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How to build a sleeper raised bed
As well as retaining walls timber sleepers can be used to create raised beds. A great variety of shapes can be created using these, but the shape of the sleepers only really work well with shapes based on right-angles. This though still provides great scope by interlocking the basic squares and rectangles, and varying the…
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Fixing trellis to a wall
Trellis is a very effective way of training climbers against a wall and can either be bought or made from scratch. Fixing it to the wall though can present problems but with a little care result can be both durable and effective. Equipment: Method:
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How to make trellis
Trellis can be purchased ready made from garden centres and DIY stores but it is in a limited range of sizes, you only have one spacing for the lathes and it is often quite light weight. A far better way is to make it yourself from pressure treated timber and you can chose any sizes…
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Notching the top of a post to take a 150mm horizontal beam
Equipment: Summary: To work safely and well you need the post on a stable and strong support at a comfortable height to work at. If you don’t have any sawhorses most DIY stores sell foldable ones. You may also find it helpful to clamp the post to the sawhorses to make it more stable. If…
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How to lay crazy paving
Crazy paving has fallen right out of fashion; killed first by release of the modern mottle coloured concrete riven flags by Bradstone in the early 1980’s followed by the cheap imported stone flags from the Far East more recently. That said it still has its uses, particularly where an informal path is needed or a…
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How to design a drive
With drives, probably more than any other thing in gardens, the most important thing is it actually functions as it is intended. No matter how nice it may look, if it does work as a drive it is a waste of money. As ever there has to be some compromises, for example: you may what…
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Parts of a Wall
Garden walls are constructed from 5 distinct elements: Subgrade The first, the subgrade, is the ground the entire structure stands upon and so its stability and load bearing ability determines on whether the wall is going to remain standing. For these reasons the wall foundation should be onto undisturbed ground that has not been built…
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Drive dimensions
This is a short collection of notes on the dimensions of a private drive. These are for guidance only and should be checked before being used. Local regulations and restrictions may apply and you should check before starting any work. The drive entrance should only be at the verge crossing. The verge crossing will have lowered curbs…
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Fatsia japonica
One of the classic garden plants for shade Fatsia japonica is much admired for its large, glossy, evergreen leaves and easy temperament. It grows happily in any reasonable garden soil and does particularly well in shade, though not so well in dry shade. It is also tolerant of a maritime garden though its large leaves…
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Eucryphia × nymansensis ‘Nymansay’
This may not be a very popular plant; I fear the name may put off some, but it should be far better known. Not only is it an evergreen with attractive foliage all year round but every late summer it disappears under a mass of white flowers. Though not spectacular individually they are borne in…
