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gardens4u home page
gardens4u are a local gardening company in dorset we are specialists in garden tidy-up`s, fencing,turfing, block paving.
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Gardens 4 U gardeners provide a unique landscape design service for your garden, enabling the design and installation of landscaping concepts and details that are specific to your property and preferences. Together we will create a landscape design of your choice, a design that will help add value and beauty to your home. Landscape Gardners Turfing Services Block Paving Garden Maintenance Decking & Fencing Site Planting Our philosophy is to work with the client when planning any new landscaping or gardening project. We do this before any work begins and before any money is spent for plants, lawn supplies or paving materials. Apart from enjoying the fun of being involved in the design process, we also believe this helps ensure the end product is a unique site, built to the customer's personal preferences. Gardens 4 U are a locally managed landscaping business based in the South, which specialises in all aspects of garden tidy-up`s,maintenance, development and design. We provide landscaping and block paving to the commercial and domestic sectors. Our portfolio includes gardens and patios that vary in size and style, from the smallest 'town house patio garden' to very large commercial estates. Gardens 4 U have developed their services to meet the ever-increasing needs of homeowners with less free time available to spend in the garden but a desire for a beautiful garden and/or patio area. We pride ourselves in providing the complete service to meet the needs of our clients, from the initial design and installation process, through to the general aftercare.
Planing a garden
Designing a garden is an ambiguous endeavour. The overall finish is as much down to personal taste as the location and makeup of the garden before the design is implemented. Plants and shrubs that should thrive may not. Trees may never reach full height, and flowers may not bloom when you expect them to. A garden is not an instantly gratifying project either. Seedlings take time to reach maturity, lawns require loving care and attention if they are to remain lush and your garden, even the most rudimentary of gardens, will take work on your part throughout the year. Expecting immediate effects will lead to disappointment. A garden is a lifelong project and takes both dedication and a sizeable investment of time. Nonetheless planning your garden will set a solid foundation upon which it can grow and will result in a more satisfactory accomplishment than if the garden is thrown together with little or no thought to its overall implementation. Delay If you have moved into a new home it is worth delaying the planning and work on your garden for anything up to 12 months. During this time note the changing seasonal conditions of the garden, where the sun falls during spring and summer, where water collects during winter and how the garden behaves in correspondence to surrounding wildlife. When planting sun-loving plants and shrubs which bloom during the summer you can then pinpoint spots where they will receive the most sun. Hardier plants can be placed in locations where the sun is less prevalent. If water seems to collect in certain areas you may wish to consider drainage in these spots. Which way does the wind blow? Large trees and bushes are useful as windbreaks, but during the autumn trees shed their leaves so noting the direction the wind takes these leaves may influence where you plant. For instance, would you prefer a lawn dappled with the autumnal colours of fallen leaves as opposed to the tiresome task of brushing fallen leaves from a patio or decking? As you take notes during this time, write down your thoughts and make sketches for possible layouts. Invest some time visiting garden centres and examining which plants respond to which type of weather. Your garden will be a mishmash of many different temperatures, weathering and moisture at all times of the year. For this reason you can expect better growth if you design with the weather rather than guess or design against it. Type What type of garden do you want? How much work do you want to make for yourself. A lawn will require mowing. Flowers will require pesticides and attention. Lots of shrubs and bushes may look nice at first but they will quickly become overgrown if you lack the time to keep them tidy. What shape is your garden? Is it long and thin or short and wide? Would it benefit from shaping. Shaping a garden can make it more interesting, make a short wide garden appear sectioned into various different parts and therefore longer and smaller. A long garden can be compartmentalised into short areas, places near the house for relaxing, areas further away for more functional purposes such as vegetable patches or tool storage (sheds, greenhouses, outhouses etc). What will you use your garden for? If you like to entertain out of doors during the warmer seasons you may prefer to create a beautiful view surrounding a relaxation area with wooden decking, a barbeque, outside lighting and heating, a swing seat etc. If you prefer to use your garden as a place to spend your time productively then you may wish to introduce lots of interesting and varied species of plantlife, layout a lawn which will require attention and introduce water features, bubbling brooks or fonting spouts to listen and relax to as you work. How will you invite wildlife into your garden? Certain species of wildlife are attracted to certain species of shrub and plant. Birds enjoy trees, and bird-houses. You can encourage feathery visitors and even specific feathery visitors by placing food on bird tables or in hanging nets from the branches of trees. Cats can be discouraged by planting beds of thorny shrubs or tall bushes around the perimeter of the garden. Migrating frogs will quickly discover a pond if you choose to introduce aquatic aspects to your plan. With frogs come other watery wildlife such as water boatmen and dragon flys. Bees and butterflies adore flowers, but so do slugs. How much time do you have for your garden? A good garden need not necessarily be one in which you spend all your spare time slaving to make it work. Replacing a lawn with stone chippings and a retaining dry-stone wall removes the need to mow ever growing grass. Constructing rockeries with sparse plants and a nice bubbling stream makes for a relaxing and pleasant feature which requires minimum attention. Walls instead of fences removes the danger of fallen fence panels in windy weather and there are a cornucopia of shrubs that will thrive without care or attention. And of course, what is your budget? Plants, shrubs, trees and features are all expensive. The low-budget garden may be the one that takes the longest to grow because you may need to plant seeds as opposed to seedlings, but that should not remove from the finished result. If you plan to make your garden on a shoestring take a drive to the local beach. Here you will find plenty of interesting items to add to your garden, driftwood carried ashore by the sea, rocks for forming rockeries, even hardy plants growing near the beach. Don't be afraid to visit your local tip. Here you may discover garden features thrown out in house renovations, bird tables, paving slabs, plant pots, maybe even garden tools. Inspiration There is no better way to find inspiration than by visiting other gardens. No two gardens are exactly alike so you will never find somewhere that exactly matches your own plot, but you are sure to see plants you enjoy, appealing layouts, design concepts and lawn shapes that you could use in your own project. At the very least you can see how the shrubs you have chosen will look when full grown. If you ask the owner of the garden you like nicely maybe you will even be able to take a few cuttings home. There are also countless books and magazines on the market dedicated to gardening. The internet is a vast source of photographic inspiration, hints and tips and there are many software packages you can use to place the correct plants and shrubs in the correct location, plan a workable design and even figure a budget. Soil Conditions The type of soil you have to work with will be an influence on the plants you choose, although soil can be altered by introducing fertilizers and peat, or by rotivating the existing soil and mixing in more suitable soil from another location. Clay soil is greyish in colour and tends to become heavy when wet, dry and cracked during warm weather. Sandy soil feels loose and gritty in dry conditions. Acidic peat soil is dark brown and flaky while pale coloured chalky soil will not support acid-loving plants. Any soil which contains flints, small stones or gravel is unsuitable as topsoil. Dealing with Slopes A sloping garden can create a dramatic result. Terracing the slopes using retaining walls, shrubs growing on each terrace, can section the garden into different areas nicely. Water features are particularly spectacular when running down rocks set into a slope. You could build stone steps taking you to a higher level of the garden from which spot you may wish to design the rest of your garden, using the higher ground as a sort of observation area where a patio or decking could be constructed, swing seats erected, perhaps a table with parasol for lounging peacefully during the summer months. Slopes tend to drain water into the rest of the garden so its useful to note this when designing your garden. Waterlogged areas will benefit from extra drainage in the form of porous soil or underground drainpipes. You may even wish to herd the water to containers, storing the water for use during the summer when it becomes necessary to artificially reproduce the rainy effects of winter and autumn with hosepipe and watering can. Using an electric pump you could utilize this stored water into a water feature saving the trouble of filling a tank when the dry season arrives. Drawing Your Plan Measure your garden as accurately as possible then convert your measurements to hexagonal marked paper scaling appropriately. Hex-paper is available in most office stockists or hobby shops. When you draw your plan ensure you have measured and scaled the diagonals of your garden as few plots are precisely uniform all the way around. Common Mistakes Remember your garden should be free to all. If you have children in your family allocate a play area and avoid including ponds which could be dangerous. Paths should wind through flat areas and steps climb slopes. Low walls and planters could cause people to trip and thorny bushes near seating areas will make for uncomfortable times when you come to entertain guests. Avoid planting the sorts of shrub or plant that wasps and bees love near areas where you will perhaps enjoy barbeques or eat during the summer. If you have garden furniture measure this before you mark out the area for a patio or decking. If you intend to buy garden furniture measure it in the store. Paths should be wide enough to take a wheelbarrow comfortably as well as a person. Compost heaps should be stored as far from the house as possible. Be wary also of plants and flowers that become decidedly punguent at certain times of the year. If you are including such plants in your design place them away from the back of the house. If you intend to build a pond set it away from overhanging trees whose falling leaves will clog up the water during the autumn. Make certain you can reach the pond with a hose. Ponds benefit from at least some sunlight during the day so ensure they are not placed completely in the shade. Plotting The easiest way to plot your garden is to drive pegs into the ground and wrap twine around the pegs. This will give you defined lines and you will be able to more easily envisage how the garden will look. Use old hosepipe to mark out more curvy shapes. Once you are happy with the overall design use a spray can of yellow or white paint and mark along the twine. Once you have done this you can remove the pegs and twine which will make the garden hazardous if left.
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Keywords:
Gardening, garden tidy-up`s, fencing-gates, block paving - patio, hedge cutting & remo, lanscaping, overgrown garden, neglected garden |
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