I specialise in garden design in the Manchester, Liverpool, Southport and Cheshire areas of the North West of England. Specifically small, awkward or unconventional gardens. I love problem gardens and love to use my creative design and problem-solving to make incredible spaces for customers. I have a passion for good design with plants and I’m one […]

Artificial turf is now serious competition for real lawns in our gardens. One installer has seen a 200% year on year increase in the demand for artificial turf compared to living grass. A visit to a ‘Garden & Landscaping’ exhibition this year gave me first-hand experience of the sheer amount of artificial grass being pushed […]

I’m often asked by new and experienced gardeners how to prune fruit trees in summer. Many gardeners know of winter pruning before spring as housekeeping but summer pruning often gets overlooked. Maybe its the euphoria of long sunny days, flowers all around the garden and hazy nights watching sunsets. However, if you fail to keep […]

If you’ve started to dig around a little into the world of Garden Design or been binge-watching Gardeners’ World you’ll have come across the term Borrowed Views. Other terms like focal point or eye hook are sometimes used and it may have sparked your imagination on using these yourself in your garden. What on earth […]

Whether you have just planted a hedge or inherited one in your garden this guide will show you how to trim a hedge in the most efficient way. Ignore those fears that trimming a hedge is a full weekend of drama. It really doesn’t have to be with the correct technique and tools. With hedges, […]

Battery-powered garden tools are becoming really popular amongst gardeners. Battery-powered garden tools, such as hedge trimmers are more flexible due to the lack of chord, they are usually lighter and better for the environment compared to petrol-powered hedge cutters. In fact, I now use a battery-powered lawnmower, strimmer, leaf blower and hedge trimmer in the […]

Grasses for Small Gardens If you’ve only got a small garden then naturally you’re only going to be looking for petite smaller varieties. Luckily there are many to choose from all of which can bring some movement and calm to your garden. All the grasses contained within this guide are clump-forming, meaning they don’t run […]

Watering a garden can be a time consuming and sometimes thankless task. In a heatwave, it is essential to efficiently water your plants to stop them from wilting, getting stressed or dying due to exhaustion. Before you reach for the sprinkler and set your alarm for 5 am, you may want to read this guide […]

Everyone has their preference when it comes to colour. I’m a sucker for the reds, orange and yellows of the colour wheel. I absolutely love planting up red hot colours for garden design clients bringing that feeling of summer to a border. When I started to design the #explodingatomgarden the red hot central core was […]