Lawns
In summary: Don’t panic!! Replacing your entire lawn is almost certainly not necessary; the vast majority of lawns will completely recover with some standard lawn care. Read on for more…
How to cope with...
One of our recent designs involved creating a back garden design for a client whose recent extension left them with a large bank and no access to the rest of…
Ideas, Inspiration & Trends
Many of the gardens we work in have starkly rectangular or very angular boundaries. In addition, many modern houses are surrounded by other houses, and in new gardens in particular…
Plants
As I sit in my office writing this blog, the sun is shining gloriously outside, and it is very warm but there is a gentle breeze to make life tolerable,…
How to cope with...
Most gardens that I visit have a few borders which are really narrow, some perhaps just 30cm (1’) to 45cm (18”). This may be because modern houses tend to have…
How to cope with...
Client Brief: create a new level lawn for their children to play on. Problem: how to create a workable garden on a steep slope. Solution: build two retaining walls and an…
How to cope with...
We often receive calls and emails from people who have recently moved into a new home, feeling overawed at taking on a mature garden with very large and deep borders. Inexperienced…
Advice
When we refer to chalky soil, we mean soil which has a layer of chalk below it. Chalky soils tend to be: flinty (which makes them difficult to dig) very…
Advice
Wide shallow gardens lack depth relative to their width and can appear to lack a sense of space and distance. This problem can be exacerbated in small back gardens with…
Advice
If you constantly find yourself battling a soggy, wet garden, it’s probably caused either by the existence of a high water table or by compacted soil leading to poor drainage….
Advice
Is your garden a bit, umm… mountainous? Ok, not mountainous, but does it have a slope to it? Here are some pictures to whet your appetite: The Challenge Sloping gardens. …
Advice
Front gardens are often purely functional. Pull up into the driveway, park the car, put the bins out, … you get the idea. But sometimes, there’s an opportunity for something…
Advice
Hot, dry areas of the garden can be quite a challenge for the gardener, particularly if the soil is very free draining (in which case it might be mega dry…
Advice
Long, narrow gardens have several drawbacks, particularly if they are very narrow: the patio can seem very cramped for space (although the overall area of the garden may be quite…
Advice
Let’s face it, there is shade, and there is gloom. It’s all very well people suggesting long lists of shade tolerant plants (ahem, see below), but some areas under trees…