The garden was designed in close collaboration with the customer Mo, who wanted raised beds for growing vegetables near the kitchen and a path winding through the garden to a patio near the shed. Mo has maintained the garden well based on a cottage garden aesthetic that reminds her of her grandmother's garden from childhood. Though the garden requires some maintenance, time spent planning and caring for the planting goes a long way, and Mo's daughter also enjoys being surrounded by the green space and flowers.

1. 60 SEE IT ●●●●● from Friday, June 12, 2015
Clever
design
keeps
everyone
happy
I
t is not always easy to keep your new
landscaped garden looking as fresh and
pristine as it was the day it was finished.
Busy lives don’t always allow for the
attention a new garden demands. Not that
there should be much time needed, as most
gardens we make are designed, by request, to
be low maintenance.
However, although there is no such thing as
“no maintenance”, we strive to provide spaces
which draw people out into their gardens and
inspire them to add to what we started.
Sometimes the weather can be a spoiler and
prolongedperiodsofcoldorwetweather,aswe
have recently experienced, don’t encourage
people outside to keep on top of things. It is
often with some trepidation that we arrive to
revisit our customers in order to take pho-
tographs for our files!
Ifwehavecompletelyredesignedandrebuilt
a garden, at the end of the job we usually
design and implement a planting plan.
However, some customers are keen to do their
own, as was the case in this garden (pictured)
for a young family in Ashley Down. They were
very keen plant people, so I was very excited to
make a return trip and see the growth.
The garden was designed in close col-
laboration with the customer, Mo, who is a
keen plantswoman and had a clear vision of
how the garden should look. We decided on a
raised deck connecting the back room of the
house to the garden at ground floor level, with
stairs at the end leading into the main part of
the garden.
The area outside the kitchen extension is
where we would normally have placed a patio
(it faces due south), but Mo wanted to grow
vegetables here, so instead we designed a series
of raised oak sleeper beds, which are now
supporting a range of veg, including onions,
rubychardandsomeofthelargeststrawberries
I have seen!
Next to this is a small paved area from which
an S-shaped path winds down the garden,
starting on the left hand side and sliding across
the garden to the opposite side, breaking into
stepping stones as it crosses the lawn.
The path continues and arrives at the en-
trance to the blue-stained shed. Mo chose to
put the main patio at the rear of the garden,
next to the shed, which was a clever choice
since it affords a view back down the garden,
with the sun behind you rather than directly in
your face.
Beds fill in the converse sides of the S-shaped
path and in so doing give two generous
planting areas without disturbing the con-
tinuous run of lawn from front to back.
When I returned to take pictures, I was
delighted to see Mo’s attention to detail. She
has based her ideas on a cottage garden
aesthetic, with many plants referencing her
grandmother’s garden that she remembered
from childhood.
Carrying on the gardening heritage is Mo’s
daughter, who delights in being surrounded by
green space and cottage garden flowers.
Gardening A little time spent planning,
and then maintaining, planting, goes a
long way, says Tom Phillips
ALL GARDEN DESIGNS
Tom Phillips runs All Garden Designs in
Bristol. For more information, visit
www.allgardendesigns.co.uk, or call 0117
951 1923, or 07739 456765.