Design Your Garden to Last a Lifetime

Author: Vanessa Drew, Landscape Designer at Tobermore

I have been designing gardens for nearly 20 years. If I had a pound for every client who asked me for a “low maintenance” garden, I would be writing this article from a mansion in the Bahamas!

It is often feared that low maintenance means your garden will look like a concrete jungle. However with a bit of thoughtful planning, Tobermore can help you strike a really good balance between hard and soft landscaping. This ensures that your garden combines practicality with year-round colour and interest.  For the uninitiated, hard landscaping includes paving, walling and steps. Soft landscaping encompasses grass, trees and shrubs. 

It is essential to have a certain amount of hard landscaping in every garden. This includes steps or ramps out of doors, patio areas, paths leading from one place to another and kerbs or walls. One of the first questions I ask a client is “where does the sun rise and set?” This is because we need to put the main patio area in a south or west facing position. Most people would have a family barbecue in the evening, so we need to make the most of the sunshine coming from the west. I also think that there is nothing more luxurious than having the time to sit outside to enjoy a cup of tea in morning sunshine. For this reason, I would always seek to put a smaller patio to benefit from easterly sun. 

People often say “our garden’s no good – it faces north.” But we can make the best of this situation by putting the patio further away from the house, towards the rear of the garden - this faces south! 

At Tobermore we have two design services. The first is free of charge and is a good starting point for a larger project and often all that is needed for a smaller scheme. Clients simply phone in to book a 30 minute appointment at their nearest paving centre. If you would like to avail of this service, take as many photos of the area from all angles, including one from an upstairs window if possible. Also required are the measurements of the area, including distance to the boundaries, the positions of all the doors and how many steps, etc. The more information you bring with you, the better plan we can draw up. 

If you feel the project warrants a visit, we can come to you. On this visit, we will measure the area, take photos and have a walk round the site with you to discuss the possibilities. After doing a quick sketch on site, we then come away and draw the plan to scale on the computer. For this call-out service we charge £175 for a single area. When the client purchases £1000 of paving from Tobermore, this fee is refunded. This is certainly a valuable service. 

Over the years, I have seen every shape, size and layout of garden imaginable. Some have been a challenge to say the least! But I’m happy to say, we manage to come up with a plan to please everyone.

With both design services, we quantify all the paving required and provide you with a quotation to supply the paving products. We can also suggest some local paving contractors who will be able to do the work.

We have an extensive range of paving products and colours to suit any situation. To help clients to decide on products, it is well worth a visit to one of our paving centres where all our products are laid in individual show garden style.

Votes: 0
E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of Landscape Juice Network to add comments!

Join Landscape Juice Network

Open forum activity

Landscape Juice replied to Gary MCKINSTRY's discussion New to my business
"Hi Gary, would you like to add a few more notes about your experience of using the machines for others on the network?
I wonder what types of grass you've used them on, long, short, wet, dry? Also what are the noise levels like and any issues when…"
3 hours ago
Pete Henchey replied to T &T gardening services ltd's discussion Mulching Mowers
"Ah ok thanks for the advice"
yesterday
Si Al updated their profile
yesterday
Billybop replied to Adam Woods's discussion Coming to a large garden near you!!
"yes these robots are most welcome to take any of my lawn jobs"
yesterday
David Benson replied to Adam Woods's discussion Coming to a large garden near you!!
"very good but there will still be a need for the strimmer and lawn edgers "
yesterday
Adam Woods posted a discussion
Yesterday I went to a client to see this - there are two of them, and have been sold to keep their 2 acres of lawn comprising of 3 massive lawns, with hills,scattered trees and shrubs, together with a traditional square lawn near.  the house. TO cut…
Wednesday
Graham Taylor replied to Ag's discussion PA1/6 Applying Bacteria based Moss killers for Lawns
"Just do it................ commonsense says its ok even if mindless bureaucracy suggests not. .  If we've got it wrong, whoever is going to report you +  its not as though you'll be going to prison! "
Tuesday
Vicky Braddock and Cameron Price joined Landscape Juice Network
Tuesday
Cameron Price updated their profile
Tuesday
Fusion Media posted a blog post
In the world of football, the quality of the playing surface can make a significant difference in the game's outcome and the overall experience for players and spectators alike.While top-tier stadiums often boast pristine pitches, grassroots clubs…
Tuesday
Liam Healy posted a discussion
**Posted with admin (Henry’s) permission - Thank you, Henry.** I am selling a custom chipper and trailer set-up. Ideal for small/one person landscaping/gardening. The narrow access means it can pass through most side/garden gates and you can chip…
Tuesday
Peter sellers replied to T &T gardening services ltd's discussion Mulching Mowers
"We tried the grin but massively overpriced, the mulching performance no better than our 537HRX HY'S, not tried the Etesia but the HRX gives us the ability to collect when we need to without messing about with mulch plugs or swapping blades"
Tuesday
Pete Henchey replied to T &T gardening services ltd's discussion Mulching Mowers
"Thanks Peter, so do you have experience with the Etesia and Grin mulching machines?"
Tuesday
Gary R replied to Ag's discussion PA1/6 Applying Bacteria based Moss killers for Lawns
"I'd say no. Unless it's a herbacide or pestercide I don't think you'd need a PA1 / PA6"
Monday
Billybop replied to Andrew Betteridge's discussion Ego hedgecutter recall in Australia
"Cheers for the heads up Andrew, am a big fan of some of the Ego kit, but even without the safety issue the performance of that design of hedge trimmer is totally underwhelming anyhow"
Monday
Andrew Betteridge posted a discussion
Some Ego hedgecutters have been recalled in Australia due to starting unexpectedly. https://7news.com.au/news/ego-power-cordless-brushless-hedge-trimme...
Monday
More…