(if I can find the other half of these articles which appeared in the Sunday Style magazine several years ago)
From furniture, lighting and feng sui to plants that delight the senses, here are two finishing touches that will give your garden the edge. Plus: the best ways to wage war of the gardener's worst enemies, and books that are bursting with bright ideas.
Privacy
- Screen the edge of the garden (or part of the garden) with panels of reed, bamboo or even polycarbonate. 4' is plenty high enough. Or construct a pergola.
- Erect a canvas canopy - such as sail type, complete with block and tackle for raising and lowering.
- A green wall of plants in large containers looks wonderful. Choose sturdy plants or even small fruit trees.
- Trellis panels, slats of wood, mesh or even railings are the perfect support for climbing plants that will grow to create a secluded oasis.
Security
- Put gravel on paths, also sprinkle a thick layer below windows, near doorways and along dark pathways.
- Thorny shrubs also are a good ground floor windows deterrent to a burglar. Attach trelising to fences for extra height (and a treacherous foothold) and grow rambling or climbing roses over them.
- Some gardens have a hard to protect area of unused land where they meet neighbouring gardens. To prevent would-be intruders using this as a short cut to your back door, grow scrambling plants, such as raspberries and blackberries, along the ground at the back of your plot. Their arching stems will root along their length to form an impenetrable barrier.
- Install infrared security lighting at the front and back of buildings.
Garden Furniture
Look for a blend of resilience and good looks. Wood fulfils both criteria and ages gracefully, metal is hard-wearing and versatile, while modern materials make it easy to introduce colour. Good design doesn't have to be expensive.
Lighting
Light will give your garden an extra dimension. It can prolong al fresco dinners on warm summer evenings and create a wonderful view through frosty winter windows. The best products are low-voltage, which are safe for outdoor use. The wires can be routed along boundaries and are generally thin enough to be threaded through window frames and connected to an indoor transformer (if in doubt, consult an electrician).
- Trees and statuary can be picked out by spotlights, and pools of light can be created by down lighters mounted on pergolas or trellises. Try different angles and bulb strengths.
- Burglars will be put off even by subtle lighting, so avoid floodlights that just emphasise unlit areas.
- For something more romantic, use flares, garden candles, or even a string of white fairy lights laced through the branches of a tree.
- For safety, use low-level washes of light to illuminate flights of steps and paths leading to front doors.
Feng Shui
The craze for feng shui is even spreading to gardens. If you don't believe it can help spiritually, at the very least it makes good design sense. Here are some ideas:
- Balance the yin and yang (negative and positive) by mixing broad-leafed plants with lacy foliage such as ferns. Red and yellow flowers are yang, while blues and violets are yin. Evergreen hedges are the best as they produce leaves - and energy - all year round.
- Use water features in the garden. An open ceramic vessel collects bad chi, or energy, but when filled with water represents good chi. A bird bath will attract birds into the garden, replenishing its energy. A small waterfall, which flows over rocks, will do the same.
- Paths should be curved to follow natural movements; similarly, gardens with gentle undulations are best for promoting good energy.
Turning Japanese
The minimalist approach takes its inspiration from the Zen temple gardens of Japan and, at its simplest, is the ultimate in low-maintenance gardening.
- Replace your lawn with an expanse of stone chippings, then add sea-washed pebbles and randomly placed boulders as organise sculpture. These should rise like islands from the gravel, which can be raked into perfect patterns, although you should probably only contemplate this is you have infinite patience and no animals or children.
- If you have room for trees at the edge of the garden, use slender varieties, such as acers, which produce colourful foliage in autumn.
- Encourage a carpet of moss to grow around the foots by painting them with live yoghurt or liquid manure. Moss will flourish only in shady, damp conditions and although, in small areas, it can be used as a lawn substitute, it's generally too wet underfoot to be practical, and to prone to drying out in summer.
Healthy Plants
Cancel the gym subscriptions, bin the first-aid box and dose yourself up with health-promoting plants.
- Certain plants have been proven to be more effective than others at improving air quality, counteracting the negative effects of air conditioning and reducing airbourne pollutants. Try foliage plants such as spider plants, parlour palm and Boston ferns.
- Grow your own herbal remedies: garlic thins the blood and helps ward off colds.
- If you have overindulged a sprig of parsley is nature's answer to breath-freshener.
- A few leaves of lemon verbena steeped in hot water help to soothe indigestion, ensuring a good night's sleep.
- The leaves of peppermint and spearmint added to the bath can ease away stress.
- Lavender can be used in potpourri for its soothing fragrance.
- Don't ignore rosehips, which are packed with Vitamin C, or seed sprouts, which are one of the richest sources of vitamins and minerals. You don't even need a garden to grow your own: adzuki beans, fenugreek, alfalfa, mustard and cress will all thrive on a window sill.
Sensual gardening
A garden should engage and stimulate all the senses. Sound and touch may seem less important than visual interest, but they can both contribute greatly to your enjoyment of your outdoor room. The gentle splash of water, for instance, is hypnotically calming, while the tactile texture of ornamental bark, the crunch of gravel or the rustle of autumn leaves underfoot can all be hugely satisfying.
- Choose plants that appeal to more than one of the senses. Grasses are always a good choice, as their shifting foliage whispers and murmurs in the slightest breeze and you will find it difficult not to run your hands through it. The bladder seeds pods of Colutea x media rattle in the wind and the large leaves of hostas patter like drums in the rain. Prunus serrula is irresistible to the touch with its smooth-as-satin bark, while woolly thyme (thymus pseudolanuginosus) is like running your fingers over fleece.
- And don't ignore scent. Remember that fragrance in the garden isn't just about flowers: other less obvious plants can be just as captivating. Plant thyme in paving cracks and edge paths with lavender, so that their delicious perfumes are released as you brush past.
Fountains
Barbecue
If you plan to cook in your garden regularly, it makes sense to build a permanent brick barbecue. You can build one from a kit or design one yourself. Start with a level surface, such as a patio, and site the barbecue close enough to the house for easy access, but far enough away to avoid cooking smells wafting inside. Otherwise, buy a barbecue on wheels so it can be sited where you like, and put away during inclement weather.
Go one up on gnomes. A good piece of statuary gives your garden a focal point - especially important in winter when there is little else to look at. If your garden has a modern feel, opt for abstract pieces.
The large garden shows are a good place to pick up unusual work.
Go for small sculptural works, or commission (or make!) something yourself.
Natural pest control
There is a huge variety of heavy-duty products on the market that zap the pests that destroy the results of your hard labour. If you decide to eschew the chemicals on the garden-centre shelves, however, there are several more environmentally friendly methods with which to wage war against the creatures that have designs on your garden.
- The worst culprits are slugs and snails, which not only munch their way through your hostas at an alarming rate, but leave slimy paths in their wake (and a slug caught underfoot at night is an unpleasant experience). Try gravel mulch or crushed eggshells around susceptible plants, or bury a cup of beer nearby so that the pests slip into it and drown (don't forget to empty it regularly!).
- Liquid soap, widely available from garden centres or similar, will give aphids a run for their money, while earwigs and other creepy-crawlies can be lured into the false security of an upturned straw-filled plant pot on the end of a cane. Removing the pot from time to time and setting light to the straw should deal with the wee beasties!
- More about this subject in other articles.
Lawn mowers
Lawns can be more trouble than they're worth in a small garden. But if you do want a lawn, mowing doesn't have to be a chore. With the right machine, you might even enjoy it.
- For lawns under 50 sq metres, an electric mower with a 30cm cutting edge is fine. If you want a striped effect, cylinder models are better than rotary versions, but they don't cope well with uneven ground. Hovers are easiest to manoeuvre.
- Consider getting a hand-driven mower. Their relatively compact size and low cost make them a good choice for a small garden, and will make you popular with the neighbours.
- If that seems too much like hard work, get your hands on the self-propelled solar mower, which cuts the lawn unassisted as you lounge in the sun with a gin and tonic. And electrical circuit embedded in the edge of the lawn or hidden in shrubs prevents the machine from running amok and cutting off either your toes or your tulips - and it will even work on cloudy days.
Flower Power
If it offends your principles to harm living creatures, familiarise yourself with companion planting. Team up plants with their natural partners and they will do your dirty work for you.
- French marigolds may be a bit gaudy, but they have their uses: plant them alongside potatoes and they'll kill off eelworms; put them with other crops and they'll attract aphid-eating hover flies.
- Larger plantings of marigolds and lupins will wipe out couch grass and ground elder.
- Plant carrots and onions together. Their smells mask each other so that carrot and onion flies get confused and hopefully dine elsewhere.
- Chives, parsley, catmint and thyme will make a scented carpet of flowers and foliage beneath roses and ward off aphids into the bargain.
- Basil keeps whitefly from infesting tomatoes and sweet peppers, as well as making them taste better.
- Growing a large patch of flowers or vegetables is like putting out a 'welcome' sign for insects. Plants them among your ornamentals and let predators from neighbouring bushes feast on the harmful pests.
Plants in trees
When their branches are bare, many trees just don't seem interesting enough to justify the amount of space they take up. But you can make the most of them throughout the year by using them as supports for other plants, whether ramblers such as roses, or attractive parasites such as mistletoe. They also come into their own as a home for wild life.
- Introduce clumps of mistletoe to bare apple trees in winter by cutting a notch in a young branch and bursting a mistletoe berry into the hole. The seed will stick, thanks to a glue like substance in the berry, and with luck will produce a plant roughly two years later - contrary to popular belief, the chances of the seed taking are roughly 50/50.
- Willow, poplar and alder roots make the perfect place to grow the unusual parasite purple toothwort. Expose the top of a shallow root with a trowel and scatter the seed on top. The toothwort will germinate and feed on the root (without harming the tree) and send up lots of ground-hugging, white-to-mauve flowers each spring.
- Position nesting boxes in trees for birds. They should be placed in a shady spot between 7ft and 10ft high, facing any direction from north to south east to avoid the scorching sun and wetter winds.
Plants to avoid
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but there are limits. Steer clear of the following at all costs:
- The rainbow spikes of Phormium 'Dazzler' and other variegated varieties that make the garden look like a pick-and-mix counter.
- Elaeagnus pungens 'Maculata'. Bright plants can be cheery in winter, but this is too much like scrambled eggs to live with.
- Very double roses, that can't hold up their heads and turn to mush in the rain.
- So-called red delphiniums, that are actually a washy pink. Delphiniums are always better blue.
- Aegopodium podagraria (Variegatum': the evil ground elder in disguise. If it reverts to type, you will regret ever having invited it into your garden.
- Standard Salix caprea 'Kilmarnock': a weeping pussy willow on a stick. Leave well along.
- Polygonum baldschuanicum, because is it quite simply a brute that will take over everything it can.
- Sickly plants: anything that needs constant spraying just isn't worth the effort.
- Any plants taken from the wild. Given modern propagation techniques, there's no need to ravage nature to stock your garden, so always check the origins of species plants before buying.
Grass roots:
Trendy pots:
- grasses are an essential part of the modern garden, offering grace, stature, movement and a huge variety of form, leaf shape and flower type - and most are easy to grow.
Trendy pots:
- Teracotta (matt finishes and muted colours)
- metallic or galvanised;
- think modern, perhaps translucent
If you don't have a garden ...
- .... or fancy a window box - how about sticking transparent plastic vase on your front window and fill with flowers? Or turn your walls into a virtual garden with giant flower pictures.
Helpful books
Flower Shows
- Chelsea
- Malvern Spring Garden Show
- Tatton Park
- BBC Gardeners' World Live
- Hampton Court Palace Flower Show
- Scotland's National Gardening Show
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