Neil's Blog - The latest news from Brighton Beautiful Gardens
Monday, 22 February 2010 - It might look good on paper
How difficult is it to measure a garden?
My answer is to take your time. As very few gardens have square boundaries it is essential to measure accurately starting from a fixed baseline [eg house] and then taking offset measurements to the key points such as doors,windows, walls, trees, buildings etc.
From your measurements an outline of the true garden shape can then be drawn up on paper and surprisingly few gardens are square. I always use a square grid to get the design going based on a unit in the garden, most usually a window, doorway or extension. For example a window 1.2m wide gives a grid of 1.2m and I am often amazed how the garden will fit into this grid quite comfortably.
The starting point for any plan has to be accurately drawing up the space to work with; then the rest can flow from your creative mind! It is interesting how often working from an initial garden plan, the actual garden often evolves in the build process. No bad thing really as each garden has to be unique.
Currently we are working on another person's plan and, due to a few slipped measurements, the space is 10% bigger than shown on paper! This is the main difference with a plan drawn up by a person not actually building the garden [any errors are not their problem!] compared to the landscaper who knows that initial measuring is everything.
This garden has the elements on paper of raised bed, paving pattern, trellis and ground-level planting, and now on site we can alter dimensions to suit the actual space. To have a lovely Indian sandstone in a strong pattern it is a shame to have cuts in full view so we tend to have them against the house or concealed by planting. We are using Marshalls Fairstone sawn slabs with bands of cobbles, block and render raised bed, and a screen for the back wall of Western Red Cedar trellis/fencing combination. A lovely timber to work with, it really shows the rusty red colour well when wet.
Later I can show how it comes together.
Wednesday, 6 January 2010 - its snow business
Is this the most snow you've seen in a while in Sussex? I am starting the New Year with a new blog spot and thrilled with the chance to reveal [for free!] all the secrets of a landscaper in Sussex. What happens? Its the coldest, iciest, snowiest weather since Polar bears were skating down the Arun eons ago.
New projects are underway in the gardens of Sussex and Brighton &Hove, so when the thaw happens I will show pictures of what we are up to.
In the mean time keep admiring the heads of daffodils poking through, sniff out the Viburnum scent and feed those poor starving birds!
Friday, 18 December 2009 - Privacy Screen
We are using Western Red Cedar as a screen for a south-facing boundary wall. Always a bit tricky these boundaries: how to keep your garden private without totally excluding a neighbour as if to say "this is my garden and I really dont want to see you, and by the way I am quite a nice person so you must pop round for a cup of tea sometime".
As it is on the sunny side we want to give the client's garden as much sun as possible but keep the privacy. What better than a privacy screen?
Very popular in Australia these are panels of horizontal timber struts about 30-50mm apart; we are using cedar battens 19x35mm fixed to cedar posts about 2m apart. As certain fixings can stain Cedar we use either stainless steel nails/screws or brass and here a gas-nailer gun was used with stainless steel brad nails and wow it was speedy.
The privacy screen is just perfect for plants to cling to and the added attraction is the play of striped shadows across the terrace from the sun shining through the struts. Combined with the client's brise soleil [or pergola to you and me!] of equally strong horizontal elements the overall effect is stunning.
Southwick
West Sussex
BN42 4AA