Just starting a project

Ok so this is most important for the final outcome of your project.

Here you will need to come up with a theme or requirement, some are obvious such as better car access or adding a swimming pool, others not so, such as a soft visual appearance, or a colour theme.

Where to start?

I’ve found the best advice here is to visit gardens, homes, garden centers and take pictures of those features you like and would add to your project if you can. Looking in magazines and tearing out the pictures of the style and keeping in a scrap book are also a good way to build up a concept.

1. Initial equipment needed.

A digital camera or smartphone

Notebook and pencil ( pencils are best as they work when its misty or humid outside)

A place to store magazine articles, photographs and notes.

Here’s a before project – the couple were just about to start a family and felt a swimming pool wasn’t a good idea for a young baby

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We filled the pond and created a large patio area that was much safer for children.

Filled swimming pool

Filled pool now a patio area

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So where do we start ?

So where do we start ?

Mediterranean style very low aftercare

Starting out on a garden landscape project can seem a little daunting, with all manner of unknowns to consider.

I started this blog as a way to set out in chronological order the events that take place to complete a successful project.

Each blog or chapter ( I’m old fashioned), progresses you through a typical scheme.

To make it more interesting I’ve added photographs, comments and happenings that occurred during the past 40 years of designing and building some quite fun projects.

I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.. to my many thousands of customers thank you for such a great time.

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In the beginning…

Early landscape days

It’s been a few years since I started working in horticulture, ok it’s been a good few years ! 46 years to be precise.
In the early days , it was a matter of helping a friends dad’s forestry business when home from boarding school.
During the christmas break we would plant new forests, usually mixed hardwood or conifer only on a 5ft (1.4m) grid.
To keep warm we would build a small fire and toast our sandwiches whilst drinking Bovril – a hot peppery beef broth.
The spring breaks would be a rush to finish planting the bare root 2+2 plants before Easter the traditional time to stop planting , as buds were breaking dormancy and plants would shrivel and die, rather than develop.
Lunch was often a traditional ploughman’s at a nearby pub.
We did a rough estimate of how many trees we started, most days we managed about 1400 slit planted saplings, so it was way over 500,000 plants.
The summer would bring the weeding season, cutting down the 6ft high weeds of brambles and foxgloves with out damaging the newly growing saplings.. it was hot sweaty, muscle building work, but great fun. Well that is until a pheasant launched itself from the cover and caused your heart to miss a beat or two..as it flew past.
The worst though was saved for the ground bees and hornets, and the absolute worst was rushing down a hillside to avoid the swarm chasing you along the very neat 3ft (1m) wide corridor you had just created !
Sure kept you fit !

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