Garden Design & Landscaping

Before making any sort of design or plan for your garden, you should sit in it. This includes sitting in different areas at different times of the day. It’s vital to understand where the sun sets. Design apps can’t tell you where the sun sets because they can’t account for the fact that you’ll be outside enjoying your garden once the design is completed.

Determining Function

It’s important to first determine the function of your garden to help you decide what will go in it. If you want to be able to eat meals outside, or if you need your garden to provide a space for children to play, or if you’d like your garden to provide a space to grow food, or if you’d like a space for a quiet refuge, you will need to find a way to combine two of the functions, and ideally provide the best space for the function you utilize the most.

Sitting Areas

Seating should be placed no further than 20 feet from your back door. Any seating placed farther away will be used even less.

An incline in your garden should be utilized to help give your garden interest, and to save money on excavating and leveling the whole space. A retaining wall will help maintain the integrity of the excavated soil.

Patios or Decking

Patios are the more practical and longer lasting choice for ground level landscaping. Decking is the better choice for a sloped site since a patio would require a lot of excavation.

Paving Slabs

The majority of our customers who have had issues with patios in the past have said it is due to insufficient support. If you’re going to walk on a patio, it should be supported by at least 100mm of compacted MOT Type 1 to provide a stable sub base, as well as a full bed of mortar. It is also important to provide a fall to direct the water away from the patio and to fully compress the joints when installing the paving slabs.

Paving requires a fair amount of excavation work to remove the existing soil and turf.

Small Gardens

To create an attractive space with a greater sense of openness, use larger features. One large tree is more effective than several small shrubs.

Garden Lighting

For low light levels, solar powered lights are better than nothing, but they still will not adequately light a patio. Low-voltage lights will provide a better effect, and are typically easy to install.

Water Features

Better acoustic barrier against road noise. For safety, and depending on the age of the users, a wall fountain may be a better alternative to a pond.

Rockeries

If the drainage isn’t correct in a rockery, it soon becomes a mound of soil with stones on top. If you want to do it correctly, you have to bury the stones so the top of the rock is even with the soil. The rocks should not look like they have been dumped on the soil. Alpines can take a wet winter so they should be able to take the winter conditions in the UK.

Hiring a Designer or Landscaper

To create your vision, the designer or landscaper has to be able to work together. A single company should not be a problem. You should look at a garden the company finished 3 or 4 years prior. This gives you the opportunity to see if the company used the best materials for both the hardscaping and the softscaping. A company should charge you a separate fee for the design and the build. The build should also be quoted against a document. The document should describe the work in detail.