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Category Archives: Gardens

Star Performers On Our Patch

by George Smith / on 25th May 2016 / in Blog, Gardens, Ponds, Tips

Ten Flowers & Shrubs That Will Thrive In Our Soil

GreenArt’s base in South Oxfordshire is an interesting and quite varied place to create and establish Gardens.

The starting point for all gardens is the soil. Along the Thames, the soils are silty, deep and fertile. On the slopes of the Chilterns and the downs, the soils are thinner with clay, flint and chalk and, as a result, are often high in pH. Contrary to popular belief that many garden plants demand lime-free soil, more species actually thrive on alkaline conditions rather than dislike them.

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Help Save Our Hedgehogs!

by George Smith / on 16th May 2016 / in Blog, Gardens, Ponds, Tips, Wildlife

There are many great reasons for encouraging hedgehogs into your garden.

The Gardener’s Friend

Hedgehogs are the gardener’s friend as they particularly enjoy eating beetles, earthworms and slugs and therefore should be a regular guest in most UK gardens. Whilst they do roam far and wide in search of food, they will naturally return to an area that provides richer pickings.

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Trend-setting Garden Design

by George Smith / on 4th May 2016 / in Blog, Gardens, Ponds, Tips

2016 sees the celebration of 300 years since the birth of possibly the greatest British landscape designer; Capability Brown. It also sees domestic garden design at a fascinating point.

Brown’s style came from two practical principals; comfort and elegance. Today, these principals still feature on many a garden wish list, often translated into “a nice place to sit with colour and interest”. However, these days low maintenance is increasingly cited, alongside supporting wildlife and the environment.

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Monthly Garden Tips

by George Smith / on 26th April 2016 / in Blog, Gardens, Tips

May is definitely the most dynamic month of the year as your garden springs into life; your job is to make the most of it!

Clean And Clear

Make sure all dead material from the winter, such as leaves, dead stems etc. are removed to prevent pests and diseases affecting the plant and to allow space and air for emerging growth. If you haven’t done so yet, thoroughly clean pond pumps and filters to ensure a good flow of water helps to aerate your water feature, encourage plant growth and minimise algae build-up as the sun starts to warm the water. Be careful not to disturb any fledglings in hedges and frog spawn in ponds.

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The Wonders Of Wildflower Meadows

by George Smith / on 18th April 2016 / in Blog, Gardens, Tips

Six great reasons for creating a wildflower meadow in your garden.

A Splash Of Colour!

Planned and planted correctly, a wildlife meadow will give you an ever-changing view from Spring to Summer of some of Britain’s most amazing species of native wildflowers.

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Looking for inspiration? The National Gardens Scheme and National Gardening Week are great places to start

by George Smith / on 4th April 2016 / in Blog, Gardens

If you’re looking for ideas on how to transform your garden to delight your friends and family and be an inspiration for fellow gardeners, then a great place to start is the National Gardens Scheme. It’s a way for proud gardeners and garden owners to show their garden to the public for one or two days a year and at the same time raise money for charity.

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Giving nature a home in your garden

by George Smith / on 11th March 2016 / in Blog, Gardens

If your idea of heaven is a garden full of buzzing bees, birds singing in the trees and hedgehogs snuffling in piles of dead leaves, then maybe its time to make some real changes and give your garden over to wildlife.

If you’ve lived with the same garden for many years, perhaps now is the time for a change. Or maybe your large garden has become a burden and difficult to manage.

Perhaps you’ve got a young family and want your children to be able to explore and learn about nature in your own garden.

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Creating Instant Impact With Minimum Effort

by George Smith / on 20th February 2016 / in Blog, Gardens

We transformed a blank canvas into a garden filled with interest, form and character.

When David and Catherine moved to Oxfordshire from Kent, they chose a new build as the place to enjoy their retirement. While their new home was hassle and maintenance-free, their new garden was a complete blank canvas of just a lawn and patio without any individual character or interest.

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The Great Wall Of Wallingford

by George Smith / on 28th January 2016 / in Blog, Gardens

In November 2015, we started a project with some unusual challenges. Our client’s recently refurbished energy-efficient Superhome was set back from and raised up above a busy road in central Wallingford.

The brief was to create a front garden with space for parking, a seating area, a swimming pond and wildlife pond, natural planting and wildflower lawn. The clients were very keen to use native species of plants to encourage wildlife, with a further emphasis on reducing road noise whilst affording privacy and security.

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