Feb 27, 2014 | Landscaping
Most of us have lawn in our gardens. Most have some sort of lawn mowing equipment at home as well, but how about lawn edging?
If you are thinking about having a new lawn then think how you are going to maintain it.
Mowing along the edges, fences, deckings etc is not that simple unless you took some care in designing your space.
Think about lawn edging. These can be your friend every time you go out to mow your lawn. Bricks or stones put down flush with the surface of the lawn make mowing a pleasure. You don’t have to strim the edges or do anything else apart from running the mower with one wheel on the edge.
Here’s some pictures of a returfed area together with a newly created lawn edge along the fence made with block paving bricks.
Few photos of another garden that had lawn edging done.
Before and after photos below
Feb 20, 2014 | News
When it comes to hedge maintenance, regular hedge cutting / trimming is the single most important thing to do. Regular hedge trim will make your hedge compact and thick right from the bottom.
Why plant a hedge?
Hedge can be a perfect garden boundary, but the wrong one may give you troubles.
- hedges provide shelter.
- They dumpen noises, reduce strong winds
- The obvious they give you privacy.
- security but not all hedges. Thorny, prickly varieties like for example:
Common holly
Firethorn
Blackthorn
Barberry
Buckthorn
- some hedging plants like photinia give you a beautiful seasonal change.
- hedge supports wildlife. Birds love nesting in them as well as eating some berries.
- unlike wooden fences, hedges won’t need replacing for many many years and they don’t require anything more than regular hedge cutting.
I can’t stress that too much.
Hedges need your commitment to regular hedge cutting / trimming.
All types of hedging need at least one hedge cut a year. Some varieties more than one.
A regular light prune is much better for you and your hedge then an occasional heavy cut.
Power tools do a quick job if done regularly. High and overgrown hedges often need costly specialist equipment or professional help
to get them back into shape.
You can avoid a lot of problems in future if you choose the right hedging plants for your boundary.
Hedge planting – the right choice.
The many benefits of growing hedges on your boundary depend on selecting the right plants for the situation. If you choose an unsuitable variety you could be faced with a range of problems, especially if the hedge grows too big. It will be difficult to trim and may cut out light to your garden or house.
- Its roots could deprive other plants of water and nutrients, and even interfere with paths and buildings.
- Oversize hedges will intrude on your garden space, and may cause problems with neighbours.
- Oversize hedges can be costly and time consuming to cut back and most conifers, including Leyland and Lawson’s cypress, will not tolerate hard pruning.
- If the hedge borders a road or path the local authority could get involved, and insist the hedge is cut back.
Luckily there is a wide range of plants available so it’s not difficult to achieve an attractive healthy hedge – one which will take only as much upkeep as you can manage, and create an attractive feature in your neighbourhood, not a bone of contention.
|
Growth rate |
hedge cutting – how often |
Size if unpruned |
Foliage |
Prickly? |
| Beech |
xxx |
Once |
Large tree |
D/LL |
No |
| Berberis |
xx |
Once |
Large shrub |
E |
Yes |
| Cherry laurel |
xx |
Once |
Large shrub |
E |
No |
| Cotoneaster |
xx |
Once |
Large shrub |
E |
No |
| Escallonia |
xx |
Twice |
Large shrub |
E |
No |
| Firethorn |
xx |
Twice |
Large shrub |
E |
Yes |
| Hawthorn |
xxx |
Twice |
Small tree |
D |
Yes |
| Hazel |
xxx |
Once |
Small tree |
D |
No |
| Holly |
x |
Once |
Small tree |
E |
Yes |
| Hornbeam |
xx |
Once |
Large tree |
D/LL |
No |
| Lawsons cypress |
xx |
Twice |
Large tree |
E Conifer |
No |
| Leyland cypress |
xxx |
Twice |
Large tree |
E Conifer |
No |
| Portugal laurel |
x |
Once |
Large shrub |
E |
No |
| Privet |
xx |
Three |
Large shrub |
E |
No |
| Rose |
xx |
Once |
Large shrub |
D |
Yes |
| Western red cedar |
xx |
Twice |
Large tree |
E Conifer |
No |
| Yew |
x |
Once |
Large tree |
E Conifer |
No |
Key:
Growth rate, for established plants
xxx – over 60cm/year
xx – 30-60cm/year
x – 15-30cm/year
Foliage:
D – deciduous
LL – dead leaves held in winter
E – evergreen
My favourite hedging plant has to be YEW ( taxus )
Classic choice but everlasting and makes an excellent hedge. Doesnt need that much hedge cutting either.
Tidy Gardens can trim/prune most of hedges, but if you are that lucky and have spectacular yew like on a picture above then DON’T call us. Call for a crane ! 🙂
Feb 3, 2014 | News
Fencing project. New fence in Bracknell
See below some photos of what the area looks like now.
I dismantled today what’s been left of that former fence and prepared the area..
That fencing job should be finished tomorrow. If everything goes to schedule I’ll post some photos soon after.
The fencing materials for this project include:
– Concrete posts
– 30cm concrete gravel boards
– 1.5m closed board fence panels
Giving the total fence height of 1.8m
All above supplied by a local friendly fence suppliers based in Winnersh.
Soil level on the other side of fence is much higher therefore I opted for 30cm high concrete gravel boards – to create a strong barrier and keep fence panels off the ground and extend their life.
Obviously any wood that is in direct contact with moist soil will rot much quicker..
Finale…
Job finished on time.
Below final pictures of this fencing project.
On one of them you can see the fence from the neighbour side. Soil level is much higher there.
Jan 1, 2014
My garden was a mess and I was trying to find someone who could not only help but also guide me to keep it in good shape. After looking around a lot and not finding the right person, I came across Tidy Gardens website and met Paul.
All I can say is that I couldn’t have asked for a better person. Not only Paul did a fantastic job of cleaning the garden but also gave it a good shape and came up with fantastic suggestions that I couldn’t even think off.
And it doesn’t even end there. During the last storm, one of the trees fell over and one call to Paul, it was sorted. He came over immediately in high wind and heavy rain and cut the tree off before it could do any more damage and sorted the whole mess. He made sure that the tree didn’t break any fences by taking it down immediately from the fences it had fallen over.
Paul is very flexible and will come around even when we are not at home and complete the job he started. All i can say is, fantastic job done at reasonable price. Don’t think will look for any one else after working with Paul
Dec 24, 2013 | News
Tidy Gardens – Tree service
I was doing some garden maintenance in a Lower Earley / Reading area yesterday.
It was in the morning and that was the start of the windy period that last until the morning following day. There was one dead tree in the garden and it started moving about at the base of the trunk when wind picked up a bit.. It wasn’t a huge tree but was about 8m high. Big enough to cause damage to the house if fell down on it. I adviced for it to be cut down. It was a rented place and landlord was informed. I left, but few hours later I had a phone call asking if I could come again to cut it down as wind was picking up..
I set off as soon as possible, and just after I arrived that tree has fallen down. It collapsed onto a fence. I cut it up and removed it off the fence.
Lucky that it did not fell onto a house.
Act in time !
Tree service – Tidy Gardens
