Planning a garden

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

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 […]

It’s easy to think that increasing your hedge height, fences or trellis will bring peace and increase privacy in your garden. However, the maximum fence height is set at 2m in England. You’re only able to achieve so much with this method. I’m going to show you with a recent example of how you can […]

The Exploding Atom Garden is based on a concept of the layers of an atom firing out from a red-hot core. To symbolise these layers, I’ve decided to use Gabions to represent the shards of this Garden Explosion. Given this garden uses very soft landscaping techniques for the borders and grass pathways, I felt it […]

High impact borders can bring the wow factor to your garden. It doesn’t matter whether you have a postage stamp sized garden or a few acres, the principles are the same. Here in the Exploding Atom Garden, I’ve been planting up what I’ve nicknamed the ‘Moody Goth Border’. The aim for this border is to […]

Now I would usually argue against planting in the middle of a 30-year record heatwave. However, when you’ve got a hundred or so plants sat waiting to go in, you can’t really hold off as they frazzle in the 32-degree heat. So I’m caveating this article that where possible avoid planting in the middle of […]

It’s easy to become disheartened when you’re halfway through a project. The beginning seems a long time ago and the end seems too far off. You’re right in the thick of it, the messy bit where everything is up in the air. It’s the classic symptom of any project, the middle bit is often where motivation […]

Planting the Trees Winter is the perfect time for planting bare root and root balled trees. Now don’t roll your eyes, its the truth. This is the time when most trees are dormant and can be lifted safely as root balled trees or bare root. The benefits are they are far cheaper and easier to […]

Marking out the Garden Design on the ground The next phase is probably the hardest in terms of skill and accuracy with such a geometric design. Marking it on the slightly sloping lumpy field surface. I won’t lie, the marking out of any garden always starts out with bags of enthusiasm and excitement before slight […]

The Exploding Atom garden has been my muse since moving house from the non-stop Manchester Cityscape to rural solitude in Lathom, a 6 square mile sleepy historical village. Talk about juxtaposition! The move brought a new perspective on my garden designs. Rather than small awkward city spaces with multi-functions, what would I design for a […]