Someone approached me yesterday and said they certainly were completely fed up with seeing all these crisp new concrete walls, bright colours and fancy flooring in relatively ordinary gardens. It got me considering how some individuals are fast stepping into a cycle of replacing gardens every several years, almost as often even as we replace kitchens and re-decorate our homes.
It’s obviously not necessarily the best approach to take when a tree can take decades to reach its full glory and often, pretty quickly to obtain the latest colour or variety, we miss the straightforward things and never relax inside our garden. Indeed in among the Surrey country garden designs we recently undertook we found some good existing trees and materials to re-use and spend less on the garden.
I’ve always been keen on using recycled stone in my own designs. There’s an all natural wear and tear in 150 year-old York stone slabs that have been sat on a manufacturer floor all that time. It gives a patina you’ll never find in new stone. Combine this with other reclaimed materials such as for instance paddlestones and old London stock bricks and you’d think it have been there forever. I’ve often been asked to eliminate old York Stone but you may be sure it never finds its method to the waste dump but will grace another garden for a far more discerning owner!
But there’s more to recycling than just old York stone. Today you are able to visit any number of reclamation yards and find great materials for the garden. Specifically you can purchase old rope top edging for the same price as new. There are some magnificent statues and urns to be enjoyed but in addition some simple old stone troughs that will look great in most town gardens.
And then you will find the skip hire tadley. I cannot say that I am a devoted hunter but I really do now have an instant look when I visit a landscapers skip. Over the past several years I’ve found a pair of 1930s metal garden chairs and some good bits of stone like the decorative end of a barn gable.
I always thought it a myth but keep your eyes peeled and because they take in the concrete the landscapers maybe offering some treasure that will look great in your garden!
Occasionally I’ve taken re-cycling to extremes. I hate taking down trees and have often been able to transplant some pretty large specimens although it’s no easy or cheap task. We’re now getting to the right time of year to transplant though. Wait for leaves to drop next month and you are able to lift and re-plants some pretty large specimens relatively easily. On a smaller scale, I’ve just lifted some old mossy turf from one garden to a recently designed wild garden. It’s providing instant wildflowers and the daisy covered lawn my clients wanted that could take years of neglect to reach!
Needless to say the great thing about recycling is very much of it’s free and even though it’s not remember it’s very environmentally friendly. Reclaimed materials may give your garden a distinctive edge you won’t find anywhere else. As an example, I use old plastic bottles upended with the bottoms cut fully out to water trees and shrubs directly at the roots. When many of us have water meters it’s an effective way of reducing our reliance of an excessive amount of water in the garden. You can also use crushed sea-shells and recycled bark as mulch. The options are endless.
And once you’ve installed all your found and recycled objects – what then? Well, you will want to go set for some traditional garden recycling and start making your own personal compost, it’s a sure way of saving pounds and helping the environment. You’ll get the bug and a watch for other opportunities to save lots of some funds and change your garden for the better.
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