Some kind of wonderful

Luckily for me I picked a pretty dreadful week here to go away and sun myself in Spain, there is nothing like a bit of good weather to recharge the batteries and bring a brighter and fresher outlook to us all.
Officially we’ve had one of the wettest Augusts in history, as if we didn’t know! On the bright side the kids are back in school soon and the sun always comes out the first day they go back, which may be hard on our little darlings but if like me and you depend on the good weather to get a good days work done you’ll only be delighted.
I should mention that all systems are go for the big Celebration of Gardening day at the National Garden Exhibition Centre (NGEC) in Kilqaude, Co. Wicklow on Saturday 6th September, I have put in a special request for a glorious day and as a positive thinking daydreaming enthusiast I am positive that my request will be granted with a few extra degrees and not a cloud in the sky. The purpose behind this great event is to make gardening professionals available to the public in a fantastic garden setting, offering free but extremely valuable advice. Kilquade is a fabulous facility with over 20 individually designed gardens and a number of suppliers all under the one roof.
On the day there will be an abundance of gardening professionals available to all our visitors, we will also have hourly seminars on various topics and plenty of information and displays on view. I have no doubt it will be a cracking day and hope that you will join me on the day, it is of course for the Garden of Hope Project which is part of the Niall Mellon Township Trust and the funds raised on the day will all go towards this great charity.
I will be there to meet and greet our guests and will be giving a talk on ‘extreme gardening projects’ at one of the seminars. Over the next few weeks I am commencing the building of a show garden designed for the NGEC, the beauty about the gardens at the centre is that they are build to last and can be viewed at various times of the year. I’ll keep you all posted on the building process and provide a photographic diary of the build, this is as usual a very ambitious build, most of the techniques I have not yet tried and many of the features in the garden will have to built on site including what I hope will be a stunning tubular office space, perfect for the enthusiast garden designer to do his designs in!. The thing about stretching your imagination and skills is that you create a feverish enthusiasm for the project you are about to commence, there is of course a fear factor in there also, this is however probably the biggest driver you’ll need, as they say if you don’t try you can’t succeed, what’s your next challenge? Try something new and wonderfully different this weekend and hopefully you’ll surprise yourself!

Splish Plash

After dancing around in puddles for the last month I think it’s a good time to discuss drainage. Water can be a real enemy in the garden if it is allowed to gather, particularly on the lawn. So to keep our gardens looking and feeling healthy it is important to have good drainage.
Many of you may have heard or read over the last few weeks through the media about the debate on patio’s in our gardens. The recent floods have given rise to a lot of questions in relation to drainage and the point has been made several times that hard surfaces such as patio’s may increase the potential for flooding as they are covering an area that could otherwise drain excess water away.
This is of course a very valid point and one that we should consider when we are planning or upgrading our gardens. The emergence of the low maintenance gardens has certainly increased the hard surfaces we now have and this does have an impact on the environment. It affects not only drainage, but also soil live and wildlife. Were do our worms go? Where do the birds that ate the worms go? There is a knock on effect for taking away natural surfaces and plant life, and that can be a lot more than many people realise.
For those of you with a concrete garden, take up a few slabs and plant some low maintenance plants, this will introduce much needed plant life to your garden it will certainly enhance it not only to your eye but also the environment and thirdly it will help with drainage.
A simple way to improve drainage in your garden is to make a few drainage pits. You could or may have to put in French drains which is another days work but for immediate results drainage pits are easy to do and will be successful.
Firstly mark the areas in your garden that collected the most water. Then dig out an area about 60cm by 60cm and then down 60cm. At the base of the hole fill half of it with large stones and gravel, then lay about 10cm of sharp sand on top of that. The rest of the hole can be filled with soil. The grass you took of the top can then be placed back where was and it should grow back easily, just give it a little drop of water. You can repeat this around the garden.
A similar system can be used on a patio, if there is a particular area that floods remove the slab at the deepest part of the flood area and dig down about 60cm, fill the base as above except use gravel instead of soil. Instead of grouting around the slab removed leave it clear. It is recommended that you use the slab area to plant as opposed to replacing the slab.
All you need for the job is a couple of bags of gravel and sand, a good spade and lots of energy, the job is easily completed in a weekend and the difference is great.

Roll up roll up Free Plants

Everyone loves a bargain but when you can get sometime for free it is all the better. In the garden there is an abundance of ways to get free plants. Over the next few weeks I’ll be focusing on ways of getting you free plants without too much effort. There are so many ways to propagate plants in your own garden for those of you that have enough time you could almost create enough stock to fully plant a new garden or fill a stand at a local market.
It is also far more environmentally friendly to develop our own garden stock, the production of plant pots and transportation of plants all leave a carbon footprint, domestically and commercially we should be at the forefront of environmental friendliness so by using a few of the methods I’m suggesting over the next few weeks you will help the environment, decrease your spending and with a bit of luck and effort get lots of fabulous free plants!
This week I’m going to start with a method called layering. We use this method for plants that are perhaps more difficult to take and grow cuttings from and I have to say this is one of my favourite methods of propagation.
What we want to do is bend and fix a branch or shoot into the ground, by wounding the stem and covering with soil it should root and produce a new plant, as easy as 123!!
To achieve this take a lower non flowering shoot, it must be healthy, bend the stem until a part of it can reach the ground easily. Take the closest leaf joint and make a slanting cut, go around half way into the stem. You can apply some hormone rooting powder to the joint; shake a small piece of rooting powder onto a piece of paper and dip the joint in the powder. Make a hole in soil about 10cm deep, fill half the hole with 50% grit 50% potting compost, then push the joint down into the hole and fix with a piece of wire. Cover over the stem with potting compost and firm down. The level of the compost should be higher than ground level this will help retain moisture and prevent rotting. The take a cane and tie the loose end of the stem to it. Water in and keep moist during any dry spells.
Plants which propagate this way are Camellia, Amelanchier, Magnolia, Daphne and Skimmias.

Air layering
Another great way to propagate plants is to use the basic method above but instead of being buried in the ground you simply cover the cut portion with damp compost and wrap with polythene. The plant is effectively tricked into producing new roots which gives you new plants. This method works particularly well with Rhododendrons, Magnolias and lilac. Indoor plants can also be propagated this way and bonsai plants also.

Ask a simple question?

I like circles!

Over the last few weeks I have discussed inspiring ideas and how best to implement them. Given the time of year it is a good time to look at planning for next year, careful planning now will pay dividends next year.
One of the points I have referred to on more than one occasions is budget – are we spending enough? But the questions should perhaps be - Are we spending enough on the right things? In essence all we need to create a garden is a few packets of seeds which are of course inexpensive, and a lot of hard work. Where the budget current dilemma comes from is the price we have to pay for an Instant Garden.
It is of course easy for me to say that we should be increasing our budgets, and I have thought a lot about this, I think the real question is the apportionment of that budget. In my experience almost every time I go to look at a garden to design I hear the same things ‘no maintenance’ or ‘low maintenance’ which tends to mean, very few plants and lots of paving. That is of course fine but what does that tell you? It tells me that the people in the house don’t really want a garden, they want the area at the back of the house to look good but they don’t really ever want to go out there!
I know we don’t always have the best weather in the world but a few good weeks a year in your own little oasis is precious and is well worth the effort. Or is it! Lots of questions this week and with good reason, in order to get what we want out of our gardens we have to ask lots of questions as to what we really want. Too many people put too little thought in before they create a garden and then don’t get anything out of it after all their effort.
I think we don’t plan enough and too many people allow themselves to be short changed by their designers or contractors. If you don’t put any effort in to help in the plan why should anyone else. Do this small test: Ask yourself the following five questions and write down the answers,
1. Circles or squares ?
2. Formal or informal?
3. Favourite colour?
4. Old or new?
5. BMW or VW Beetle?
Now go out into your garden and see where your character stamp has been made. If none of your answers are characteristic of the style of your garden it’s probably no wonder you are looking to change it. Your garden as much as your house or clothes has to fit you! If you ask a lot of questions about yourself, your partner and your children the answers will provide you with the blueprint for success.

How to design and create!

Last week I was discussing inspirational ideas, thinking outside the box and attempting to create something extraordinary, special and precious in our gardens, as opposed to settling for the ordinary. I showed a picture of a scrap car last week, I used this car in the creation of a garden recently, the purpose behind the creation was to show, and how even a destructed car could be used to create something useful, beautiful and to be enjoyed.
Some of my peers thought I was off my rocker to be it mildly! And this shows that of course we don’t all think the same and that we all have our own individual styles and aspirations. Creativity is not something that we learn or can be taught, but we can of course learn from our experiences and put these to the task of helping us create. One of the issues that creative people have is that they may have the ideas but they do not posses the ability or experience to see the project through.
To overcome any shortfalls in the entire process it is important to know your own limitations and then seek the help and advice of others to see it through. Garden designers and landscape contractors can be used in the creation process as well as with the physical creation. If you like the physical challenge and have the right skills to do the work but don’t have the design knowledge, designers can be brought into advice on certain parts of the project and they would only charge for their time spent. Their expertise is very valuable and after sorting out all the creative steps you can then get down to the business of actual creation.
On the other hand if you have the design skills and are unable to physically do the work contractors can be brought in to again help in the design and then carry out the work.
The most important element in designing and creating is not to compromise on what you want, to reach for the stars and see the dream through. As we discussed last week this may take a little bit longer than expected or you originally wanted but the rewards are far greater.
There are plenty of great web sites, books and magazines out there to give you inspiration, so good luck!
Diarmuid Gavin has just launched a new magazine “Diarmuid Gavin’s Garden Design” it’s a high quality glossy magazine with plenty to read and admire.

True Vision

This car is inspirational – see how next week!

As all my regular readers will know, I have spent the last two weeks in South Africa building our garden of Hope. The journey for this project has taken approx. 13 months and in this time I have learnt a lot and experienced things I never thought I would. I re-established old friendships and made many new friends and in the process we provided the community of Freedom Park with facilities they could only dream of.
Along this journey I have met many people and notably two who are constantly in the public arena, Niall Mellon for his charity work and Diarmuid Gavin for his curly hair and tufted chest! Both of these men are visionaries, they push away the obstacles to what they want and go straight for it. This is truly inspirational and should be taken a lesson from which everyone can learn.
I find gardening is bit like relationships; the more you put in the more you get out of it. It is of course not that simple but there are many similarities. Plants are certainly like people, the better looking the plant the higher the maintenance, the smaller less attractive plants just manage to get on with it and nobody seems to even notice they exist. Not to mention the grumblers the ones that just never seem to get enough attention, their heads hang because someone’s not there to hold them up. The big difference is that we as people have the know how, the ability, and the tools to make things better but we are all too often too busy to do anything about it.
I have seen first hand that with a little bit of extra effort and creativity we can not only change our own life’s but also the lives of others. I’m not looking for everyone to go off on a charity mission but I think we should start to think a little more outside the box and into the wilderness. The world is spilling over with inspirational people, designing, creating and building things far beyond our imagination, yet when many people seek to build or improve their our homes and gardens they just seem to stick to the norm and settle for what’s on the shelf.
In my professional career I am always trying to push out the boundaries, this is not always possible and I often have to curtail my ideas, more often than not to suit budgets. This is a fact of life or is it? When I think about, it is not really the budget that restricts inspiration it is the budget at that time. You see we all want so much right away that we end up accepting most of what we want within our current budget. What if we just waited, a few extra months or a year to get exactly what we want just a little later? I know that I would be happier! And in truth I think that most of us don’t really what to accept the normal, we all seek to achieve something in our life’s, however it is only with effort and patience that we can achieve this. The rewards however are ten fold; I know that on the few gardens I have created on an open budget, they have been my best, because instead of thinking about money I was thinking of creating.
This is why TV gardeners have become so inspirational, this is why millionaires are so inspirational, they can create and do things that many of us only dream of, but we should realise that they had a journey too. We see them on top of the mountain, but we don’t see them climbing it. This inspiration has both positive and negative effects on our life’s, we are certainly inspired by what we see and then we get down because we can’t afford it!
A garden to me is always a blank canvass, I don’t see hills and valleys, restrictions or obstacles, or even think about how much!, I see an open space where flair and imagination can be used to create a wonderful garden. When I established the Garden of Hope project I had a vision of creating a garden where everyone could meet, greet and play, I spoke at functions and conferences all over Ireland and in South Africa how we would build this garden on a shoestring budget in six days. What I couldn’t speak about until now is how this garden would affect the volunteers who built it or the community who now own it. The volunteers who built it could never have realised its effect and in fact nor did I, but as a group what we did was build on inspiration. If I could inspire one person to create their true vision of a garden my mission would be complete.
Imagine the difference it could make to your life to have something so special that it continues to take your breath away every time you see it, from when you wake up every morning to when you go to bed every night, forever in your thoughts and dreams. For those of us who are lucky enough this is a person. Be inspired by what and who is around you to make your own life and others all that more special.

The garden of Hope is no longer a dream

I have designed and built over a 100 gardens in the last five years and every one of them have been very special to me. However the communal garden I designed for Freedom Park in South Africa is by far the most special and significant piece of work to date.
After 13 months of planning, recruiting, fundraising, writing, and public speaking on Saturday the 3rd of November 2007, 53 volunteers joined me in creating a little piece of Heaven. Nelson Mandela, said in his first address after being elected president of South Africa that the cultivation of earth shall be as close to heaven as one on earth can get. For our team of 54 gardeners we certainly felt that for the people of Freedom Park, our gift to them of a beautiful garden was like giving them a small piece of heaven on their downtrodden earth.
We had six days to complete out task, 800 square metres to cultivate, 200 cubic metres of earth to remove, 220 cubic metres of compost to fill, 200 square metres of paving to lay, 3 play areas to create, seating, lawns, water feature, murals, artwork, mirrors to hang, stepping stones to build, walls to plaster and paint and approx. 1500 plants to plant and build a basketball court in our spare time. Truly a mammoth task, however through sheer determination, early mornings, late evenings and plenty of elbow grease, the Garden of Hope team completed the garden and basketball court just before 12pm on Friday 9th November. 30 minutes later Niall Mellon officially handed over the 203 houses built in the previous week, the community hall and garden and of course the basketball court. Thousands were in attendance including all of the volunteers, the house and community beneficiaries and local government officials, as well as sponsors and world press.
The atmosphere was electrifying as everyone assembled at the climax of a gruelling week, as expected not everything went to plan, but everything was completed in the end and when 1380 volunteers left Freedom Park on Friday afternoon, one thing was for sure, Irish people had changed the life’s of that entire community for the better.
All the press clippings in the world, the group photographs, the handshakes or the praise received from my peers could give me anymore satisfaction than when I went back to Freedom Park on Saturday morning, I brought a group of 6 local children into the garden and watched them as they played, initially they where hesitant to touch anything and needed to get the reassurance that indeed this garden was theirs. Myself and a local taxi driver who had brought me to the site sat on the exterior wall and cried, tears of joy for a magical moment like few others was unfolding in front of us. In proportion to the benefit the sacrifice is nothing.
The Garden of Hope project has now commenced for 2008, please join us or support us on our way.