As our relationship with Clear Water Revival (www.clear-water-revival.com) natural swimming pools goes from strength to strength we thought an explanation highlighting what they are all about may be in order.

With the clue being in the title, Clear Water Revival NATURAL swimming pools does what it says on the tin. Rather than pumping your pool full of chemicals that kill everything in sight, Clear Water Revival systems produce naturally filtered swimming pools using natures own processes to keep the water clear. This is achieved through the use of friendly bacteria, a patented bio-filter and separate small filter beds which treat and purify the water without the use of chlorine.

For me though, as a landscape architect, the real beauty of these systems comes through the increased integration of the pool with its surroundings and the relationship that can develop between house, garden and pool.

With five varying pool types to suit a wide range of situations, Clear Water Revival natural swimming pools can offer a more bespoke, sympathetic design solution compared with the stark and often harsh swimming pools which in the past have dominated our outdoor space.

These five types of swimming pools give great freedom of design and can range from 0% planting zone to up to 60% planting zone. Those with little to no planting zones offer the client many aspects of a traditional style swimming pool in appearance. However, they use the patented Clear Water Revival bio-filter for high levels of cleanliness rather than harsh chemicals such as chlorine which quickly degrade needing constant renewal. These systems also work beautifully when deciding to convert an existing swimming pool whether it’s due to dilapidation or the inappropriate use of harsh chemicals, as with a current client of ours in Walton-Upon-Thames.

At the other end of the scale, the Freeform Planted design offers the client a natural swimming pool that interacts and engages with its surroundings and offers a highly bespoke design in a plethora of shapes and sizes. The high ratio of lush planting encourages wildlife into the garden, ensuring the garden integrates seamlessly with its environment.

With a significantly smaller bio-filter pump than that of a conventional swimming pool, coupled with the use of passive solar heating, a clear water revival natural swimming pool can considerably reduce heating bills in comparison to conventional style pools. (Just incase you needed another incentive to let nature, rather than chemicals, do the work! 

Written by JG

As garden designers the planting in our work is integral to the overall success of the design. After a long time spent carefully planning a beautiful garden for our clients it is important to remember that all this hard work can easily be undone by poor plants. If not kept a close eye, on plants can sometimes be delivered in the wrong size, cultivar and occasionally even the wrong species if the supplier is particularly off-the-ball.

With this in mind Graduate Landscapes work closely with our reputable suppliers such as Griffin Nurseries based near Liphook, Hampshire and Hilliers Nurseries in Romsey, Hampshire.

With a close working relationship, we visit our suppliers on a regular basis and have an in-depth understanding of what we expect from each other. Once our planting plans have been agreed with our client we will send the list out to our suppliers to gain the most competitive price for the exact plants specified. After the order has been accepted we will hand pick our plants from their stock and if required source the remaining from other highly regarded nurseries. Important factors in our relationship are:

· Good quality plants with a smile.

· Fresh plant stock which hasn’t been sitting around a nursery for months on end.

· Timely and accurate delivery of stock so we can best inform our clients of our eagerly anticipated completion date.

· An overall friendly and professional service from order and selection through to after sales questions.

Getting close and personal with pleached Carpinus Betula (Hornbeam) Tony Richard (Managing Director) & Jo Gill (Landscape Architect)

Chris James

As Hampshire, Surrey and their surrounding areas begin to show signs of life with at least three straight days of sunshine now, and daffodils shooting up left right and centre, my mind turns towards the little aquatic friends who share our garden.

As with all of us, our gardens have been hard hit this winter. With the relentless heavy frosts and snow affecting all they lay their icy fingers on, many ponds will be looking more forlorn than usual for this time of year.

In a recent visit to my parents’ house in Chiddingfold near Guildford I was given the weekly update on my father’s on-going struggle with his pond from murky water to ailing fish, I was inspired to write this little blog and put down on paper a few rules of thumb and general advice to help clear the water in more ways than one! So Dad, if you read this, take note!

Firstly, although your fish may have had a hard winter you must not let your heart overrule your head and start feeding them too early, this will do more damage than good. As the weather in Liphook, Hampshire doesn’t seem to be able to maintain an average temperature of anything past 8° C it is still a little too cold to start feeding fish which shouldn’t really be fed until the temperature maintains 10° C or higher. There are however important measures that should be taken to ensure the survival of one of the most intriguing inhabitants of a spring pond, frogspawn. As frost is one of its biggest killers and is still a lingering threat at this time of year, protection against it is vital for the survival of frogspawn.

The key ingredient for a healthy pond is clean, clear water and as the spring clean of my house near Guildford, Surrey comes to a close my attention is brought to the pond. The pond water will need to be replaced by up to half which should ideally be done as soon as possible to cause the least amount of stress to the sleepy inhabitants. Similarly any leaks or cracks in the pond liner which may have appeared over the last year will need to be repaired. A final scoop out of any debris and leaf fall would ensure a much healthier looking pond.

Finally, it is important to note that when planning a pond, due consideration needs to be given to the balance of open water to plant cover. Ideally plant cover should count for more than half of the pond’s surface area. This will give good stability to the pond life, helping to reduce the onset of algae which relies on sunlight to thrive.

So, whether it’s the planning, renovation or renewal of a pond now is the perfect time to get out of the house and into the pond! If it's garden design or maintenance you're looking for, we at Graduate Landscapes in Liphook would be more than happy to help!

By JG

As the birds increasingly make their presence known at a decreasingly reasonable hour of the morning, it is plain to see that the sleepy, snowy months of winter are coming to a close and spring is fast approaching in their wake.

Reliably, nature gives us its little indicators of the imminent seasonal change from bulbs beginning to appear and some winter flowering shrubs ceasing to flower. For those of us who are yet to shake off the feeling of cosy hibernation the winter months tend to bring, we should perhaps use these warning signs as a final reminder to ditch the sofa, grab the gardening tools and finish/start the jobs put off earlier on in the year – I blame the snow!

These signals indicate the reawakening of nature and the countdown of the final few weeks for root ball planting. If you are anything like my mother you’ll be rushing to your local nursery for a selection of root balled roses before calling in your favours to get them planted!

However, if this isn’t you then rest assured there are plenty of jobs still to be completed. The check list that follows gives just a few suggestions!

- Prune winter flowering shrubs that have finished flowering.

- Re-cut lawn and bedding edges.

- Clear up weedy beds ready for mulching.

- As with humans after winter months, plants need rejuvenating too! Boost potted plants by replacing the top layer with fresh compost.

- Cut back overgrown shrubs.

The phrase, ‘A gardener’s work is never done,’ springs to mind! Lucky for us at Graduate Landscapes then!

By JG

Spring is fast approaching and now is the time to finish off those final winter gardening jobs.

The bare root planting season runs from November to March when shrubs and trees are unsuspectingly dormant. In the last few months we have planted numerous projects varying from a couple Quercus robur trees in Kingsley Green, Haslemere to three acres of field hedge planting in Chobham, Surrey. Our clients enjoy the costs saved through buying bare root specimens which are dug-up fresh from our supplies fields and planted within a couple of weeks.

Invariably bare root specimens become more tolerant to summer droughts and possible wind damage throughout their life. This is predominantly due to the young and exposed roots being exposed to harsher conditions in the first few years in your garden, unlike those spoilt pot grown specimens! Just make sure the thirsty plants get good water in the first year of growth.

Our bare root orders for 2011 stop in a couple of weeks so get planning or pick up the phone and speak to us!

Late Winter Job checklist

ü Mulch garden beds.

ü Fertilise plants and lawns.

ü Prune fruit trees.

ü Begin to reseed bare patches on your lawn.

ü Pruning Dogwoods now will encourage new growth this year.

ü Watch out for herbaceous species beginning to emerge, Sedums are certainly my favourite.

Field Hedge Planting consisting of Acer campestre, Cretaegus monogyna, Cretaegus x persimilis ‘Prunifolia Splendens’, Ilex aquifolium & Rosa canina.

Chris James

No one ever said that gardening was glamorous, and definitely not in February.

If you're really good you should have already considered pruning your apple and pear trees now. If you haven't already, spray the whole tree with a plant oil-based winter wash to kill off any over-wintering pests and help keep the fruit intact. Late winter when the plant is completely dormant is the ideal time. Choose a sharp pair of secateurs, and reduce those extensions by at least a third. Remove and vertical, horizontal or ingrowing wood, with an angled cut to promote healing.

 If there are any established shrubs, trees or plants that have made your hit list, now is the time to move them to another spot or even remove all together .

For many gardeners, February is a good month to get stuck into scrubbing that mouldy old greenhouse that's begun growing a life form of its own through the winter! If you're a keen greenhouse grower, this will considerably increase light levels and banish any unwanted pests and diseases that could spring up on you when you're least expecting them. Once completed it will be then be the ideal time for sowing bedding plants in modular trays to get them started off ready for spring.

Another rewarding job to get done is to pull out all of the tired plants that have been in the same old pot for a few years now. Give the pot a scrub and renew its compost to give it a much needed kick start when it starts to grow again. Gently prise the old pot bound roots to encourage them. , This will make a big difference to the life of your pot plants and once a year a good dressing of compost will also help it to thrive long term.

Now is a good time to empty the compost bins. Place the leaf mould directly onto vegetable areas, or use as a mulch around shrubs. If you are short, bring in a load of well-rotted horse manure, or similar and mix it in with what you have.

For anyone looking to avoid the back breaking work that the late winter months bring  there is never a shortage of people looking to do generic jobs such as these, especially in these difficult economic times. Call in the professionals who will have all of the right tools to get the job done quickly and efficiently. The bonus of this is that they will also take any unwanted pests away with them and hopefully dispose of them in a safe way and not on the next clients' compost heap!

Getting these onerous jobs done now is the ideal time, and you can start with a  pest free garden ready for the seasons start. ..You now have a blank canvas and a box of paints. Time to get messy again!

Mulch ado about everything

When I was younger my Father would encourage me in the garden often using the term ,"where there's muck there's brass'' As I grew older, and he realised to his horror this was no passing phase he then tried to persuade me in no uncertain terms to pursue a career in accountancy . I stuck with horticulture and now muck is an integral part of my working year (not sure what happened to the brass.)

In the landscape industry well-rotted manure is considered gold dust. It will enrich plants with nutrients, lock in moisture, suppress unwanted weeds and protect roots from the harsh English winters.  Many different materials can be used to cover the soil's surface, including bark chippings, leaf mould, well-rotted farmyard manure or crushed shells.

In the autumn, spread a ring of mulch around newly planted trees, shrubs or herbaceous perennials. In early winter, tender plants will benefit from a thick mulch. It will help protect roots and the crown of the plant from frost.

The best time to go all out and mulch entire beds or borders is in late-winter or early spring. This will trap in moisture from wet weather and ensure beds don't dry out quickly in the heat of summer. Worm action will increase dramatically as they come to the surface at night to feed thereby creating myriads of small tunnels, supplying the oxygen to the roots and supplying the volume of microscopic life with both air and food. It makes for a great root environment for your plants and you WILL see the difference in better blooms, higher yields and generally healthier looking plants.

Before mulching make sure the site is clear of weeds and the soil is moist. Water the existing bed if necessary as it's difficult to wet dry soil through a layer of mulch.

Fill up a wheelbarrow with your chosen mulch and spread a 5cm (2in) layer around plants or across the soil with a spade, leaving a little gap around the stems of plants to avoid scorching.

In the fruit or vegetable garden it provides plants with nutrients as it decomposes. It is often best to apply by hand to prevent damaging plants but wear gloves when you do it or you'll bear the stains that will make you amazingly unpopular at home!

Bark looks good and improves soil as it rots down. It's sold in different grades, which differ in ornamental appearance and the speed they break down in the soil. Generally, the finer the material, the quicker it rots.

Gravel and grit are great around fiddly smaller plants like alpines. The coarse material will prevent rotting at the base, as the rain will run straight through it. Slugs hate the course texture too so it works well around tender snail fodder!

So if you have a country estate that can use it by the lorry load, or a small window box that's had a hard time this winter and needs a lift, now is the time to avoid the rush and put your order in!

For many people living in cities outside space is very hard to come by. So when you are given a handkerchief sized plot with your 3 million pound property, the last thing you want to do is cover the ground with plants,reducing your living space and leaving you feeling like you're on the set of The Day of the Triffids!!

Of course gardeners have been growing vertically for centuries with climbing fruits and trellising but the benefits of being able to plant all sorts of plants onto walls with modern modular systems are endless and to give you just a few, i've listed them below.

Space saving

As i mentioned before, saving space is obviously the most important factor for most people, escpecially for those with kids! Specialist dealers in living walls sell modular systems in different sizes which can be fitted together to soften up those hideous, bare concrete walls that stare you in the face!

Insulating

For those looking to save a few bob on heating bills, planting up you garden walls will insulate the outside space and redirect heat back towards your property. It's not only the plants but the growing medium itself that will keep the heat in when it's cold outside and will provide shade in hotter regions to cut down on air conditioning. 

Pollution

Not everyone knows that houseplants and other naturally growing trees and plants will absorb CO2 and act as air filtration from harmful gases and toxins. In green walls this is the same principle providing the plants are chosen for this specific task. These are known as 'active' living walls. Besides air fitration, having a wall planted will also act as a barrier to screen off road noise and general human activity. Although not as important in the sticks of Surrey where we're based, in London this is often a very important requirement in a property that is overlooked or in close proximity to others.

Amongst all else, if you're looking to reuse your grey or storm water in a responsible way, this is a perfect opportunity to link up your green wall to a permanent supply!

We are increasingly taking on more and more living walls and would be happy to answer any questions you might have on installing one of your very own hanging gardens of Babylon! 

The minute Spring comes around, many people will get themselves down to the local garden centre when most plants are in full bloom and buy what they think would have real impact in the garden judging by how they looked at that particular time. Needless to say by the time winter comes around all they could see was the cat scrambling to find a private spot to 'do his thing' and a bed full of brown foliage fit for the compost! THE most important component to any garden is STRUCTURE.

After designing and maintaining gardens for over 20 years we've learnt what plants help to create incredible all year round structure in your garden and wanted to share some of our favourite and most useful evergreen shrubs with you.

Buxus Sempervirens - Also known as box balls/hedging this plants is widely used for its evergreen qualities and for its ability to be trimmed into tightly formed and interesting shapes. This is a slow growing shrub so you won't become a slave to the beds!. For low hedging, plant around 8-10 a metre and trim the tops once established to enable the plants to thicken out and eventually merge together. Make sure to mulch at least once a year until fully established in  winter-early spring to keep the roots from becoming frost damaged or overly dry. A versatile, widely used plant and once there, it will stay there!

Viburnum Tinus - This is a shrub you'll see in hundreds of English gardens. The 'Eve Price' variety has been awarded an RHS award of garden merit with all deservedness. They have star shaped flowers over a long period from late winter to spring followed by blue/black berries.This grows perfectly well in semi shade and can grow big if allowed, a perfect neighbour blocker if you need it!

Aucuba Japonica - This shrub is a perfect evergreen for woodland and shaded areas. The bright green glossy foliage, also in a variegated form helps to reflect light and brings some interest into an otherwise dark and redundant corner. Although not bought for its beauty and more for its practicality, Aucuba Japonica gives small purple flowers in April followed by bright red berries if a male plant is planted close by. This is bought for its ability to deal with shade and other inhospitable environments such as coastal conditions.

Another shrub that will not let you down!

By  BL

For many people living in Surrey, Hampshire and hundreds of other regions of the country, talking about green roofs seems a bit like sitting on a car roof when there are seats free, it's just a solution to a non problem! However, for the city dwellers out there with a plot the size of a postage stamp, somewhere to plant your favourite plants with an ideal aspect is highly sought after and a very rare commodity, even when it comes to the most expensive properties.

For the lucky ones who do have a garden shed or garden office this is the ideal opportunity to try out those plants your property had no space for with the added bonus of natural insulation.

Insulating buildings like this has been practised for hundreds of years with people residing in hill faces covered in grass and moss. Although rather hobbit like it's extremely efficient and is still very prominent in places like the Faroe Islands with modern buildings having roofs planted with moss. 

For those looking to be a bit more 'showy' you can use wildflowers, sedums and many other drought resistant plants such as succulents. For the die hard vegetable growers, with irrigation systems in place, you can just sit back and pick your own without the painful problems of deer and slugs! You will have to watch out for the birds though, they will set up shop and start selling without you even knowing! 

Usually the vegetation is planted into a lightweight growing medium through a waterproof membrane and often with drainage and irrigation systems attached. The frame sits on top of the roof in line with the sides of the building to keep the soil in place and the layers are applied.

There are so many nurseries out there that offer wildflower and sedum mixes, it's just a case of working out what you want from it. 

Remember, if you do choose grass, don't let your gardener tell you it needs mowing!

By BL 

Although many people look at their outdoor space as a whole, there are many ways you can create a multi functional space to give the whole family somewhere to go and play! This doesn't only help to take the pedestrian on a journey into different parts of the garden but can also help in screening ugly structures that can't be moved. 

Concentrating on what the kids will find fun will prevent you getting your ear chewed off when they get bored and will give you a valuable starting point to build on. Structures such as willow houses will merge naturally into the surrounding if done right and will only get better with time, it's also a welcome break from the kids falling out of tree houses like lemmings!

The best wood to use for these is Salix and in particular Salix Triandra and Salix Viminalis. Some larger tree or shrub willows will do but do make sure to avoid Salix Caprea which won't sprout as well and will stay relatively sparse. One thing to make sure is that you keep the inside trimmed back if it starts growing rapidly to avoid the old eye on a stick!

Salix can also be used for ornamental sculptures and ground level playhouses. It's a very versatile wood and is rife in many parts of the UK. One thing i can say for the mums out there is that this will eliminate the hundreds of illuminous toys that you spend half your life picking up and shouldn't do anymore damage to the ever decreasing bank balance! 

Check out www.willowworks.co.uk for an all out structure kit or scour your local farms for those who sell willow rods to get an unbeatable price.

By BL

Now that we're back to work after our long Christmas break, it's time to start fixing some of the worlds major problems from our chalet in the Liphook hills! With much concern over the decline in our beloved bumble bees it seems only right to talk a bit about exactly how much they have declined in recent years and what the future holds for one of, if not the most important species in ensuring our long term survival.

Although scientists believe that the Nosema Bombi fungus infection and inbreeding are to blame noone has actually given a definite answer as to why they are declining at such a rapid rate over the past few decades. Bees are responsible for pollinating at least 92 percent of the worlds commercial plants including fruits and vegetables, coffee, cotton and many more.

Human activity such as pesticides and global warming will also have a major part to play not only in the extinction of the bees but also in many other tropical animals including tigers, snakes, gorillas and most insects. All have fallen 60 percent since 1970 and the rate is rapidly increasing. 

So what can we do on a personal level to help to ensure the bees survival?  Firstly, we can stop spraying man made chemicals such as powerful weedkillers and insect repellents. Substances that don't belong in nature will take many years to disappear completely, often leaving a path of destruction on its way through. Try companion planting to get rid of those pests by bringing in plants that harbour an insect that will get rid of them naturally, being eaten is alot more frightening for them than a bit of spray I'm sure! The most important thing is to plant bee friendly plants, often purples and bright colours to enable the bee to find them and extract the pollen. These plants aren't just to attract bees but will often grace your garden with incredible fragrances, herbal medicines and even edibles for your daily diet.

Not an especially chirpy post to start off the new year with i know, but on a positive note, with a little help from us, our most beloved insects and animals might just be around for our grandkids' kids to enjoy!

By BL

Now that many of our outdoor plants have shed their leaves and lost their colour we're looking at ways to keep our landscapes looking cared for until the warm weather of spring comes back around. With Christmas looming much of the colour is concentrated on our interiors and what better way than to bring many of the bulbs in to force that would otherwise not happen. Some of the bulbs that work amazingly well, at least in little old surrey are as follows:

Amaryllis- A thick stalked plant with large open flower heads. Keep in and  warmth and introduce them to light once the stalk is about  100-200mm high.

Hyacinths - These often need a chilling period for about 8 weeks prior to bringing inside. Once these are introduced into the warmth they will start to appear in as little as a week.

Crocuses - These require no chilling, are very little effort and look great planted en mass in a decorative tray or pot.

Fairy Lilly - These require no chilling and have high visual impact.

Time these bulbs right and you'll have an unmatchable display for the table to show off to all of the Christmas crowd!

by BL

At around this time of year the cold Siberian winds are heading our way and as the national weather has told us this morning it looks like most of the country is going to expect at least some snow and 6 inches in some parts! For this very reason, any plants in pots that can't be brought inside to a greenhouse or pool house must be wrapped up warm if its not equipped to deal with the local climate. This usually applies to tropical and less hardy types of plants but nearly all plants can see signs of damage if left in prolonged freezing conditions. To do this you'll need to buy some insulating fabric, bubble wrap or even some thick hessian and wrap this under and around the pot finishing off by tying some string around it to hold it in place. For anything that can't be moved inside such as tree ferns, cover the top of the crown with leaves or straw, cut off the dead fronds and wrap the trunk in the fabric. This should keep them well insulated and allow enough light in to prevent bacteria. To stop the tree from rotting make sure not to water too much when the growing season stops, a few trickles every few weeks should be more than enough if at all. Done right this can be an amazing looking Christmas decoration for the front of the house!

By BL 

! 

Many of the enquiries coming in over the last two weeks have been from people who, quite frankly, have been disappointed with their efforts in their garden, and realise if they don't do something soon then another year will have passed them by.

Typically, lack of colour or poor plant associations are number one on the list, followed by screening issues and how to block out those noisy neighbours once and for all. So while now is not necessarily the best time to plant, providing you have the capacity to water through the hottest periods, you can still carry on and add some well needed extras.

Roses are now coming into bloom, so it's a great time to check out colours ‘live', either in the garden centre, or at somewhere inspirational like the rose gardens at Wisley. Garden centres and nurseries are now selling the annual infill plants, and while geraniums and busy lizzies may not be your thing, look out for multi coloured cosmos, a fast growing repeat flowering annual that seems to associate with practically anything. The stocky dwarf sunflowers give fantastic spot colour, fascinating for kids and a great source of food for the birds later in the autumn. I am a great fan of Salvias, giving that intense deep purple colour normally associated with lavenders.
 
It is the perfect time to add perennials either as a new bed or, placing them to fit between shrubs that are going over. Rudbeckia is an eye catching yellow, a little like a multi flowering sunflower, but with an intense black eye in the middle. I love Verbena bonariensis which gives you tall delicate purple flowers up to a heavy frost, so if you don't have them, just drop what you are doing and go find! For long bloomers (not on the washing line!) try Hemerocallis (Daylilies), Echinacea purpurea (purple cone flower), Monarda (bergamot), and Perovskia (Russian sage).
 
Don't forget that many of your herbaceous plants will repeat flower if you cut them back hard after flowering. Among these are Achillea (yarrow) and many herbaceous geraniums (cranesbills).
 
In the unlikely event that we have a decent summer, there are some wonderful climbers that really take off and thrive. Annuals such as morning glory, cardinal vine, black eyed Susan and the night blooming moonflower vine, along with the vibrant summer blooming and perennial Campsis radicans (trumpet vine).

It's still not too late to look for later flowering summer bulbs, now for sale potted on, look out for dahlias, Gladiolus and tuberose for a sunny spot. For shade try something different like a caladium along with tuberous bergonias.

And once you have done all that, get the Pimms out and enjoy.

There is a quite an odd feeling at the start of this season, and while Easter is about as early as it can get, Spring has never been later. Up on the hillside here the crocuses are doing their stuff, but still no sign of a daffodil flower that for me heralds the onset of Spring.

I think this year is going to be the year of the veggie patch. Dinner parties in the Shires are alive with chat on such technicalities as how early can you put your spuds in, and whether to go for onion sets or seed.

Grow your own doesn't have to be dull and as a designer, it's great fun to actively put in edible crops without the need to turn a back garden into one big allotment. Many vegetables lend themselves to being grown in existing shrub beds, try Swiss Chard and Rhubarb and Fennel for some great foliage effects, while lower growing herbs such as rosemary, marjoram and thyme sit perfectly in an English garden theme.

Corners of beds in open sunlight lend themselves to growing leaf vegetables. Sowing lettuce in succession can provide a continual supply right through the summer and you could sow a few nasturtiums for edible flower that can be included in a mixed salad for a nice peppery flavour.

Larger areas with a variety of crops require a little more time and thought. Double digging is hard work but will reward you with a friable, oxygenated soil that is good for all. I think the best piece of advice is to use as much well-rotted manure as possible. Dig or rotavate it into the top few inches; it helps improve soil structure and is amazing for the fauna and flora that thrive in the soil. We are incorporating alpaca poo this year, which we have heard is THE BEST muck around. A healthy soil produces healthy plants that are less prone to problems with insects and disease.

Raised beds are an initial outlay, but will reward you with a tidy area that fits well into a landscaped garden. Some of the advantages are a rapidly improving soil structure, mass planting of single varieties that reduce weeds and increase production, oh and if you have children they can have a raised bed each, so no arguing.

Talking of which I am giving each of my 4 kids a slice of the plot this year, and if I can get them off the Wii I will spend some time discussing what they would like to grow, and setting out a plan for the next few months. Will let you know how we got on.

Sitting in our office looking out over a winter wonderland it again reminds me of the amazing extremes of the English weather, and what makes this country so special. The met are predicting that 2010 will be the hottest year to date, so while the last two summers have been on the wet side, fingers crossed this year we're in for a good ‘un.

There isn't that much you can do on a day like today outside, but it does give you an opportunity to do some planning for next year. This could be as simple as getting an extra pot in to grow some strawberries, or as ambitious as a complete garden plan revamp, starting from scratch.

In our office there is nothing more exciting than when a client asks us to do the latter and gives us a relatively blank canvas to work with. A day at Chelsea or Hampton Court reminds us all of the choice and variety of plants and features that are available to make your garden complete. It's a good idea to familiarise yourself with what is out there before you start to put a design together. Here at Graduate Landscapes we offer alternatives that fit the bill; living walls that will enhance a courtyard, or soften an unsightly building and our natural swimming ponds make an environmentally astute choice compared to a conventional chlorine enhanced pool.

There is a massive interest amongst a number of our clients in growing their own food, and it does seem that even in the swishiest properties there is a corner devoted to grow your own. We have recently designed a large vegetable patch and chicken run for one family who are focusing in on food miles and their individual carbon footprint. It's a huge quality of life issue. There is nothing more satisfying than growing your own, and it's something that the whole family can get involved in. It doesn't have to be a complete allotment; for young children a window box or grow bag in a sunny part of the garden will give hours of enjoyment and become an education tool in its own right. Think pollination, reproduction, chemistry, tomatoes from South America, herbs from the Far East. That window box has just turned into a classroom.

Every garden should have at least a few fruit trees, which not only give a great show of flower in the spring, will also produce fruit for jams, wine or a jam "butty". Last year we had the most amazing crop of plums off a very young Victoria plum, and as a family we have got lots of enjoyment from making and giving the jams.

Winter is a great opportunity to take stock of things that aren't working in the garden so we can put them right in time for Spring and Summer. If you can see through into your neighbours garden for instance, make a judgment as to what screening would work well. Each year we are asked to supply and plant dozens of mature trees to instantly hide neighbouring properties and afford a little more privacy for various areas of the garden. Large Magnolias and Mediterranean oaks are an obvious slightly sophisticated choice over the usual conifers, while we have had great results with the native hornbeam which has a very dense head in the winter which affords screening when it has shed its leaves. For lower walls try a variegated holly, or Viburnum tinus which will give you that green backcloth for the showy summer flowers. Talking of which our latest client has just asked us to design a hot fiery border for the summer. Back to the drawing board.

Happy new year from Tony Richards and staff at Graduate Landscapes

When I was young and living in the wilds of Lancashire, we had a garden dominated by blackcurrant bushes. For a week in spring the garden looked absolutely fantastic with fresh lilac green foliage as a background to the pink flowers. This however was small consolation for while the blackcurrant sandwiches were memorably scrummy; the majority of the year was spent staring out over complete blandness. Perhaps it was the deep seated desire to escape from a garden dominated by soft fruit that I eventually took a career in landscape design and construction.

I am in the quite enviable position of spending much of my week looking at gardens that people want to change.  While the reasons for wanting to change are varied, the processes we try to guide them through are similar, so here's my insider's guide to stage one of achieving your dream garden.

The initial meeting is so important and it is always preferable to meet both partners if applicable. Clients vary from knowing exactly their own requirements to not having a clue. I always like to constructively criticise what is already in place, while holding off somewhat if the client has been there for many years!

Structure plays a big part in a garden and I am never fooled by the abundance of colour in late spring. I try to imagine the view once the leaves are off the trees and the frost has had a go. Would I need Prozac to get me through January and February or would I be out there enjoying the maze and winter walk? Many gardens are an absolute anti-climax because we can see them in their entirety as we enter. The element of surprise is paramount and being unable to see all the boundaries from the outset is often an advantage can make the site seem bigger than it actually is.

A good designer needs a design brief, and by asking many questions on lifestyle, future plans, ages of family members and the amount of time available to maintain the finished design, an outline begins to appear. It is then a process of agreeing a fee, often based on the size of the garden and the intricacy of the design. We provide a fixed quote for this process, and if we are employed to construct the garden, offer a discount for gardens we have designed. 

It's important to have some sort of survey done on a site to help move the design process forward. This can range from a back of the envelope, paced out sketch through to a full survey from a professional company complete with satellite positioning, logging the exact position of every gnome. The latter is extremely accurate but often a bit OTT, and so often a cost effective middle ground is to mark the boundaries, trees, buildings etc on the plan, with the help of a laser level for complete accuracy. We are also acutely aware of planning regulations and what can or cannot be done without the appropriate authority.

Mood boards are a useful visual aid to the design process and just as applicable for the garden designer as for the interior designer. They help give a visual of material and plant combinations and vary from plain, chic or angular through to pastel coloured soft and rustic. Client input at this stage is very useful and should be a lot of fun! It is an opportunity to involve the entire family in creating a variety of mood boards for different parts of the garden.

Armed with photos of the site, the survey on computer, a brief from the client, and in my case a jar of pickles (every designer has their own quirks!), we lock ourselves away for perhaps a number of days to come up with a concept plan or two. These are often on CAD (Computer Aided Design) and can be emailed over to the client, or alternatively are created in 3D or freehand. We like to colour them in to provide depth and shade and we have recently even created a clay model of a site to indicate heights and contours in relation to the house.

With plans, mood boards, 3D models, samples and an empty pickle jar, we hope to have enough information to paint the perfect picture to our clients, together with a budget for the likely cost. This can take 2 - 4 weeks depending upon the size and complexity of your project, though we do try to turn things around in 2 weeks if we can.

By this stage, we hope that the client is absolutely focused on his or her requirements, and how our plan can help towards fulfilling those requirements. We hope the plan will be studied in conjunction with hand drawn sketches and Photoshop impressions and any changes and modifications can be highlighted. Back to the darkened room with the pickles and shortly to re- appear with the finished design, together with a detailed planting plan. All the hard work at this stage should pay dividends with a very accurate costing, a clear plan and hopefully a happy client with a FAB garden in the making!

Next time, the build and planting process!  

Every third Thursday of the month my wife disappears off to book club for a few hours leaving me to sort out the kids and generally make a mess of things. Some of the books she brings back are absolute rubbish, none more so than her latest called The Awakening. It is about a village that gets attacked by snakes. Nothing new there I hear you say, and having flicked through it and ready to chuck it, I would agree. Then I read an extract on how incredibly rare it was to be bitten by a snake in the UK and it got me thinking. Despite the odds of winning the lottery being more favourable than those of being bitten by a snake, alas this is what happened to me 2 years ago. Throw into the story that it was in the garden of a celebrity (who will remain nameless) who lives locally, and I think this story is up there with The Awakening if not for disbelieving interest, then for humour.

One of the perks of landscape gardening is that you are constantly bitten or stung by things, whether by insects, plants or the occasional pet. Her delightful Labrador decided one morning to take a large bite out of my right buttock, which left me on the floor with my eyes watering. I don't know how many landscape gardeners have shown their derrière to a female celebrity, but when she refused to believe her beloved dog could do such a thing, my trousers came down showing a large, badly bruised welt. With the reassuring words "well it's never done it before" ringing in my ears, I went to hospital for antibiotics and very nasty tetanus jab.
 
I arrived back in the afternoon and very wisely avoided the dog, who was eyeing me from the kitchen window. I headed off down to the woods were we were thinning out a coppice. It was a hot afternoon and things weren't progressing as quickly as I would have hoped. Being the boss I grabbed a saw and manfully strode into a bramble bush, and straight on to the biggest adder you have ever seen. This thing would have had a black mamba for breakfast and it made short work of me, biting me three times on my bare legs before shooting off into the undergrowth. Cheers mate.
 
It's very interesting to be bitten by a snake. The first feeling is of turning very hot like you have just drunk a strong coffee. This is quickly followed by feeling as if you are going to die. Your pulse races, your throat begins to swell, your legs turn to jelly and you expect the grim reaper to come around the corner at any moment. I was half dragged, half carried through the kitchen door, where my colleagues proudly professed "he s been bitten by a snake now, and he looks like he's going to die". A quick call to NHS Direct and I was being sped to Guildford hospital in an open top Bentley feeling absolutely dreadful.

As I arrived, the crowds at Accident and Emergency were straining for a look, only to be told "back to work guys, it's only a landscape gardener who has been bitten by a snake" as if it happens every day.
I was now a celebrity in my own right. It was a rare opportunity to talk to a snake victim in the UK, and I fielded all manner of questions from junior doctors and eminent surgeons alike. I had a certain reassurance from them that if you are going to die from a snake bite, it's going to be from anaphylactic shock in the first 15 minutes! I wish the snake had told me that at the time.
 
I think the celebrity in question thought that she had some accident prone landscape gardener on her hands but never the less she very kindly invited my wife and I to her summer ball, all proceedings of which went to Chase Hospital, a very worthy cause. In the taxi on the way there, my wife could talk of nothing except her inkling that Simon Cowell from X Factor fame was going to be there. As I stared out of the window admiring the limos, Rolls Royce and assorted helicopters all making their way to the party, I felt a presence on my lip. A very large horsefly had sneaked up and had been feeding on me unawares. My wife turned white as she saw my lip, huge and swelling; horrified that she was going to the ball with the nutty professor. Two minutes later I was walking the red carpet shaking hands with the celebrity couple who looked at me in disbelief as I mumbled with my fat lip that I had just been bitten by a horsefly. You couldn't write it!

Anyone whose business is to do with digging holes will be well aware of the fascinating subject of compaction. It goes hand in hand with expansion, and anyone starting off in the landscaping business could save himself a lot of agro and a small fortune by reading up on the subject as soon as possible.

On one of my very early projects I could not understand why the 6 cubic meters of chalk I dug out of a garden in Selborne, Hampshire, managed to fill two and a half skips akin to over 12 cubic meters and why I ended up doing one of my first design and build projects for nothing. The reason of course is the chalk has been compacted over millions of years by thousands of of tons of rock and unsurprisingly is a bit squashed. Dig it out and its volume swells up to 2 times its original, and makes costing and calculations that bit trickier. Conversely when you want to put it back you need proportionately more soil for example to fill that hole as when it is compacted down its volume reduces. We often see examples of uncompacted groundwork's, and anyone who has recently bought a house will see the dips appearing around all but the most carefully prepared drain cover excavations.

Here in Hampshire a huge volume of soil is being moved through the Hindhead tunnel scheme  from the Liphook end to the Thursley end and being used to build a huge ramp up to where the new road will meet the old. The ramp is constructed a metre high at a time and then compacted with the mother of all garden rollers to prevent subsequent shrinkage, movement and cracking.

This is a useful lesson in the garden whether you are putting back large volumes of soil, or just planting a tree, put the soil down in  layers and compact as you go. My dad showed me how to compact a lawn just by walking on it. If you put your toes in the air the pressure on your heel is equivalent to many tonnes per square inch and by continual raking and practicing for the ministry of silly walks you too can have a permanent flat bowling green lawn. Happy days!

The last two weeks of May are always the most important time for any garden landscaper, in terms of projects on, clients to visit, and general stuff to be done. This year is no exception, and while the recent rain hasn't helped the hard landscapers, our new turfing is getting a well needed drink. The garden maintenance arm of the business is in full swing. You may have noticed your garden has exploded into life, and while Hampshire and Surrey have a good proportion of free draining soils there is very little sign of it drying out just yet. Today is the start of the Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show, and while there is a wonderful buzz to doing it, anyone with a family life and a wish for a semblance of normality in their year would be advised to steer well clear. Unfortunately, many garden designers and sponsors have had to pull out of Chelsea because of the crunch, and I suspect the emphasis this year will be on cost savings and doing things in house.

Talking of which we have had lengthy discussions with a number of clients about ways to keep down costs, particularly with the creation of new gardens, with design and construction services. There are huge cost savings to be made in in both establishment costs and particularly ongoing garden maintenance works. We have two wonderful clients on the Hampshire Surrey border with whom we have done several projects, and now look after their estates. Our in house Garden Designer Dan Lobb has provided for vast swathes of wild flowers where once there were formal lawns. Not only has the volume of wildlife improved no end, the maintenance of this area has dropped 70%, which represents a massive saving running into thousands of pounds.  Also by using thicker mulching the weed time is reduced and therefore labour costs well down on last year.
 

I had a very anxious phone call from a client in Bognor Regis in West Sussex yesterday afternoon who had just interrupted two burglars trying to nick the recently planted Phoenix Palms I had just installed. They didn't get very far however as they are very heavy (wet clay root balls from Italy) and incredibly sharp near the base. Anyone trying to forcibly remove them without gloves would be in for some severe lacerations, and I expect a late night call to NHS direct and a trip to Boots Chemist is in order for some teenager in Bognor trying to pull a fast one.

It's a very full-on life running a landscape gardening business, and with four kids there is never a dull moment. The three eldest girls have all been to St Ives School in Haslemere, and while the two eldest have moved up to Guildford High School, my youngest Antonia is in year 5 and loving it. I have always been in awe of teachers and on the few occasions I have been in the headmistresses' room, I have always had a slight queasiness in my stomach, probably a throw back to my slightly naughty days in Churchtown Junior School in Southport, reporting to Mr Johns.  I was slightly nervous when I was summoned to see Mrs Catt last month and to my astonishment I was asked to be a governor. If Mr Johns could see me now.

Like all businesses at the moment, schools are feeling the pinch with fewer people being able to pay and it is all about bums on seats. I hope I can bring something to the table, even if it's that a school in Haslemere has one of the best lawns for miles.

One sector of industry hardest hit by the downturn has been the building trade. In the area we cover, including London, Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Berkshire, a number of Landscape Gardeners who rely extensively on the building trade have seen their volume of works suffer.

We are slightly more fortunate in that we the majority of our clients are private, around Liphook Haslemere and beyond. Advertising in some of the more glossy publications has brought us some success further afield and today we start two large projects one in North Hampshire near Odiham, the other in East Surrey near Walton on Thames. They are both great projects involving detailed stone work and very high spec decking and planting. The headache for us is how to start two major projects in one day. This is where we are lucky enough to have two very cool and highly professional managers in Dan and Tony, who can get their head around the logistics of the project and start them rolling with a minimum of fuss. It's going to be a very long day for all of us but thank goodness in this most difficult of years the work is flowing!