What do you do with a with a small town garden when all the developer has left you with is some rather poor soil mixed with building debris , on which the lawn barely clings to life , and steep buried concrete ledges to the sides , leaving little opportunity for borders ? The answer in this case was to rip it all out and start afresh .The client had a penchant for regular geometry and a mix of hard and soft landscaping . So it was agreed that we would use a bold design incorporating planters built with wooden stakes , raised decking , a ribbon of brick edging and a new lawn laid on fresh topsoil .
The post-modern design still resonated
with established principles harking back
to formal layouts such as parterres ,
Moorish or Persian gardens .
Importantly , all parties were agreed from
the outset that this particular solution
would only be effective if carried out with
great precision and then softened back
by generous planting . However , nothing
could be achieved until all the buried
obstructions were dealt with and the offending topsoil and debris
was cleared .
Work then concentrated on setting the wooden stakes for the four planters in concrete , which was achieved with a positional tolerance of +/- 1/8" . This was necessary as two of the planters were bridged by raised decking and we required even mortar lines between the bricks comprising the border ribbon , with no cutting of the bricks allowed . The planters were made 18" high and for added effect a secondary tier of stakes rising 9" high were fitted . These would be retained by the brick , which would also provide a striking contrast in colour and texture . Once the planters and the brick border were in
Brick , Timber & Concrete Provide Strength
place , the new topsoil delivery arrived and we were able to fill the planters and prepare a sound base for the new lawn .
A mixture of evergreen shrubs and herbaceous plants will give all year round colour , fragrance and interest and with everything completed , the end result is very different from the scene we had at the beginning . Indeed the very satisfied client now intends to use the garden as an "outside room" , especially during the summer months . There is clearly scope to incorporate
some soft or coloured lighting and we have no doubt that with the addition of several strategically placed tubs , some trellis and climbers this garden will truly be a transformed space .
