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Taking over an established garden
Most people when they buy a new house find they are taking over an existing garden and this will present certain challenges; you have, after all, bought their house not their tastes. It is therefore inevitable not everything in the garden you are going to like and/or want. It is reasonable to assume on first…
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Establishing a garden hedge
Hedges have been an integral part of gardens since the earliest times and encompass a vast range of ideas. Their main purpose though is to divide up space; be it marking the boundaries of a garden or dividing up the area within them. Many people shy away from hedges on the grounds that they take…
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How to build a free-standing timber pergola
Equipment: 100 mm by 100 mm notched posts (4 inches by 4 inches) 150 mm by 50 mm sawn and preservative treated timber (6 inches by 2 inches) 100 mm by 50 mm sawn and preservative treated timber (4 inches by 2 inches) String lines Timber pegs or steel pins 10 mm dowel or M10 coach bolts…
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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 clean mortar stains off paving
This involves using a concentrated acid from a builder’s merchant and so all the manufacture’s safety advice must be carefully followed. Equipment: Brick acid Hose pipe Cheap plastic watering can with a rose Stiff broom Wellington boots Safety equipment (read and follow the safety recommendations that come with the brick acid). Summary: Check the…
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How to prune a rose bush
Equipment: Secateurs Long armed pruners (parrot bills) Strong gloves Before you start: You are going to get scratched even with gloves on. Use good quality tools which will give a clean cut and are safer to use. Cut the stems just above an outward pointing bud. You will see these if you look carefully just…
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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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Creating a low maintenance garden
Over many years of designing and creating gardens the most frequent request I have received is for a “low maintenance” garden. I have never been asked for a high maintenance one! This is usually followed something along the lines of “so we want most of it just lawn”. The real problem is that people muddle…
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How to build a sleeper retaining wall
Retaining walls are never cheap or easy but building one from timber railway sleepers is probably as cheap and easy as you are likely to find. As the sleepers are simply screwed together their construction is well within the abilities of most people without any specialist building experience. Equipment: Spade Sledge hammer Tape measure Pick…
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How to cut back over grown shrubs
Before reaching for the pruning tools you need a clear idea of what you are hoping to achieve and in the context of this post it is a healthy plant which fits, both physically and aesthetically into its location in the garden. When you have finished you want something which does not overwhelm the area…
