it shows what can be achieved when someone puts their mind to it. Trouble is, most people don’t do that.

Where Do You Start With Landscaping Your Garden?

One of the main reasons people don’t do anything with their garden is because they don’t know where to start and get overwhelmed. They don’t know if they should do it themselves or hire a designer. If they do it themselves, they might muck it up. But if they hire a designer, what happens if they don’t like what the designer comes up with? Either option could be an expensive mistake. So maybe a few plants get put in, or the garden just gets left, with a vow to do something one day.

A Perfect Solution?

I think having a ‘roadmap’ to follow would be a big help. One that shows you how to either work with a landscape professional successfully or point you in the right direction on what you need to know to be able to design the garden yourself. But that’s not all. So I’ve set up a course that will guide people through the process and they can show their finished results if they wish. See The Great Garden Formula Home Study Course page for more details.

What’s Your Excuse?

Whatever the reasons are for not having done something great with your garden, tell me what they are. I have a few ideas on what the roadblocks are, but I don’t know what your blocks are. Even if the blocks are something outside of what would be considered a garden problem; tell me.

FREE Guide On How To Landscape Your Garden

Get your copy here: http://www.successfulgardendesign.com/freeguide/

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Why You Can Create a Better Garden Than a Designer

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I admit that is a statement I was never expecting to make. I’ve been designing gardens professionally for the last eighteen years. It’s how I earn my living. I charge people a fee to convert their ideas and lifestyle aspirations into a beautiful garden. So, why after so many years in the business have I come to the conclusion you’d be better off doing it yourself?

Well, we are going to have to go back in time by the measure of two whole weeks to answer that question.

Two weeks ago I interviewed Anne Wareham to kick start a new monthly feature on Inspirational Gardens and the people behind them. I knew very little about Anne before the interview; turns out she’s not a trained garden designer. She’s self-taught from books and studying gardens intensely. That’s quite something when you look at what she’s achieved in her garden.

Are Garden Designers Really The Best Option?

Whilst researching for my interview with Anne, I came across an article by Tim Richardson, who writes for the Society of Garden Designers. He wrote a while back, that most of the iconic or outstanding contemporary gardens have not been created by professional garden designers. He commented that if he was a garden designer he would be somewhat miffed by that fact.

Upsetting News for Garden Designers?

No, I don’t see it that way. For me, it’s not a true comparison. It is like comparing a book to a film. No matter how good the film is, it is an abbreviated version. A filmmaker simply cannot fit every detail and nuance into a movie. Also, there is less room for your own interpretation. It’s all been laid out for you; the intimate co-creation that occurs between author and the reader is very hard, if not impossible to recreate in a film.

I feel the same is true between the difference someone can create in their own garden, with the necessary studying and time on their side, and calling in a garden designer. I’m not trying to do myself out of a job or knock my profession. It’s simply a case of time and practicality. A professional designer will see a client and garden they’ve never met before, for one or maybe two hours. In that time they have to assess the personality of both client and garden.

In that one brief experience, that single moment in time defines the designer’s entire experience of that garden. The designer will not have seen the transitions of the seasons. They are unlikely to have witnessed the play of light around the garden from dawn to dusk. They won’t have ‘lived’ that garden in the one or two hours they were there.

For me, designers offer a translation service for those who can’t and don’t want to speak the language of their garden. Considering the short amount of time we see the client and garden, I think designers do an amazing job. It’s no easy task to get inside another person’s mind and dig out their dream garden. Very few people are able to articulate exactly what they want. It takes a truly skilled designer to create a garden that not only ticks all the boxes for the client but delivers more than they ever thought possible.

BUT…

I notice the difference between the book and the film. I feel that professional designs can have a somewhat precise and almost clinical nature to them. A flatness, if you will. They miss that spark of true magic that is created by someone that lives and breathes their garden. And add to the fact that gardens are not static objects; they mature and change over time. Try as a designer may, you can’t think of everything that might happen in a garden for the entirety of its existence with one plan, the garden needs to evolve over time.

Not Really Something Professional Garden Designers Want to Admit To

So, if the best gardens haven’t been done by designers, then my belief that homeowners are more than capable of doing their own garden, with the right training, is not only justified, if anything, I’ve underestimated what can be done by non-professionals. Think about the exciting possibilities that exist if people put their mind to consciously creating their gardens…

Should You Employ A Garden Designer?

Not everyone wishes to employ a garden designer, which is fine, but so few people actually do anything with their garden. And fewer still take the time to learn the principles of design to do it well. Why is that?

I have a few thoughts on why, and I think I have come up with a plan to help address the situation. After my interview with Anne Wareham, an idea sparked, one that will hopefully involve lots of other garden designers, landscapers and, I hope, you too. In case you are wondering, no, it won’t cost you anything to take part. I will tell you all the details in the next blog post which will introduce you to a free landscaping guide I’ve put together…

In the meantime, if you would like learn more about how to avoid BIG mistakes in your garden, enter your email address in the box below. You’ll never miss a blog post and I’ll send you a free report on what to avoid doing with your garden.

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Inspirational Gardens and the People Behind Them [part 1]

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We are getting back to gardens this week after the frivolity of last week’s Honest Scrap Award. This is the first of a new monthly-ish feature on inspirational gardens. I’ve chosen this first one to get the ball rolling, then all subsequent gardens are chosen by the person I’ve interviewed, which should, I hope, make for an interesting journey for us all.

Veddw House Garden copyright Charles Hawes

Garden Design Elements

My inaugural Inspirational Garden is Veddw House Garden in Monmouthshire, South Wales. The garden has been created by Anne Wareham and her husband Charles Hawes. Anne is a garden writer for newspapers and magazines. She is also a garden consultant and is involved with ThinkinGardens, for people who want more than gardening from their garden. Charles is a professional photographer and has very kindly allowed me to use his photographs of Veddw House Garden for this article.

I’ve only recently discovered Veddw House Garden (shame on me – I should never have cancelled my Gardens Illustrated subscription!). I’ve been really impressed by the creative and clever layout of the garden. It is obvious how much energy and thought has gone into it. What impresses me most about this garden is its creators; neither Anne or Charles are professionally trained garden designers. They have created this garden from scratch. Anne started it with a spade in her hand. It’s a two-acre garden. That’s quite an undertaking for anyone.

Veddw House Garden copyright Charles Hawes

Where Do You Start To Create A Garden Like This?

I asked Anne where and how she got started on this amazing garden. She told me the first thing she did was to clear it. The overgrown trees and shrubs were removed and this enabled Anne to see the garden properly. Most people are too afraid to take things out and totally start again but for Anne this was a necessity not an option.

Having a two-acre garden to develop from scratch is a big challenge and a scary one at that. I was very curious as to how Anne went about transforming her garden, when, in her words, she knew absolutely nothing about creating a garden. She did something that is obvious, yet so few people do it…

You Can Do What Anne Has Done Too

She studied gardens, in depth. Anne went to every garden centre, nursery and open garden she could. She read books, magazines and totally immersed herself in all things garden. She asked a lot of questions. Most people tend to do some of those things but not all. Anne stuck at it until she understood what makes a good garden. It’s not about what plants you use. It comes down to what shapes you create before you add the plants.

Veddw House Garden copyright Charles Hawes

A Curious Design Method…

I wanted to know about Anne’s design process. Does she sit down with a sheet of paper and plan it or could she see it in her mind? I was expecting her to say she could just see it all in her mind but that couldn’t be further from it. Anne is like many people, myself included early on in my design career, she can’t visualise how things will look. If you’ve read the blog post I did a while back on visualising your garden, you’ll know that it’s not as important a skill as you would think.

Anne’s design method is born out of her curiosity; she will think of two or three different things and wonder how they would look if she puts them together. So the only way to satisfy her curiosity is to actually go and do it.

The Problem With Focusing On Plants

Iris sibirica Veddw copyright Charles Hawes

Anne is passionate about good structure in gardens (and I mean REALLY passionate about it). One of her pet hates is how easily seduced people are by plants. Too much focus on plants and the garden becomes an incoherent mess. As a nation we are plant obsessed and it is all too often to our detriment. Mention your plant collection to Anne at your peril!

An Inexperienced Gardener

Before Veddw, Anne’s experience of gardens was limited to a small London garden and before that a tub of herbs she’d grown from seeds on the flat roof of her flat! So if you were thinking that it’s impossible to create a great garden without a lot of garden experience, you’d be wrong. Anne and Charles started the garden in 1987. They’ve developed it one section at a time. A garden like Veddw doesn’t happen over night, it evolves over time.

View across grasses copyright Charles Hawes

Anne’s Top Tips:

If you are starting a new garden, mulch as much as you can to keep the weeds down. Think about structure in your garden and read, read, read everything you can on gardens. You must educate yourself as much as possible. Her last tip is to go with the lie of the land, especially if you have countryside views. It’s important your garden sits well in its surroundings.

Visit This Great Garden

I do hope that if you are ever in South Wales, you will go and see Veddw House Garden for yourself. It’s open to the public on Sunday’s from 2-5pm June-August. And whilst you are visiting you may as well take a look at some other wonderful Welsh gardens. There is a fabulous book available (which features Veddw among others) called Discovering Welsh Gardens by Stephen Anderton, photographs by Charles Hawes.

I’d like to thank Anne for taking the time for the interview, especially as she’s facing a deadline for her new book ‘The Bad-Tempered Gardener’ for Frances Lincoln, which should be available early next year. If you’d like to know more about Anne, I would recommend you follow her on Twitter @bulchey – if there is a lively debate about gardens, she’ll be there…

Veddw House Garden Copyright Charles Hawes

Your turn?

If you can get a good understanding of how garden design works, then creating your own fabulous garden is definitely achievable. I hope seeing Charles and Anne’s garden has inspired you to tackle your own garden in a creative and thought provoking way. Gardens can be so much more than just a place to put the shed, you don’t need to be an expert to do it but you do need knowledge.

I’ve certainly been inspired by my conversation with Anne. Veddw House Garden is proof that if you put your mind to it, you can create something amazing with your garden. In fact she’s inspired me to take action to help people do just that. I’ll write more about the idea our conversation sparked in the next blog post…

Want Some Free Advice?

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Filed Under: Garden Ideas Tagged With: , , ,

The Honest Scrap Award!

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If this is your first time visiting this blog – don’t read this post! This one is just a lark around and won’t really help you with your garden. Read this post instead – why there is more to a great garden than plants.

Ok in last week’s blog post on modern contemporary gardens I said this week I would be going back to a normal blog post where you get to read something! Well one part of that was right – the reading part. However, this is not the blog post I was expecting to write! In the meantime I’ve been nominated for the honest scrap by Carole Brown from Ecosystem Gardening.

The honest scrap (odd title) the idea is I write 10 things about myself that you won’t already know by having read this blog and then I nominate seven people who I think are good eggs of the garden variety to do the same… Like Carole, this isn’t the type of thing I would normally do but seems like fun.  Besides it would be wrong to turn Carole, the Ecosystem Gardener, down (a birder in her spare time). It’s always best not to upset women with big binoculars!

Here’s my list of 10 things you wouldn’t know about me from reading my blog:

1 ) I’m a Taurean. Enough said.

2 ) My favourite food is cheese. Pretty much any cheese, except the really smelly ones – I love. Nothing tastes like it, there is no substitute flavour, it has to be cheese.

3 ) I’m lactose intolerant - life is cruel.

4 ) It takes me an hour or two to fall asleep each night. I just have one of those brains without an off switch. No, I don’t want to meditate on it!

5 ) I’ve just started to learn Argentine Tango! It’s as close to an off switch as I can find – moving round a room, mostly backwards and with eyes closed, and not allowed to cling onto dance partner, does focus me and stops the mind buzz.

6 ) I was a very accident prone child - think my mother is amazed I’ve made it to adulthood! Still occasionally prone (I haven’t mentioned this to the Argentine Tango people – they’ll soon discover it when we come to learn the leg flicks!).

Ok I’m running out of things to tell you that aren’t embarrassing!  Probably should have written that at point 5.

7 ) I cannot watch sad movies. Not too much upsets me in day to day life – put me in front of a movie or tv programme with any emotional content and I’ll be blubbling like a baby in no time. It’s very embarrassing – I try to disguise it in the cinema, pretending I’m flicking my hair out of my eyes, no one falls for it. Slightest sad point now and all my friends turn to see if I’m crying yet!

8 ) I am terminally curious – I have to understand how things work. I’m fascinated learning new things. Makes me somewhat of a sucker for internet marketers though – “Discover how using this simple but secret technique….” – yep they seen me coming a mile off!

9 ) I don’t actually have a garden! Well I do but I’m not living anywhere near it – I’ve moved from Colchester (Britain’s oldest recorded town –  its best claim to fame!) to the lovely city of Cambridge so I’m renting in the city centre until I sell my house and move here properly…

10 ) OK on to the final fact and this is possibly the most embarrassing - I get more questions about how this website is constructed than I do about gardens!! I’m offering FREE advice on how to make your garden nice and all people want to know about is the website!!

I’m not sure whether to be pleased or insulted. Either the website is so good, everyone wants to know how I did it or more realistically people are wondering how on earth someone with the computer knowledge of a grasshopper has managed to build a website! Hmph! In order to answer all the questions I’ve ended up doing a resource page so if you want to know how to do your own website, the easy way, it’s all spelled out – so go and have a look and hopefully I’ve answered all the questions you’d ever want to know!

My list of very cool bloggers I’d like to know more about (yeah I’m nosy):

So guys and gals, I hope you are up for an honest scrap (or they could have called it 10 things you didn’t know about me and here’s 7 of my favourite garden blogs – maybe too long?).

Normal-ish service will be resumed next week. I say -ish because there will be a new monthly-ish feature starting – Inspirational Gardens and the people behind them, got a fabulous garden lined up for the first one. Can’t wait!

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Filed Under: Garden Design

Ideas for your garden – gallery 3 Modern Contemporary Gardens

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In last week’s ideas for your garden gallery we featured a selection of more traditional styles of garden with a heavy emphasis on plants.

This week’s gallery, the last in this series, is the complete opposite of last week’s style of garden and focuses primarily on modern contemporary styles. These types of garden tend to have more focus on design and use of hard landscaping materials so may not be to everyone’s tastes but I hope you still get some inspiration even if you want a more traditional style of garden.

Want to Know the Surprising Secret to Creating a Great Looking Garden?

Watch this free garden video tutorial (be warned the content may upset some people!)

A Little Bit Of Planning Goes A Long Way…

I’ve called this gallery advanced because a lot more time and skill goes into creating this style of garden. In part because the focus is on the hard landscaping materials. This means that the design shape is much more noticeable. In traditional style gardens you can hide a multitude of sins with a good planting scheme but with slightly less focus on plants, that is harder to do!

Gardening Blasphemy!

In case anyone is reading ‘less focus on plants’ to mean that plants are not important – don’t! Using fewer plants means that their selection is even more vital. Any planting scheme needs a lot of thought put into it but in my opinion, even more is required when planting areas are small. The less plants you have, the more each plant needs to ‘give’ to the space it’s in.

Next Week Could be a Shock to the System…

I’ll be going back to my normal blog where I actually write posts and don’t rely on moving images to keep you entertained! For those of you who prefer to watch rather than read, don’t worry, there will be more garden design video tutorials and garden galleries coming along in due course.

Oh and Talking of Good Blogs!

If you haven’t already discovered Jenny Peterson’s blog - DO go and check it out this week. Yours truly is in her brand new Gardener of the Month feature and before you ask – no I didn’t pay her to write this (though I half feel I should have!).

 

Filed Under: Contemporary Gardens, Garden Ideas Tagged With: , , , , ,
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