Design and construction

Ground Force Day

Some people love a surprise, and one of our garden projects this week is a secret! It’s rather nice for us to be working on a garden that will be totally unexpected. It’ll be like that bit on Ground Force, when the person comes back to their new garden and Alan Titchmarsh is waiting there with a glass of champagne. This time, the clients have gone on holiday and the wife has arranged for us to rebuild the garden for her husband while they’re away. We went out and met her, secretly, and drew up a design and planned everything down to the last detail. We organised access, electrics and water, and had a bit of a panic when the skip nearly arrived early, before they’d left for the airport, but managed to delay it at the last minute! We have just over two weeks to get it all done, so we have a whole team working on it. I’m longing to see his face when he gets back.

Our ‘home’ garden is really coming together. The paving is all down and I’m really happy with the combination of paving and brick for the paths and patio. It’s been great to see the progress at the end of every day, and I am longing to start planting. The water feature is the next big thing. I’ve ordered a wall fountain – a lead lion’s head – and the water will pour down into a pool below. I’m going to grow roses all around it – like a mane of thorns – and, of course, I can imagine just what it’s going to look like in three years time when it’s all overgrown and wonderful.  I’m even going to buy some fish!


Plants

Viburnum and wisteria

Plant combinations are often covered in books on plant schemes, but I don’t often see it in practice. Some plants just look so wonderful together – like roses and clematis. If they h ave a similar habit, and complement each other, then you have to make a decision. Either choose two plants that flower at the same time every year, or ones that flower at completely different times. You either get a double impact, as the joint flowering ones bloom together, or you extend your flowering season by combining spring- and autumn-flowering plants. I have planted white climbing Iceberg roses all along my boundary, combined with white flowering Clematis ‘Henryii’ (named after my lovely dad, Henry). They bloom at the same time, and the clematis has an almost green tinge to its buds, which look wonderful against the white roses. I went to the nursery and bought 20 plants of each! Just wait for three years to pass!


Things to do

Scrubbing

Scrub! The furniture has had it’s winter of discontent. It’s been out there, day and night, withstanding gales, snow, rain and falling leaves; now’s the time to clean it up. Get a big bucket of warm soapy water and an old-fashioned scrubbing brush. (This is a good opportunity to wear a wench’s outfit too.) Scrub the table and chairs really well, and rinse off thoroughly with clean water. Now you must leave it to dry completely before the next stage, and this could actually take a few weeks. Until we have a spell of dry, clear weather nothing much will dry out. When the wood looks dry and the weather forecast is set fair, oil the wood using a soft cloth and a good quality furniture oil. Let it soak right into the grain. Using the same kind of brush, give the cushions a good scrub too and hang them on the line to dry out. Soak them with the hose pipe until all the soap suds have gone. Choose a nice blowy day and keep them out of direct sunlight. Enjoy the feeling of self-righteousness.