Extend your Home with the Help of a Landscape Gardener

We would all love a nice big house and huge garden, but the reality is that for most of us we have to settle with what we’ve got. As a landscape gardener I visit many properties and I often get asked to design a garden that helps create more living space. This is something that I love to do because the results are always so pleasing.

Creating the Illusion

How can I make your garden appear to be a natural extension to your home? The clever trick is to continue space from inside to out. What I could do is, directly outside your French or patio doors, build a lovely decking area so that when the doors are opened there is immediately space where you can put a BBQ or table and chairs, meaning it will look and feel like a conservatory or extension, just without the roof and hefty price tag attached.

To complement this I’d add a lighting scheme so that an intimate feel can be created once the sun goes down. It really will look like you have an extra room to your home, except it’ll be nice and cool and perfect for relaxing on those warm summer evenings.

If you need some expert help with a landscaping project this year, don’t delay in asking us for a free, no obligation consultation on just what we can do for you and your garden.

Garden Design: How to Make Best Use of the 3rd Dimension

The first step in designing your garden is to draw an accurate ground plan so you know exactly how much space you have to work with. One mistake many people make after measuring the length and width is to forget that there’s another important dimension – height. Extending your garden upwards adds visual interest, can make your garden appear larger, and provides additional growing space, which is especially valuable in a small garden.

Flat Garden
If you have a flat garden with the majority of plants at the same low level, consider using any boundary fences or walls to support climbing plants. A long, blank wall can provide year-round colour and interest if it’s covered with a carefully chosen selection of climbers. Some plants and shrubs will need trellis or guide wires to help them reach the heights while others can scramble up perfectly well on their own.

Fenced Garden
If you are planting against a fence be aware that some mature climbers can be quite heavy so check that the fence posts are firm and the fence itself is strong enough to take the extra weight.

Arches, pergolas and obelisks are popular ways of introducing some height. You can buy them ready-made, choosing a design to fit in with the overall style of your garden, or construct your own. A wide range of plants, decorative, edible or both, can be trained over them. One word of advice: a rose-covered archway looks romantic but you won’t love it if you get scratched every time you pass through! For roses without tears make sure you choose from the many thornless climbing and rambling varieties that are available.

Planted Garden
Introducing tall plants is an easy way of introducing vertical shapes into your planting scheme. For summer colour, hollyhocks and giant sunflowers are fun to grow and impossible to overlook. Bamboos are fast growing but might need to be contained, and many ornamental grasses are not only tall but also come in some striking colours.

Trees are the tallest plants you can grow, but must be chosen with care if you have limited space. Large trees too close to buildings can cause expensive problems. They will also shade a large area and take a lot of water from the ground, which will affect other plants in the vicinity.

Before you buy a tree check the maximum height it will reach and how far the roots will spread. If you have any doubts it’s always best to get expert advice. The good news is that many specialist tree nurseries can offer small and dwarf varieties that will live happily in restricted spaces.

Vertical Gardening
A relatively new idea in garden design, but one that is generating a lot of interest, is vertical gardening or creating living walls. The idea is to grow plants close together in individual pockets formed in a panel that has a built-in irrigation system. One or more of these panels are then fixed to a wall. Once the plants are established the panel is hidden beneath the foliage giving the impression that the plants are growing out of the wall. The possibility of growing strawberries next to your bedroom window is certainly intriguing!

Planning new features to add height to your garden is the easy part. Carrying out those plans can involve skills you might not have and time you cannot spare. Discuss your ideas with a professional landscape gardener and benefit from his or her experience.

Five Reasons to Build Fences and Walls Inside Your Garden

Walls and fences are most commonly used to define and protect the boundaries of a garden, but they are also useful and decorative in many other situations. Here are just five reasons why you might want to include them in your garden design. Once you start thinking about it, you will probably find a lot more!

Privacy
If your favourite sunbathing spot is overlooked by a neighbouring building, or the back garden is easily visible from the front of the house, a fence or wall can be used as a screen against prying eyes. Its position is more important than its size so check your plans from all angles.

Shelter
Sunshine is wonderful, but if your patio is sometimes too hot for comfort create a patch of dappled shade by adding some decorative fencing panels. They will block the glare while still allowing a cooling breeze to waft through.

If your garden is exposed to strong winds you might consider putting up walls or fences to protect tender plants. Solid barriers can make the problem worse as the air deflected on one side causes turbulence on the other. The aim of an effective windbreak is only to slow the airflow so choose a fence or wall with plenty of gaps in it.

Dividing garden rooms
Use walls or fences to separate the vegetable plot from the lawn, or children’s play areas from your flower garden. They can be incorporated into the design of each ‘room’. For example, a low stone wall marking the edge of an ornamental garden can incorporate planters for flowers; a simple picket fence around a play area could be painted in bright colours.

Shape-changing
Steeply sloping land that is difficult to cultivate can be shaped into more manageable terraces with the help of retaining walls. It can be a big job but the transformation is usually worth the effort. The same idea can be used to add height and interest to a flat garden. A series of natural stone or brick walls can be backfilled with soil to gradually raise the ground level.

Design feature
For best results, incorporate internal fences and walls into the overall design of your garden. You don’t have to restrict yourself to rectangular brick walls or brown wooden fences. They can be made in all shapes and sizes and from a wide range of materials to suit any style of garden. They can be curved, angular, undulating, and in any colour you can imagine. Use them to harmonize with their surroundings – or to act as a contrast.

A well-built stone wall is a work of art in itself. Instead of hiding it behind plants you could even make it the main feature!

If you have some ideas for using walls and fences to enhance your garden but are not sure which materials to use, or you want advice on the best way to tackle the job, contact a professional landscape gardener who will be happy to visit and explain all the options in a free, no obligation consultation.

Garden Landscaping Tips: Two for Today

Here are two garden landscaping tips for today:

Tip One: How does the garden look from inside the house?

If you are considering landscaping your garden, take some time to think about how your plans will look when viewed from the inside of your house looking out, as well as how the garden will look when you are outside. Try to achieve a design that will enhance both views.

Tip Two: Think before you plant!

When planting, think about the special conditions of your area. In certain areas you will need to choose plants according to the soil type. If your garden tends to be quite boggy, opt for plants that thrive in lots of water. If you are in a clay soil area, don’t choose plants that need good drainage; and if you are in an area where wildlife is abundant and your garden is regularly visited by deer, choose plants that are known to be deer-resistant such as Geraniums or Lily of the Valley.

The benefits of decking your garden

Garden decking is exceptionally versatile; it can be used to overcome issues that make landscaping difficult, to enhance the features of a garden, to add practicality or to extend your house into your garden. Here are some of the major benefits of decking your garden:

A solution for sloping and uneven ground
Garden decking can counteract uneven ground and sloping sites. Building on stilts and using steps and different levels will give the impression of uniformity and will make your garden much easier to navigate.

Unlimited Design Possibilities
There is a plethora of decking materials available and add-on features such as pergolas, balustrades and privacy screens. Adding a deck allows a whole host of flexible interesting design possibilities to your landscaped garden.

Flexibility
Garden decking can easily be combined with other garden features like water features, statues, rock gardens and planting to achieve a garden centrepiece.

Ease of Handling
Garden decking is easier to handle than hard landscaping materials like paving and bricks. It is lighter too, which means it is much easier to handle, especially if you are not experienced in any construction trade., and good therefore for raised areas.

Versatility

Decking can be used for a wide variety of uses, the most popular of which is extending living space outdoors to create the illusion of a larger property. Decking provides a home with a socialising area and is perfect for properties on riverbanks or even for caravans.

Garden decking allows you to create a practical and attractive garden design that provides additional space for entertaining and socialising without a large outlay. Why not get a quote from your local landscape gardener and see how much it would cost to install decking in your garden? It could even add value to your property!

Take a look at some of the Essex and east London decking projects we've recently undertaken:

Decking photo gallery

The benefits of a family run business and a personal service

My company, D&G Garden World, has been in the gardening and fencing business for over 20 years .

Along with my busines partner Graham, I founded Webb’s Garden Centre, a company that became a household name throughout Essex throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

I believe that Webb's became so successful and a household name in Essex because of the personal service we offered. Customers would ask us for advice on absolutely anything - and they got it. We didn't just sell gardening supplies, we helped people learn how to use them.

We’ve always liked to go a step further with the service we offer customers. Simply delivering fencing or turf isn’t really much help to anyone who isn’t confident in doing the job themselves. That’s why we provide a free advisory service to all customers purchasing products for their garden project.

We appreciate that not everyone can afford to hire a professional landscape gardening company to design their garden and that some want to tackle the job themselves. We make sure that garden DIY-ers are not left alone to get on with the job by helping customers choose the right type of products in the right quantities, whether that is turf, fencing, decking, patio slabs or anything else they might need for their garden. Graham and I are happy to offer the benefit of our experience and expertise by explaining how best to carry out the job and how to maintain their finished garden.

Feel free to call in to 1B Sunnyside Gardens, Upminster, Essex or telephone 07852 666858 or visit http://www.dggardenworld.co.uk if you'd like to talk to us about your Essex gardening needs.