Garden landscaping – top tips to get you started

If you’re completely new to garden design and landscaping, it can feel a bit overwhelming. With a little help from the experts, you can come up with the perfect landscaped garden just for you. We’ve come up with a few ideas to get you started.

Make a wish list

What will you be using the area for? Are you planning to use the space for frequent entertaining and summer barbecues? Do you love the idea of ‘The Good Life’ and fancy the idea of growing your own fruit and vegetables?

Will you need space for the kids to play, and somewhere to park a car? Decide on your basic needs and wants and use them to come up with a basic must-have list, then use the list to sketch out your ideal garden space.

Play around with ideas and don’t worry if you aren’t the most artistic person, going to a garden landscaper with a rough sketch of what you’ve been imagining is a great starting place.

Study your existing garden

This is where you need to pay attention and make some notes. What direction does the garden face, and where does it get the sun? Which areas are naturally shaded most of the day? Are there any areas of the garden that create a sun trap – you might not want to put your herb garden, or your eating area there.

Go outside on a windy day and see if there are any areas that seem to amplify the wind…these areas are the worst places for a barbecue, or a seating area. Not taking climate and position into account is one of the problems that first time landscapers often make – something a professional garden landscaper would always check first.

Focal points

Pick out your garden’s best feature and work it. If there’s a sculpture, a tree or a pond, you can work around that and make that the focus of the rest of the design. Drawing the eye to the most attractive part of the existing garden can make landscaping the rest of the garden that much easier.

Start with small steps

It can take time to develop an idea for a garden, and once you’ve decided what you want, it can take time to put the plans into place. If you’re doing it yourself, make sure you don’t take on too much at once, and don’t be afraid to ask for help from experts if you think the project is just too overwhelming. Take your time, and you’ll be much happier with the results; what you see on garden makeover shows takes a lot of expertise and a whole team of people to do!

For advice on landscaping, turfing and garden maintenance, ask an expert at John Lessels Landscaping…

Five Tips for choosing the best paving for your project

You’ve been studying gardening magazines and scouring websites for ideas, but will the designs you’ve seen work in your own garden? Here are five tips on getting the results you really want when you start that landscaping project.

Look at some samples first

You’re going to be looking at that paving for years to come, so it’s a good idea to do your research before you have it laid.  You’ll find that most garden landscaping companies are happy to give you a few samples; it’s in their interest to let you see the product so that you can imagine it in your own garden.

Once you’ve looked at them in-situ, you can pick your favourites and see how they’ll fit in with the existing garden, the colour of your walls and so on. You can also visit the companies’ showrooms and see displays in many cases, to give you an idea of effects and designs.

Think about texture

If you’re looking for a cheaper solution, riven stone works in most situations, although you need to be careful to choose the right tone. For sharper edges and a smoother finish, a more contemporary choice might be sawn stone which can look really great in a well-designed garden area. Check whether the slabs need sealing after they’ve been laid, especially if the shade is a really important consideration for you, because sometimes sealing stone can change its colour.

How thick is thick?

You’ll need a different thickness of stone for a driveway or anywhere there’s likely to be parked cars than you will for a garden area. If you’re trying to stretch your budget, before you decide on your perfect stone, be aware that some budget stone is only available in a depth of around 25mm – for a driveway you really need at least 40mm for it to last. If in doubt, ask expert advice.

Natural or concrete?

If your budget won’t stretch to natural stone, there are some great concrete products too. If you choose a concrete product, make sure they are laid by an expert or at the very least take care to make sure that any cuts are hidden so that you can’t see inside the slab.

Textures
It’s fun to add a bit of interest to a paved area by mixing up the textures. Different textured stones can be used to define different areas in a larger expanse of paving, so you can mark out the seating area or the main pathway for example.

If you’re not sure about whether any particular stone, style or technique will work in your garden, speak to an expert at John Lessels, we’re always happy to give advice!