Get Ready For Summer Evenings!
2 May 2019
Finishing touches for your patio
As the evenings begin to lengthen, the barbeques come out and the summer festivities begin. It’s time to get outside and design an ambient setting for your social gatherings. Creating a relaxed contemporary atmosphere, that will impress your friends and family, couldn’t be easier.
Read on to discover some of the innovative thoughts on how to spruce up your outdoor space, with David Domoney, Chartered Horticulturalist, presenter on ITV shows, 'Love Your Garden', the most-viewed gardening TV show in Britain today and resident gardener on the 'This Morning' programme.
A garden within a garden
The weather’s getting warmer, so it’s vital to keep flowers and plants watered daily, but first always check that the soil is dry to avoid over watering. This is especially important for freshly planted trees. Trees planted in spring, such as the Acacia baileyana (golden mimosa) will look superb as a central point to your garden. You can even create a garden, within a garden, by planting flowers around mature trees to form a spectacular square patch of floral greenery. Be specific with the flowers you choose as certain types will grow better under the shade of trees. Flowering plants, such as ever-effervescent pansies and violets, will do well and provide a dazzling display for your patio.
Patio Borders
To beautifully finish off this miniature courtyard, finish off borders with the Pavestone Rustic Natural Stone Edging. A top tip for making sure your edging is neat and level is to use a hand tamper, a hand held compacter used for compressing each layer as you go until it is aesthetically pleasing. This guarantees the soil is compact enough to not gather any moisture, preventing weeds from sprouting up in the cracks. Equally, you can create a stylish walk way winding through your shrubbery by using ornamental curved edging. A bit more of an undertaking than establishing straight borders, but the extra work will provide your garden with a sophisticated feature to finish.
It’s never too early
May is a great time to start thinking about preparing your garden for the winter months. Particular crops that need to be harvested, for example leafy vegetables kale and spinach, grow best in raised flower beds. As these can be planted during either spring or early summer, adding in a raised bed will help with drainage and is a great use of your patio space. Growing vegetables on your patio is ideal for a smaller sized garden as they don’t take up much space and can add a touch of class—fabulous and functional at the same time!
RAISED Planting Beds
Because raised beds keep everything tidy, it gives you more freedom to design elegant spaces.
If you would like to emulate the look of aged natural stone, but at a fraction of the price, why not incorporate into the build raised beds or raised paved areas using Burford Walling. This can be implemented to cordon off different sections at varying heights that will seamlessly flow into one another. These segregated sections are not only pleasing to the eye but produce a streamlined passage from one section to another. A great way to execute this feature is to use one compartment as a seating area and the other for cooking – perfect for summer parties! The difference in height is a great way to utilise garden space. Adding paved steps leading down are a practical, yet decorative, addition that will further enhance this social part of your garden.
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LIGHTING UP THE GARDEN
The addition of lighting can transform your outdoor area into a functional and magical wonderland. One important fact to consider is how patio lighting affects the wildlife in your garden, especially those of the nocturnal variety. Bats and night moths can be particularly effected as they navigate by the light of the moon, so any harsh lighting can interfere with their behaviour, making them confused. These creatures are extremely beneficial to pollinating your plants, so choose dim lights, such as solar powered, for an eco-friendlier option that won’t distress the neighbourly night time visitors. You can read more about how captivating lighting can transform a garden on another of my blogs.
Remember the good old days of roasting marshmallows around an open fire? Why not bring this classic pastime to your garden.
Features & Levels
Sandstone Feature Circles can create fantastic spaces within larger paved areas, often featuring as a main focal point for hosting 'get togethers', making an ideal spots to install an 'on-trend' fire pit. To comfortably enjoy this activity, dot some clustered seating around, kick back, relax and let your troubles fade away.
As well as raised flower beds, this magical outdoor display can be built into Pavestone’s Moodul Walling, it’s innovative building blocks allow you to recreate garden features yourself by simply stacking them on top of one another. They provide a structured support for all manner of modern garden features. They are easy to use and look fab too!
With these finishing touches, you will have a stylish summer space finished in no time. From socialising to vegetable preparation for the colder months, Pavestone can offer a wide variety of stylish paving to suit all your patio needs.
