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"newsletter"OK so this is the first newsletter and a few introductions
are necessary. If you've arrived from the home page or 'opted in' for the newsletter
on your maiden voyage...WELCOME. The main aim of Landscape Garden Designs is to promote an active involvement for you
in your garden design and development. If you can manage it ...so can I!!! I'll be 'assisted' by stepson James who'll view things from 'soft' landscaping
to adding hard landscape as opposed to me who sees the 'hard ' landscape
first then adds in the soft landscaping. Luckily...I'm the boss so I get the last call!!! Do you get this at home? If you're lucky enough to have a garden that's in good order...great,if not
we'll make it great. At the moment of writing I'm looking out of the patio window and thinking
back to my own garden and how it used to be. When we first moved in, there was a pond with water that hadn't seen action
for some time although there was signs of life. There's a stream at the bottom of the garden, that was host to a fair
amount of debris and overgrowth which James and I started to clear. After a couple of hours my wife Katherine came to see why 2 'grown ups'
were still down at the stream! James had put his 'wellies' on and I thought my trainers would be OK, but unfortunately, my wife wasn't too impressed by me getting a soaker (that's a wet foot to you and I).
So back to the garden we 'squelched' and got on with the 'serious' work of
gardening.
Outside this, are old railway sleepers all of which is decorated with differing sized stone and terra cotta pots filled with phormiums and succulents, tastefully arranged by James.
I don't know about you but this is the setting I enjoy most, especially
late in the evening with subdued light and candles burning.
The lighting and a Spanish style roof effect is yet to be added which I'm hoping to start on some time next week...I can't wait.
I'll put some photos up in the next newsletter, maybe you'll have some
ideas to add!
The decked area of the garden isn't very inspiring and I think this will give way to a new form of paving I've been introduced to called clay paving tiles from a manufacturer of clay pavings and clay tiles.
They were originally manufactured for the Chinese market to cover thousands of miles of concrete but fortunately it's being marketed here. I'll have to show you some of this when we install it, it's absolutely fantastic!
As for the rest of the garden, this is made up of lawn and borders which
James has planted with various plants to give it vibrant look.
We've tried a cover for the soil of artificial bark made from waste rubber.
Due to a large extension planned for the house, I think lifting of the lawn will have to wait until the end of the year or at least until the builders, me being one, will have finished 'the dirty work' on the house.
If it weren't for the bedrooms and study we're building I think we'd get away with the children accepting smaller rooms, but that doesn't seem likely!
Between the house, the garden and my own construction work we might have this
placed finished by the time I'm 103!!!
Still that's life!
I'm fortunate that I can work on other peoples homes and gardens as a break from my own, but there's still the attraction of coming home, pottering around and doing a little bit here and a little bit there.
Are you one of those 'lucky ones' who've already retired, or are you still
working?
Which runs out first for you..time or money?
If money's tight and you need to put together a garden on a shoestring, please let me know what you want and how much you want to spend. If it's not in the 'how to' series, I'll work on it.
I'm sure I'll come up with something to fit the bill.
We'll even let James have a dabble, he's good at splitting plants and being frugal. It comes from not having enough pocket money...OH YEAH!
If he doesn't come back from University College Falmouth with 'honours' for garden design
we're sending him back and asking for another one.
Seriously - he's got a talent for gardening and design and he'll want to pay his
Mum back for all those nurturing years when he's rich and famous.
I'm still looking into the garden and the squirrel's back and he's started
dismantling the bird feeder.
this is where the best food is!
this is how to break into bird feeders!
this is the time when that nice Mr Lyons puts out the nuts!
You might laugh....
I'm going back into the garden now to preserve what the squirrel's left,
if not my sanity!...But, I'll be back next time and we'll talk more about
this pastime of ours.
Mike Lyons
p.s. If you need advice or help or if you have any feedback, photos or stories of your own please "contact me". To get a copy of the newsletter sent directly to the mail box on your computer. Please contact me if you would like more information. Please contact me if you would like more information, I'll be pleased to help you.
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