Planning the Perfect Barbecue Garden

The sun is peeking out from the clouds and we’ve been lucky with the weather recently; with the World Cup and Wimbledon enticing us to gather our friends around and chill out in the sunshine, thoughts naturally turn to barbecues and eating al fresco.

If your lawn is crying out for some garden maintenance, and you’re embarrassed to invite the neighbours round because of  the weed colonies, you need to get cracking on beautifying it before the summer holidays arrive and the smell of burning sausages fills the air.

Roll up your sleeves and get stuck in; to start the operation, if you haven’t got round to it yet, clear away all of the mess from the spring (and winter). If you have a proliferation of mulchy leaves, get shot of them, and any other bits of mess that have landed on your lawn. Once you’ve tidied up, if you left the garden furniture out and it’s looking worse for wear, move it out of the way or at least into the garage/shed so that you have a blank canvas. You can tart the old furniture up later. Spend some time removing any extra garden furniture, garden tools, and weeds so you have a clear, clutter-free space to host your parties.

Is your garden the perfect design for a barbecue? Some shapes and sizes work better than others. You need enough room to host your guests (obviously) and space for a barbecue that’s big enough to feed everyone. Try a practice run; set a table up in the garden, and put the barbecue near the house, then imagine if you have enough room for people to sit down, mill around and (if inviting kids) play and run around. Experiment with the layout until you feel comfortable.

If you haven’t got one already, the next thing you need is a decent barbecue. You’re looking for something that’s easy to use (even with a beer in your spare hand) , will last you a while and of course, cooks food thoroughly. At this time of year there are plenty to choose from and you can get a great deal if you shop around.

You need decent garden furniture too; if you banished your tired looking deckchairs to the shed with their mould, invest in something a bit more durable. Plastic is always a good option because it’s hardy and lasts a while, or for a more sophisticated soiree you could look into investing in some wooden furniture. If you do go with wood, you’ll have to be more careful about looking after it than plastic, it will cost more and probably not last as long, but hey, it will look fabulous!

All you need to do once you’ve got that sorted is fire up the barby, crack open a beer and enjoy the smell of charcoal…

Driveways and the law

Just like everything else, when it comes to driveways there are rules and regulations you need to be aware of – mainly to do with planning.

Since 2008, if you want to cover your front garden with a hard surface, driveway or paving, and the area that needs covering is more than five square metres, you’ll need to get planning permission if you’re putting down traditional, impermeable materials which don’t control rainwater running off onto the roads.

You don’t need  planning permission  for less than five square metres, nor do you need it if the surface you’re putting down will permeable or porous, or  if  you use a traditional surface which directs rainwater to a lawn or border to drain naturally (or there is another drainage solution, like a soakaway added)

If you want to avoid planning permission, you could look at alternative options like;

·         Permeable paving
·         Porous asphalt
·         Sustainable drainage systems / rainwater harvesting systems
·         Combinations of gravel with a green, vegetated area
·         Traditional hard surfaces that incorporate run-off to your garden or lawn or a rain garden or soakaway

It’s fine to lay hard surfacing which lets water to soak into it along with concrete permeable paving or porous asphalt, but you will need to make sure they are laid on top of a sub-base which lets water pass through and be stored.

Other ideas include letting water run-off into your lawn or flower beds, or working it so that the run off is directed towards an area of your garden where it will collect, and either soak into the ground or flow to the drains.

Soakaways are another option; these pipe water into a gravel-filled trench or container and from there it soaks back into the ground. These are only suitable for properties which have larger front gardens, as they need more space than other options and legally they need to be a certain distance from your house or any other buildings.

For advice about driveways, what’s suitable for your property and how to make sure that your driveway conforms to all the relevant legislation, talk to an expert garden landscaper like John Lessels Landscaping.