With much pressure being put on households from government initiatives in 2010 many of us are trying to find a way of adhering to the new rules put in place without having to change our lives considerably.

Although the UK hasn't quite gone as far as in some American states where they charge you for catching rainwater, we are facing ever increasing restrictions and unfortunately will do continually for years to come.

With legislation put in place to catch run off from your own property and prevent it from going onto public highways, many people are making decisions to recycle it in ways that will benefit their whole household. Here in Surrey and Hampshire, Graduate Landscapes are increasingly implementing solutions to catch rainwater and reuse it in water butts, underground irrigation systems and more recently, natural swimming pools.

Although we are constantly finding ways to address drainage problems in our design projects in towns such as Haslemere where steep hills often occur, there is also a way that land forming can catch water and act as natural irrigation over a prolonged period, working just like a drip system. This is achieved by creating shelves with ditches across the contours of a hill to catch rainwater and slowly let it fill up as it drips gradually over the edge. This will prevent it from running straight off and hitting the bottom without penetrating the surface. This is known as 'Permaculture' a mixture of the words permanent agriculture. This method has been used for thousands of years as a drainage solution and as a way of slowing rainwater as seen on the world renowned terraces of the Inca trail.

Although we are capable of any sized job, if you like the idea of catching your rainwater run off in a natural and interesting way with water loving plants surrounding, remember to consider where you will put the extracted soil!

Better yet get us in to think about that for you!

 One of our smaller jobs in Haslmere!

By BL

Although it is widely believed that when the days get colder and the plants become dormant that's it for growing and you need not step out into the garden until the spring reappears. Fortunately for all us veggie lovers out there this is by no means the case.

All kinds of vegetables can carry on right through the winter and if timed correctly you can grow your own right through the year especially if you have your own poly tunnel, greenhouse or even uninhabited fish tank! Obviously most seeds need to be started off in a relatively moist, warm environment so these kinds of structures can be so useful to get things going and of course to protect from pest. If you don't have these kinds of things, sow them in the ground with a protective fleece to keep them warm enough to germinate.

Garlic is probably the easiest to grow and can be sown in November and sometimes even later if you're blessed with good loamy soil...ah if only! I'd recommend using specially bought cloves such as Thermidrome rather than shop bought old cloves, these should really get off to a great start. Hardy peas such as Meteor or Pilot are great grown to harvest first thing in June, just watch out for mice as they love the seeds! Believe me these will be a god send and that fresh taste in early summer really shows why we do it.

Of course broad beans have a great track record for easy growing but the slugs love em so i usually tend to scatter gravel around the growing area as they can't handle the texture. There are plenty of vegetables that just keep going through the cold winter months and this should get you thinking that all year round veggies are absolutely doable.
For a more in depth look into growing all types of vegetables I've included a link to a very useful site that i use quite frequently so go get yourself some of your favourite vegetable seeds and show your friends and family how green fingered you can be!

To get more advice on how to grow your own check out our post on growing your own

By BL

While all of us are getting ready  to break out grandmas old soup recipe and get those fires on ready for the cold winter nights spare a thought for the insects and local wildlife that are also looking for a place to get snug and grab a little bite to eat.

When cutting some logs or even if you're buying them, just take one and drill a number of small holes at the end about thick enough to fit a pencil in. Do about 10 to 20 of these in as many logs as you can spare and just leave them in a stack. This is a brilliant thing for the kids to get involved with and will be so beneficial for the garden in the long run. These will be perfect for the little guys to make their home for the winter and no doubt they will thank you with their own method of pest control when spring comes back around. This can just as easily be done with some bamboo or straws even.  Anything that is hollow will be good enough.

Try to remember to leave some food  for the birds too as they will at some point be struggle to find their own when the ground freezes over. Get the kids involved and make your very own insect hotel before Christmas otherwise you'll never get them peeled away from the dreaded consoles!!

By BL

With a an ever increasing focus on climate change and a growing popularity in living organically many households have become alot more aware of keeping compost bins. Although not a new method, many modern contraptions have made it a much more viable option for the smallest of families.

 For anyone interested in their gardens this is an absolute win win and with the councils doing less weekly pick ups a place to throw your food waste is an added bonus. An even better way to speed this process up is to introduce worms who will actively consume most foods that aren't citric or overly acidic. Worms do not like direct sunlight so its great for those shady corners that you can think of what to do with. When placed on open earth these worms will dig in and slither underground opening channels and essentially aerating the ground. They'll then return later and start all over again. As they move from the bottom upwards they eat there way up and leave a liquid waste as a wormcast which is one of the most highly nutricious liquid fertilisers you will ever find.

 There really is no negative point to keeping a worm farm and if you're a fisherman you've got your bait reproducing for you! The best types of worms are Tiger worms and European night crawlers. To have a look at investing in some top quality worms check outwww.wigglywigglers.co.uk and start your farm today!

 By BL

 Just when you thought  summer was out of our minds and we start to get ready to hibernate for the winter its not quite the case! Late October is the perfect time to get all of your Spring flowering bulbs in before the ground gets too hard. We have implemented some great garden designs in Guildford, Hampshire and throughout surrey where we incorporated some much needed under planting to give that beautiful instant hit of uniform colour with a very natura. Of course everyone knows how much of a difference a field of daffodils can make but other spring flowering bulbs such as Crocus and Hyacinths can act as a fantastic focal point too.

Through September and October is a great time to plant hardy summer flowering bulbs such as lilies, alliums and crocosmias. Make sure you get the planting done before November as it starts to get wet and very cold and bulbs are much more likely to do well when planted fresh and on a dry and relatively sunny spot. Planting is usually most attractive in groups and on a large scale this may be quite time consuming but well worth it when the first few weeks of spring come around and the rest of the garden is only just starting to come to life. A general rule for planting bulbs is to measure it from the tip to the base and triple that length. That tripled length is the depth of the planting whole and make sure to dig it wide enough to put a few in at least. Space them a couple of widths apart with the narrow end pointing up. Rake the soil back over and never tread on it as compaction may prevent the shoots from appearing. Try spreading them in woodland to naturalise them into the surroundings. NOW you can  feel like you've bought yourselves some time and you'll really thank yourself when you see the results, so sit back and enjoy!

By BL

As you may have already read in our news section we have teamed up with Clearwater Revival to take on some of the most exciting projects we've had to date when it comes to building pools. You may think that i don't stop talking about them but the reason for this is that i believe they are the future and can help our environment in many ways. The benefits are significant and they are generally much more cost effective and much lower maintenance than chemically enhanced pools. The pools consist of two major components, the deeper central swimming area and the shallow regeneration area that surrounds it. This is planted with purifying plants that naturally clean the water. This water is so pure that it is absolutely safe to drink, i'd give it a few hours after 20 or so kids have been in though! The fact that no chlorine is needed to clean it is one of its most endearing features. Chlorine is a bleach and can be a skin irritant causing eczema and in some cases even asthma. I can't recommend these relatively new additions to our portfolio enough and i've added some photos of a project we're in the middle of. The finished article will be added at a later date!

By BL

Now that October's here we're already getting stressed out about the amount of debris that's all over our lovely stripey lawn. Most of us don't have backpack blowers to make this job quick and painless so raking is usually a wasted weekend day. This however doesn't have to be a wasted day.
Leaves are particularly good used as leaf mould and can save you alot of money in the long run when it comes to composting. Make a special leaf mould bin out of four posts and some chicken wire and chuck the leaves in. This can just as easily be done with a black bin liner but air needs to circulate through so make sure to punch some holes. Although the lawns will be slowing down for the winter, make sure you make this a regular thing as it can discolour it relatively quickly. It also gives those pesky pests a place to hide in the beds and I'm sure all of us would rather take preventative measures than to have to organise a mass culling at a later date in the spring! Don't let them take hold or you may never gain control again!! Its not all misery and hard work though. The trees are starting to change colour and are giving some fantastic shows so try to get out for some country walks after Sunday lunch and see what nature does to give back for all of our hard work!

By BL

Lazing in the garden with friends and family is an important ritual not to be missed out on during the long, and hopefully hot, days this summer.

When considering your garden design, it is important to take the needs of the users of your space - you, your family and friends - in to account to make the experience a comfortable and inviting one which will have them wanting to come back for more.

A simple checklist can be used to make sure you've thought of all the factors which could make or break your outdoor entertaining space this summer.

Aspect. It is important to locate your terrace, deck or patio in a warm, sunny position. I find that often afternoon gatherings soon lead on to evening ones, so it is best to have a position which receives the last of the evening sun and if possible much of the afternoon.

Make it easy for your guests. You don't want your guests traipsing long distances to the fridge or toilet, nor do you want to be far away from the action when preparing the food, so think carefully about location. Ideally position your space close to or with good access to the kitchen or main exit from the house. Make sure access to, from in and around the entertaining area is considered too. Make a feature of changes in levels such as steps, and also ensure they are easy to negotiate when it's dark, by illuminating them after dusk.

Scale and furnishing. To provide ultimate comfort for your guests it is important to furnish the area correctly. Similarly to inside your home, terraces should be well sized to allow an appropriate table and seating to be incorporated.

Engage the senses. Naturally, planting should be attractive and inspirations, as well as in keeping with the rest of the garden. Summer scent and colour are always on people's wish list but it is also important to consider all year round structure and form of the planting. In design terms we sometimes consider planting as the walls of the outside room we are creating and often in such a space, overhead planes or your ‘ceiling' is created from either trees or arbours. Providing this sense of enclosure to your space will keep your guests content, as they will have a similar feeling to being in a living or dining room.

Now all that is required is good food, conversation and a barbeque. Who needs to go on holiday when England is this good!

We have always had a steady stream of enquiries from people wanting to get into landscape gardening or garden design. A number of these come from city folk, fed up with the rat race and the daily commute to London, who wish for a complete change. Others are either current or recently graduated horticultural students, often from Merrist Wood Horticultural College in Guildford, Surrey, or Sparsholt College near Winchester, Hampshire. This trickle of enquiries is now turning into a major flood with a whole cross section of individuals looking to re- invent themselves as a gardener. On the face of it, gardening in Surrey at this time of the year looks like a pretty good career change, with everything bursting into leaf, young ducks on the pond, everything in the garden is rosy. I take people more seriously when they phone in January, an often bleak, cold month which can be trying even for the most vocational horticulturalist. The issue during the Spring and Summer months is not the weather but the sheer volume of work and the very long days. I personally am in the office at 6am and never get home before 7pm. It makes city hours suddenly look quite tempting!

It never seems quite right when half my staff and clients are off to Chelsea while I am stuck here in Liphook manning the fort. It's one of the perks of being the boss of a garden design company that the one place you don't want to be on the last week of May is too far away from your clients. In May, clients are a needy bunch. They need lots of TLC and reassurance that their new garden is going to work out as planned and that pile of mud really will be gone when the book club arrive this evening! Even though the back garden can resemble a muddy rugby pitch during the 'construction' phase, not helped by the recent rain, it is important to keep the faith and keep your eye firmly on the end result. After all, you can't make omelettes without breaking a few eggs!

We have had a vote amongst members of the family as to the subject of our daily blog and the unanimous vote has gone to the slug. Our French Au Pair who seems quite paranoid over most things seems to have serious issues over what I have always considered to be a benign friendly creature. It all started for her last month when our sociable cat Mally inadvertently left a few quite small specimens on her bed (I think she had been rolling in the wet grass during the slug migration season, that's the cat, not the Au Pair). Still if she annoys me anymore, no need to ring the agency, just leave one in her black coffee (no sugar just a bit of soya milk yuk!) and she will be on that Eurostar before you can say Au Revoir!

Slugs are a bugger because they will eat everything in sight, particularly that lush new growth on Hostas, early vegetables and herbaceous perennials. I now pay my teenage daughter 5p for each slug she can find. She is a clever old so and so and it wasn't long before she put two and two together and realised slugs come out at night. So after a hard session of Friends episodes she is out there with a torch and a small bucket, and each night there is no change from a pound. We agonise about what to do with them and to make a win win situation we chuck them over into next door.

I am never too sure about egg shells, it's supposed to irritate them and they just give up and go next door to find their mates. Beer is a complete waste of time. I went out there last week after leaving out a plate of John Smiths and do you know what, there was a group of slugs out there absolutely rat arsed. So let's hear it for the humble and much maligned slug. Tomorrow its worms!  
 

A great time for a new project. Watch out for young toddlers but any form of water feature creates so much interest with dragon flies birds and amphibians all finding their way to your garden. I expect there will be some good deals to be had with rigid pond liners this season. If you are looking to reduce that volume of grass cut each week, a wild flower meadow is an exciting, green addition to your garden. Wild meadow grass is only cut once or twice a year, and depending if you're on alkali soil near the downs or more acidic and sandy the further north you go, a great variety of wild flower in seed form is readily available to you, both on line or at the garden centre. Kill existing with roundup, or dig over if you are feeling very fit, but remember we need to get rid of those deep rooted perennials. The seasons upon us, it's every man for himself.

The mowers are on the start line ready for the off. The housewives favourite is just about to Muller the lawn. No wonder it is just moss; the poor grasses don't stand a chance. Raise the height of your newly sharpened or replaced blade, and remember it's little and often, with a good weed and feed fertilizer applied once the grass starts to move, watered in as soon as you apply it.

So much to do, so little time. I always get a feeling of euphoria towards the end of March mixed with a genuine sense of angst as to the tasks I should be doing now and those yet to come. The gardening conveyor belt has just jumped a gear and there is no way off. And it's only going to get faster. Where better to start than in the vegetable garden. More and more of us are veggie miles conscious and it's a feel- good place to be right now. Double dig any newly created areas of patch and incorporate as much well rotted horse manure as you can. The early potatoes should be sprouting under the bed next to the home made beer, ready to venture forth to face the worms. Still time to prune the fruit trees and remember anything growing  straight down or straight up can be removed, while all laterals reduced by a third. While you have the secateurs out, how is the Wisteria looking. If you want to get some serious flowers this season the long laterals should have been halved in late summer, and again it's still not too late to go down to 3 good buds. That's all for now, more soon...