How to choose a greenhouse

The most common form of free-standing greenhouse is the apex-roofed variety and this can often be the best choice for the first-time glasshouse grower because it gives the greatest overall flexibility. Alternative designs such as lean-to greenhouses, circular, pyramidal and geodesic domes are also available and most of the usual outlets – including larger DIY stores, garden centres and catalogue shops – have versions for sale.

One of the biggest considerations when choosing a greenhouse is the amount of vacant space, which can be a serious limit in some gardens although even so, it is usually possible to do something. Since the confines of the sort of 6ft x 4ft greenhouse often sold as a “starter” are almost always outgrown in double-quick time, it really is important to pick the largest you can afford and accommodate.

Most modern greenhouse frames tend to be either metal – usually aluminium – or wood. Aluminium-framed greenhouses, sometimes “glazed” in Perspex rather than glass, are the most common type seen on offer by general retailers and can sometimes be obtained by mail order too. The huge numbers sold gives a measure of how successful the design has been in practice and for many gardeners, the ease of construction and relatively cheap price tag makes them ideal.

Timber-framed greenhouses tend to be available from more specialist companies and large garden centres and there is often a large assortment of costs and qualities to pick from – ranging from “budget” versions to wonderfully finished and very substantial buildings. Superb cedar wood greenhouses, for instance, look amazing in any garden, but a strongly-built example might cost more than five times as much as a cheaper softwood equivalent.

Where you live can also be a factor to take into account. A particularly wet climate, for example, may call for a higher degree of weather-proofing than elsewhere while very windy sites need sturdy and robust greenhouses – and, despite the additional expense, toughened glass is a definite must!

A good outbuilding is a great asset and can help extend the scope and enjoyment of your garden. With very few exceptions, you do get what you pay for, so it is worth taking the time to make sure you get the best value for your money and end up with the sort of building that is really going to meet your needs. After all, a well maintained garden building should still be with you for many years to come.

Drought resistant gardens

It is one of the most bizarre ironies of the British climate that despite what seems like torrential rain and flooding for half the year, the spectre of hose-pipe bans looms large for so many areas of the country come the summer.

Whether the reason for this apparent paradox is climate change or simply too much demand placed on a limited resource, the popularity of drought-resistant gardening has been growing in leaps and bounds over recent year – and as an answer to watershortages, it’s hard to beat.

Gravel Gardening

One of the most popular ways to begin drought-resistant growing, gravel gardens have changed out of all recognition, principally as a result of the vastly increased range of appropriate plants, which have become available from garden centres. Part of their enduring appeal is that the general idea can be adapted to suit a range of conditions and different design styles, with the added advantage that once they have become established, they are probably the least labour intensive, low-maintenance garden possible.

The key to creating a good one lies in proper preparation from the start. Ironically, a good drought resistant gravel garden needs to be free draining, so it may be necessary to do some work to open up the soil before you begin. It is equally important to remove any perennial weeds thoroughly, since this will be a well-nigh impossible job to do later, once everything is in place. Although it can add to the overall cost, laying one of the many brands of proprietary perforated geo-membranes before adding the gravel itself can be helpful, particularly if weeds have been established in the ground for some time.

Picking Drought-Resistant Plants

Species which come from parts of the world where the rainfall is low often tend to be equipped with natural adaptations to deal with the lack of water, such as small, shiny or fleshy leaves and many kinds have narrow or hairy foliage to reduce water loss. While these features first-and-foremost make them ideal candidates for use in the droughtresistant garden, their interesting forms, textures and colours can also make them fascinating subjects in their own right; the drought-design certainly doesn’t need to be boring!

Unsurprisingly, Mediterranean varieties largely dominate the list of suitable plants, though a number of kinds from countries further a-field, including South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, have also begun to make their own contributions. Thymes (Thymus), oreganos (Origanum) and lamb’s ears (Stachys) are typically thought of as forming the mainstay of this kind of planting, but with the wide range available, the drought-resistant garden does not have to be limited to plants such as these alone.

There are suitable trees – from the likes of tall eucalyptus varieties, to the shorter Acer or conifers such as Thuja; shrubs in the form of Artemesia or Mahonia and climbers too, including Acacia and Fremontodendron, for instance. In short, whether you are searching for trees and shrubs, ground cover, herbaceous perennials, annuals or grasses – the whole spectrum of plant life is represented in drought-resistant form.

The hardest part is often choosing which one – and even cooler and exposed sites are served with native coastal plants such as sea-pink or thrift (Armeria) and sea lavender ( Limonium).

Aside of being a very low-maintenance approach and good for the environment, drought resistant planting can make sound economic sense too, especially for households with metered water. Avoiding all that watering gives you so much more time to just sit and enjoy your garden and the good news is that even if the water is in short supply, there are enough kinds of drought-resistant plants to chose from to make sure that your creativity doesn’t have to dry up too!

Children’s gardens

Although in one sense, all gardens are people-orientated, some designs quite deliberately set out to go beyond simply reflecting the gardening efforts of their owners. There are any number of reasons why the layout of the space might be decided by the particular needs of homeowners, ranging from the changing demands of a growing family, to the hobbies of the retired – and many more besides.

The key to designing a specifically people-orientated garden is having a very clear understanding from the outset of how it will be used and what are the absolute “musthaves,” and settling on these essentials at the start makes it much easier to go about planning the rest.

The idea of using patios, terraces and decking areas as outdoor extensions of the home is one aspect of people-friendly designing that has become a mainstream feature of most gardens. The range of furniture, equipment and gadgets to make the open-air “room” more useful has grown apace over recent years, with a plethora of gazebos, lighting, fire pits, patio heaters, chimenea and high-tech BBQs on sale in garden centres, DIY shops and catalogue stores. While the face of outdoor entertaining has changed almost beyond recognition, there are other types of “people” needs which are less easily achieved with a trip to the high street.

Children’s gardens

Although few spaces have as many changing demands placed on them over the years as the family garden, with a little forethought, it is possible to meet the various calls in such a way that the whole design can evolve naturally as the children grow and their needs change.

There are some well-known tricks to this – the sandpit which becomes a pond when the danger has passed, for instance – while others simply require a bit of imagination to see the potential. Today’s wooden fort or playhouse can be tomorrow’s tool shed, while that climbing frame might ultimately end up supporting climbers of the plant variety.

Any garden designed with children in mind has, of course, to have a heavy emphasis on safety – and the parent-gardener has an almost endless list of things to consider. Parts of some plants, such as laburnum and foxglove, are poisonous and potentially harmful; even the smallest and shallowest water feature can be a hazard and it goes without saying that swings, tree-houses, climbing frames and the like need to be well secured and safely sited.

Special Needs

When issues such as limited mobility or wheel-chair access are defining requirements of the design, one of the best and most often used approaches is to move to growing at a higher level above ground. Incorporating containers and raised beds wherever possible increases both convenience and comfort for anyone with reduced mobility or limited strength, principally because it avoids all the stooping and bending that normally accompanies so much of gardening.

Good paths and access ways are also important considerations in this type of design, needing to be particularly firm and level as well as being safe to use in all weathers. Practical touches too– such as good lighting and providing weatherproof electric sockets at an appropriate height – can also help to make life a lot easier. With a well-planned garden, it should be possible to go a long way towards meeting even the most special of special needs and produce a garden to enjoy.

Hobby Gardens

For many people, hobbies are a vital part of their lives and whether that includes growing beautiful stems for flower arranging, painting, fish-keeping or simply reading a good book in the sunshine, there is no reason why the garden shouldn’t be the ideal place to do it. Once the almost exclusive preserve of the retired, with most of us having increasing amounts of leisure time available, there has never been a better time to design your garden around your favourite hobby.

It certainly won’t work for everyone – train-spotters, golfers and cyclist may find it a bit difficult, for example. However, for many of the rest of us, the opportunity is there and probably only needs a little work to turn it into reality.

Gardens and people are indivisible – you can’t have one without the other – and while often we deliberately tend to play down the human element in favour of creating our own artificial slice of nature, there are times when the garden is formed for the needs of its people. Designing people-orientated gardens may be a challenge – but when you get it just right, there is no doubting how rewarding it can be.

Garden studios & offices

Any outdoor building represents a considerable investment – in time and effort, as much as hard earned cash – so it pays to make sure that you get the right one. While much of that depends on what you expect it to do, there are a number of general things to consider when selecting any kind of building for your garden.

Choosing the right building

The useful lifespan of any wooden building depends on the quality of the timber used and the standard of construction, making the old adage that “you get what you pay for” a very good general guide. It is always worthwhile looking at finished examples of the buildings you are thinking about buying, if you possibly can, before you make up your mind and comparing them carefully to see what the difference in cost actually buys you. Most suppliers and big outlets will have “show” buildings and any time spent looking round them will be worth it in the long run.

Inspect the cladding from the inside to see if any gaps allow daylight through – this will give you a very good indication of the overall build quality. There are many types of cladding including tongue-and-groove, feather-edged weatherboard, rebated weatherboard, waney-edged and ship-lap. Of these, tongue-and-groove, rebated weatherboard and ship-lap give the best general weather protection; overlapping waneyedged and feather-edged weatherboard can warp if they are too thin and are generally a little less weather-proof than the more expensive styles of cladding.

Other features to look for in the best quality wooden buildings are strong internal frames, solid, cross-braced doors with strong hinges and locks, well-fitting windows, a strong roof covered in thick felt and a firm floor. The timber itself should ideally be naturally rotresistant, such as cedar although cheaper sheds made from properly pressure treated softwoods can be very good alternatives, especially if well cared for and regularly treated and maintained.

Garden rooms can be purpose built to become a garden office, gym or studio, constructed to meet your needs and expectations.

These bespoke buildings are not just built for summer use either: they can genuinely habitable all of the year, with full insulation (noise and heat) and with all the services that you require in your garden room, be it running water or telephone and Internet connections.

With stunning designs and many hundreds of happy customers across the UK our garden buildings offer the practical solution to your need for extra space, be it for a garden office, music studio, leisure room, den or just a room in that peaceful place that is your garden.

Wildlife-friendly gardens

Jo Thompson Garden Design offers a full service garden design consultancy to clients seeking an outside space which is beautifulJo Thompson Garden Design offers a full service garden

Choose plants that are more attractive to native wildlife, for example, birds are attracted to berry-bearing plants in winter, such as cotoneasters, holly, pyracantha and skimmia. Also favourites with birds are natives like crab apples, hawthorn, honeysuckle, rowan, and sunflowers.

Allow some of your plants to go to seed to provide winter food for seed-eating birds. Seed heads also have an aesthetic bonus, as they provide winter interest in the garden.

Look for alternatives to slug pellets and pesticides or reduce the use of herbicides, fungicides and insecticides – use organic methods of control. Many insecticides kill beneficial species as well as harmful ones.

Use bird-feeders or bird tables to protect birds from cats.

Provide nesting boxes for birds and even bats. Nest boxes are excellent substitutes for the holes in old trees. In many gardens, there may be lots of food, but nowhere to nest.

Plant perennials with broad flower heads to encourage bees into your garden in summer. Avoid too many double flowers that can prevent insects from accessing the nectar.

Avoid using herbicides by hand weeding, applying mulch, using weed-suppressant fabric and planting good ground cover.

Have a water feature – even a simple bowl can encourage frogs and other wildlife which will feed on bugs and snails. Dragonflies will often breed in them, and many birds may use them to drink and bathe in. If you have room for a pond, site it in a sunny position and ensure the sides are gently sloping, so birds can drink and bathe, amphibians can spawn and hedgehogs can escape if they fall in.

Keep a pile of logs in an undisturbed corner of the garden to provide shelter for insects and mammals – if you’re lucky a hedgehog or toad may find a home there and feed on all your slugs and snails.

A bundle of hollow stems in a quiet spot that catches the morning sun can be a home for solitary mason bees.

Wildlife friendly plants

Viburnum opulus: good autumn colour and white summer flowers, which turn into red berries in autumn, providing a good food source for birds

Echinops ritro: this thistle is a great architectural perennial, with its spherical blue flower heads drying into striking seed heads. The flowers attract bees and butterflies, and birds eat the seeds

Buddleja: good source of nectar for butterflies

Lonicera periclymenum: provides nectar for butterflies and moths, which it attracts with its nocturnal scent. Birds also eat the seeds

Calendula officinalis: nectar rich and also good for companion planting

Primula vulgaris: the spring flowers provide an early source of nectar in spring, while the leaves are food for butterfly larvae and finches eat the seeds

Hedera helix: provides shelter for birds, nectar in winter and berries in spring

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