Plant Combinations for an Abundant Garden. A. & G. Bridgewater
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Wrought-iron gates are ideal for front gardens.
Anti-theft gates
With wrought-iron gates, either have tops welded on the hinge pegs, or turn the top peg over so that the gate is captured and cannot easily be lifted off the hinge pegs. Use bolts instead of screws for fixing hinges to wood.
PATIOS
There are hundreds of ways of making patios and many materials to choose from. You could use brick, concrete slab, reconstituted stone, crushed stone, gravel or tree bark. You could have bricks in straight lines, in zigzags, as chevrons or in soldier courses. There are countless options for each material. Look at the materials and forms in your locality – your house, and neighboring houses, walls and paths – and then do your best to follow on.
Does it have to be paving slabs?
A patio made from a mixture of materials – concrete slabs, found stone and old bricks – looks good in the right setting.
A small patio made with found brick blends in perfectly here.
This rather formal stone patio is uplifted by the planting wall.
PATIO OPTIONS
An existing patio extended with gravel, cobblestones and stepping stones.
This patio has been created using a mixture of old bricks, stone and tiles.
An unusual patio made from worn slate inside a hexagonal border.
If you want something a bit different, the strong shape of this circle looks great set within lawn and plants.
For a decorative patio, you could try mixing plain paving stones and cobblestones in a pretty pattern.
SHAPE, STYLE AND PLACEMENT
Gone are the days when the best you could hope for in patio comfort was eight gray concrete slabs and two old armchairs; now you can have a patio in just about any shape, color and style that strikes your fancy. A patio is now considered to be more an extension of the house than just a level area in the garden. Just as you want to make the best of the various rooms in your house, now you can shape and decorate the patio to suit your desires and needs.
A basic rectangular patio is a good low-cost option for a small garden.
Geometric combinations – circles and rectangles are wonderfully dynamic – can be used to create separate patio “rooms,” with some areas being set at different levels to increase the visual interest.
HOW TO BUILD A BRICK PATIO
HOW TO BUILD A PAVING-SLAB PATIO
DRAINAGE SLOPES
In the context of good drainage, a patio needs either to be exactly level, open- jointed and set on sand, or very slightly sloped. A good angle of slope is a fall of about ⅛ in (3 mm) in every 3 ½ ft (1 m).
NON-SLIP SURFACES
Old brick, stable pavers – like bricks but with a crisscross pattern – and stamped concrete make relatively good non-slip surfaces, as long as they are dry and kept free from algae.
Patio additions
Pergolas A pergola not only gives a patio architectural form, and provides a framework for climbing plants, it also provides shade.
Water features The sounds of a spouting wall mask or bubbling fountain are very relaxing.
Barbecue Consider building a permanent brick barbecue.
Built-in furniture Bench seats or stone-slab coffee tables save on moving and storing garden furniture.
Quick patio
In the sense that a patio is no more than a well- drained firm area – somewhere to sit and play – a good, swift, low-cost option is to choose a well- placed, slightly sloping area, level it with a thin layer of gravel, cover it with landscape fabric, and then top it off with crushed bark.
DECKING
The exciting thing about decking is its immediacy. You might have to mix a small amount of concrete for the footings, but, that apart, you can simply float the deck over the existing garden – over old concrete, damp areas, rocks, slopes – and have it finished in the space of a long weekend. If you want an area for sitting, but do not have time to create a patio, decking is the perfect solution.
Why should I choose decking?
Things to consider
Decking is fun to build and just as much fun to use, but only if you spend time designing and planning all the details of the project. Answers to the following questions will show you the way.
• How are you going to use the deck? Do you want it for sunbathing or sitting in the shade?
• Do you want to use the deck for barbecues, or for the kids to play on?
• Do you want the deck to be physically linked in some way to the house or set in isolation?
• Do you want the deck to be raised up on legs or set more or less at ground level?
• If you plan to have a raised deck on unstable ground, will you need the advice of, say, a structural engineer?
• Does the deck need to wrap around the corner of the house like a Japanese engawa, or can it run straight out like a pier?
• Do you want a low-cost option, or are you going for the most expensive wood?
• Will your designs in any way affect your neighbors? For example, will a raised deck impinge on their privacy?
• Are there any overhead power lines that are going to be a problem?
• Some areas need planning permission for this kind of work. Will you need planning