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Now it’s just the icing on the cake - By Lesley Hegarty and Robert WebberDesigning a garden, as our special series shows, requires patience, planning and time but there comes a day when suddenly the new garden starts to take shape The creation of a garden, much like any other construction work, always results in a fair amount of mess and disruption. It’s therefore worth planning ahead to have the work done at the time of year which will cause least upset to you and your family. Realistically you usually need to allow between three to four weeks for the landscaping and planting of a small to medium-sized garden – but potentially longer than that if you are building it yourself and are limited to labouring at weekends.Once the space has been cleared and the design marked out on the ground you can really experience the excitement of seeing your plan begin to take shape! By the time our client Joe had also installed the timber raised beds along the diagonal lines of the design, the garden transformation was well and truly under way. Very few sites are totally straightforward when it comes to landscaping and this one was no exception. As well as the tendency of the site to frequent waterlogging and puddling in certain areas, there was also a pronounced slope running north to south down the garden which necessitated more manual excavation to create flat areas for the lawn and borders. This obviously resulted in different levels and therefore the need for several steps but it also created some added interest to the design. The steps were constructed with timber risers to match the raised beds giving a sense of cohesion and unity to the space. Having shifted approximately 25 tons of poor draining, clayey soil from the garden in wheelbarrows at the clearance stage, now was the time to bring in the new materials – several tons of DOT Type 1 hardcore to form a 100mm deep consolidated base for the paths and 20 tons of good quality treated topsoil to provide good growing conditions for the lawn (plus a 100mm layer of sharp sand on top to help with drainage) and border areas. Not a job for the faint-hearted, but Joe and his three brothers, undeterred, took on the physical challenge with great enthusiasm and completed this next stage within a couple of days. Much of the messy work was now complete and the next logical step was to concentrate on the east facing area just outside the back door - the obvious spot for a breakfast terrace to catch the early morning sunshine. Joe and Sophie agreed to install a softwood pine deck rather than the more pricey hardwood boards of oak, ipe or yellow balau. As they always knew they would be moving house when their newborn baby got a little older (they have two sons now) there didn’t seem much point in installing very expensive hardwood decking at this time, especially as Joe was willing to undertake an annual pressure washing of the decking to keep it looking good. A matching deck area was then constructed on the opposite side of the garden where Joe and Sophie can enjoy a gin and tonic while watching the last rays of sunshine disappear in the evening. In both cases the boards were laid on the diagonal as per the design, a technique which helps to open up a space and give more energy to the design. To complete the hard landscaping, Joe laid 12 tons of South Cerney gravel on top of the consolidated hardcore base to give a very attractive and unifying finishing touch to both the paths and steps. So, if we adopt a culinary analogy, we have followed the recipe, used the recommended ingredients, completed the baking and, in the next issue, we will put the icing on the cake: the plants! Lesley Hegarty and Robert Webber – www.hegartywebberpartnership.com – 01934 853273 |