Planting under trees can be a nightmare, but successful schemes can be achieved here and in other dry conditions using water efficient leaky pipe systems in combination with an appropriate planting plan.

Fitting a flow reducer to the supply and a timed output will also help conserve water supplies and keep your plants alive. Covering the beds with a moisture absorbant mulch will also help nourish plants and give a slow release of water to the root structure.

Other situations in the garden may benefit from more simpler watering practices such as a watering can. Here an attractive water butt maybe erected (such as this mock terracotta urn) and linked to the rainwater downpipe system. You’d be amazed how much water even the smallest shed roof generates!

Elsewhere you may have situations in the garden where access to water is limited. Take this Vegetable Garden we recently designed. Here a smart design is supported by a rainwater fed tank that incorporates a pump so that water can be directed locally at raised beds. A design like this could also be adapted to include timed watering using leaky pipes.

With watering of gardens coming under more public scrutiny Gardenproud can help you create more efficient systems in your garden to enable you to enjoy its full potential and remain friends with your neighbours!

Call us for further details on 07725 173820

Earlier this year we were invited to redesign a front garden in Tunbridge Wells. This included designing a new driveway, new raised beds, lawn areas, rockery, lighting and planting as well as moving the vehicle entranceway. And this all had to be designed, submitted for planning permission, approvals by Kent County Council and groundworks and planting completed for an important family occasion scheduled for April 2012!

NO PRESSURE!

Well I’m happy to say we took up the challenge and following a number of alternative design concepts settled on a treatment that would provide improved access to the house, greater levels of parking, privacy for the client and importantly enhance the presentation of the house. Because of its proximity to the kitchen the concept was subsequently developed to even include a potager garden that incorporated a whole host of fresh herbs to support the clients keen interest in cooking.

Tim Sykes, Gardenproud designer said. “This design doubled the size of the driveway, it improved access for vehicles, it created the opportunity for an enhanced planting scheme in front of the house, and it re-focused attention on the main entrance of the house. Given the planning constraints of moving crossovers it was pretty ambitious to achieve all this in the timescales. But our client was really helpful and keen to progress, so having received our approvals, and with the threat of severe weather we pressed on in March 2012, like mad!”

The old entrance was narrow and led to a parking area for just 2 cars.

Ground works began in March in ernest!

The new driveway shape was excavated, new soakaways and drainage installed and cabling for the new lighting was laid.

Things soon started to take shape with the bed and perimeter walls being erected.

A wider front entrance step was built to add stature and focus to the main doorway and provide a level base for planters.

With KCC approval we set about creating the new central entrance and crossover.

A beautiful new tarmac and flint impregnated driveway surface was laid.

Smart new oak entrance posts were fitted with lead copings and integral marker lights.

The lighting featured copper style fittings throughout, and sockets for trickle charge feeders for cars.

So having got everything in place we closed up the old driveway and pedestrian access points, then created new walls to match in with the existing pavement edging. The old driveway crossover was replaced by a new run of Tunbridge Wells brick pavers that reinstated the pedestrian pathway. New mature laurel bushes were planted in a dense formation to plug the gaps in the old hedge. You can’t see the join!

We then created a planting plan for the beds and new rockery area and got straight on with the ground preparation and planting…….

The potager garden starts to take shape with its combination of herbs, flowers and shrubs all set in a new rockery feature.

The two new front beds feature a number of key shrubs and perennials including Photinia (Red Robbin), Buxus (Box) Spirals, Pieris Japonica, Camelias, Box Balls, Dwarf Roses, Alliums and Peonies. The two planters feature Bay trees and lavender. It was just our luck half way through the project when SE Water announced their hosepipe ban! The watering cans came out. Then God stepped in and gave us plenty of rain! Thank you.

Suffice to say we finished the project with a week’s grace before the big family do!

So everybody was really pleased with the result, our project management, and that we and our grubby boots were nowhere to be seen!

Final comment from the client: “We are really delighted by the new front garden you have created.  It exceeds all our expectations.”

For further information about designing and landscaping your garden please contact Tim Sykes on 07725 173820.

You can see it at www.reallyhouseproud.com

Director, Sarah Sykes says, “we wanted to create a site that would provide customers and prospects with enhanced information about the breadth of services Houseproud could offer, together with a greater appreciation of the commitment we have to delivering consistent quality.”

Houseproud was established in 1999 by Sarah targeted at the discerning customer base she found to be living in and around the Tunbridge Wells area, “as the name suggests we are targeting customers who are house proud, but haven’t got the time or are unable to complete all the household chores themselves.”

Today Houseproud looks after over 200 properties and supports a growing army of cleaners and ironers. With its operation based in Tunbridge Wells, Houseproud cares for properties as wide afield as Sevenoaks, Lamberhurst, Brenchley, Groombridge and Crowborough. If offers regular household cleaning, ironing and special blitz cleans among it’s core services.

A special feature of the new website are Houseproud’s “Trade Secrets” section. This is hopefully a growing section that includes tips from cleaners vetted by Houseproud that will help people solve everyday cleaning challenges.

For further information you can contact Sarah on 07831 394422, or at info@reallyhouseproud.com

Local reservoir Bewl Water is currently standing with just 42% of its normal water reserves.

Source: Shot by photographer – Chloe, 19th February

This means you will not be able to water your garden or lawns with a mains water fed hosepipe until the ban has been lifted.

So we’ve got  3 weeks to prepare ourselves for this.

Not withstanding it might rain either before or after this period it maybe sensible to consider ways in which you could build up water reserves.

If you already have a rainwater recycling system then you may like to consider ways in which this might be connected to a pump which feeds either a leaky pipe or fine spray system.

Hozelock amongst others make such systems, and Karcher make submersible pumps.

You could use the time you have and fill a water butt or tanks and link this to a similar system that can feed off rain water as well.

Here is a system we recently created for a vegetable garden, linked to a rainwater fed water butt near Tunbridge Wells…

For further information on conserving water in the garden contact Tim Sykes on 07725 173820.

It’s the time when the garden really comes back to life. For Gardenproud it’s the point when we get more calls for help than any other month – so it’s like the golden month!

What should you be doing in March?

- plant up the new roses, shrubs, trees and fruit

- plant up the gladioli, lilies and summer bulbs

- plant out the fruit plants

- prune the roses

- sow new lawns, or repair lawns

- sow poppies, marigolds and lobelias

- get in the green house or propagator  with the brussel sprout, cabbage or lettuce seeds

If you see this sign around Tunbridge Wells or indeed Kent then you know we’ve designed a new garden and are working on creating a fresh landscape!

If you are looking for some new ideas for your garden then do talk to us first. We are happy to provide a range of concepts for a very competitive price!

So what are you waiting for?

Contact Tim Sykes today on 07725 173820, or at info@reallygardenproud.com

The Met Office have today issued a severe weather warning.

Temperatures are set to plummet to -6C in some areas this weekend.

Wintery showers are expected to hit areas of the UK as residents brace themselves for a spell of cooler weather that may include snow in some regions.

So if you haven’t already covered your vulnerable plants and shrubs then do so now. We’ll also be sending messages out to all members of the Gardenproud team to check out customer gardens.

You can buy winter fleece off the roll or in re-usable drawstring pull-ons that come in different sizes. You can buy fleeces at most garden centres and also get them online, see www.harrodhorticultural.com

At Harrod’s website if you click on “Garden Netting and Protection” then click on “Insulating Fleece and Plant Cosies” you will find what you are looking for.

Plants that are particularly susceptible to damage include bays, boxes, fuchsias, cordylines, palms and yuccas. But check first, a useful place to look is the RHS website, see www.rhs.org.uk

Once on the RHS website if you go to “Plants” then pop into the search engine “Frost Protection” some useful links will appear.

Frosty Formality

A warm welcome awaits you when you meet Peter Brown at his gallery – The Pantiles Edge Gallery in Tunbridge Wells. “Frosty Formality” just happens to be the title of one of his unique paintings.

Gallery owner and local artist Peter has developed a captivating approach to depicting the “English Country Garden.”

His background in design shows through in the highly graphical and almost surreal interpretations of garden landscapes.

Here are a few more examples…..

Dovecotell

Unrequited Love

The Secret Rose Garden

You can meet Peter and see more from this series of paintings at the gallery which is situated in 2 Nevill Street, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Tn2 5TT. Or visit the website at www.pegart.co.uk and click on Artists “Peter Brown.”

A town garden can sometimes signal limited space and here the design task can be to create an environment that is both appealing and has practical attributes.

Just the challenge Gardenproud were looking for when they were asked recently to transform a modest garden in the centre of Tunbridge Wells.

The house is an attractive victorian property that has been extended in a complimentary but modern fashion. A key feature is an orangery extension incorporating a floor to ceiling gabled window.

Patio doors from the extension led onto a small decking terrace/pathway. This had an interesting wave feature that was to become a design cue for the work in the garden.

Elsewhere the garden looked overgrown and dark. A thick outcrop of shrubs, ivy and brambles disguised an attractive rear wall. This overgrown area encroached on what available space there was.

It also just happened to be the sunniest spot of the garden!

The client wanted to brighten up the garden, increase the perception of space, enjoy the sunlight and importantly use the garden more often for entertaining etc.

The Gardenproud team designed a concept that built on the attributes of the lower terrace and created a larger new upper terrace that would benefit from maximum sunlight, new planting areas along the borders and new pathways. They then rebuilt the old lower terrace in new materials.

Many of the old shrubs were temporarily removed and will be replaced by a new planting scheme early 2012. Other shrubs and small trees were pruned so as to remove dead foliage and also open up the garden.

The victorian pavers from the old pathways were cleaned and reused as part of the new scheme.

To help improve privacy and give the garden a more attractive backdrop trellising was erected along the neighbour borders.

As a focal point and to help increase the perception of space and light Gardenproud designed a large mirror to go on the rear wall. This was made locally by Masson Joinery in hardwood. “We designed the mirror to reflect the architecture of the client’s orangery,” commented Gardenproud’s Tim Sykes.

A lighting scheme was designed so as to provide atmospheric colour and shape to the garden at night. It additionally enables outdoor entertaining and illuminates the connecting pathways. This was installed by local electricians Bright Spark. Ingeniously the whole system is operated from a remote controlled switching point in the kitchen/dining area.

One of the key challenges for the team was dealing with the logistics of working in a confined space, including organising deliveries, storing materials, creating work areas and removing waste.

“Parking is also a massive challenge to any tradesman in places like Tunbridge Wells, with the need to drop off and collect equipment and regularly monitor progress. Anyway we managed to overcome these difficulties and have learn’t a lot from the experience,” says Tim Sykes.

The end result speaks for itself and most importantly Sonya our client is delighted with her new garden and looks forward to enjoying it in 2012.

“The garden looks fantastic! We’re very pleased with it and really like the mirror.”

From just £250, Gardenproud can provide you with a series of concepts demonstrating how you can transform your garden space.

For a FREE consultation call Tim Sykes on 07725 173820 today, or email us at info@reallygardenproud.com

There’s nothing quite like a beautiful garden in full bloom to lift the spirits!

And as we all sit watching The News at Ten and listen to the threat of a double-dip recession we all need something to hang onto.

Well for just £250, plus the dreaded VAT( I’m sorry according to George Osborne this isn’t likely to be coming down yet) we can make you feel better and hopefully inspire you onto greater things!

That’s all it costs for Gardenproud to provide a series of concepts demonstrating how you can transform your garden. It maybe that you just want a fresh look at your planting, or a new terrace designed, or a vegetable garden, or the kids are getting bigger and you need to re-think the front driveway, or maybe you’ve bucked the trend and just moved into a new house and the whole garden needs a re-think. Whatever your desires we have the experience and expertise to help you realise your dream.

Don’t leave it till the tulips come out, call us now and be sure to have a much improved view by the Spring.

For a FREE consultation call Tim Sykes on 07725 173820 today, or email us at info@reallygardenproud.com