Garden design tips

Here are some garden design tips to help you get the most out of your garden, whether it is small or large, flat or sloping.

1. Make your garden look wider by:

• Making sure the centre of the garden is clear
• Sweeping the borders to the side
• Using circular or oval shapes

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2. Make your garden look longer by:

• Taking the garden around a strong focal point near the house
• Partially obscuring the garden so that you can see through it to the end
• Squeezing the garden with plants and then widening it towards the end

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3. Make your garden easier to maintain by:

• Using brick edges to the lawn to make mowing easier
• Using plants that fit the size of the space than having to hack back unruly ones
• Levelling garden, which will make it easier to look after and also make it look larger

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4. If you want to landscape a steep slope:

• Extend into the bank and build a strong wall as low as possible
• Create a series of low terraces
• Create a path that winds through the area with planting and a bench

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5. If your terrace is affected by wind:

• Erect a trellis by the side passage to break the flow of air between the houses
• Plant evergreens to help break the force of the wind
• Drop the level of the sitting out area to below the planting
• Erect a screen with trellis or glass

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6. Instead of planning a screen to hide something create a diversion instead:

• Use a strong landscaping feature as a focal point
• Choose a colourful planting scheme
• Frame the view you want, with a pergola
• Change the orientation of the garden towards the feature

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7. Help with wet gardens:

Flooding may be due to a low lying garden collecting water from surrounding ground. Options may include:

• Raising the garden above the water level
• Plumbing in a submersible pump

If you have problems with heavy soil:

• Improve soil by incorporating fine sand (plastering sand) into the soil

If heavy soil has been compacted by machinery:

• Sub-soil can be broken up by a professional contractor, such as Terrain Aeration

If there is a naturally high water table which is exacerbated when it rains:

• The garden will need a drainage system as well as an outfall you can drain the water to

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8. Encouraging wildlife into your garden:

• Plant shrubs that produce berries
• Use flowers that encourage bees and insects
• Avoid pruning and cutting back too early
• Adapt pruning to encourage birds/invertebrates that still allows your plants to prosper but saves the seeds/berries from being harvested by the birds? MEANING
• Create messy areas
• Build log stores for fungi and insects
• Put up bird and insect feeders
• Create a pallet insect hotel
• Encourage children to watch the birds

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Contact me to see how these design tips can be used to transform your garden.