Keeping up with your hedges...

This year I think down to the increase in wet weather earlier this year and sudden increase in warmth has caused the hedges in Brittany to sprout very quickly - infact I've done all my hedgecutting almost a month ealier in 2008 than last year!

It really is worth keeping on top of your hedge cutting to prevent them getting totally out of shape or even collapsing as some do when they get top heavy. My recommendation would be to cut your hedges twice a year - once in early summer and the other in the autumn/early winter.

Here are some before and after shots of one done recently....

Before!

Before

After...

After...

After...

Planting design for a sunny, courtyard garden ....

At last a moment for my first posting in 2008 to give you a glimpse of just a small part of my work.... I took on this job last year to tidy up and give this holiday home a pretty summer flowering garden which would also be easy to maintain... here's how things started...

I spent almost a day getting the whole area dug, bind weed and bramble roots all dug out and everything ready to plant... until the builders arrived to repair the wall... So today I went along only to discover that all the bindweed and ivy roots which had been one of the causes of the stone wall collapsing had been put all over the lovely prepared soil along with a pile of rubble... trials and tribulations eh!

So after some more digging and sorting - the area returned to the state it was in when I last left it. Time to put some edging in... wooden edging is a great solution for those not wanting to spend out on a stone wall and keeps the soil from spilling over the gravel as well as adding to a neat & tidy appearance. Once the edging is in place the soil could all be raked out and plants put in place... now for the good bit... getting them all planted!

Finally the finishing touches - adding some bark chips not only smartens everything up - especially for a rental property, but also helps keep weeds at bay and helps the soil to retain moisture during warm and dry weather too.

The plants I chose are easy to keep and take care of, have a long flowering period such as Potentilla, Hypericum and Osteopurnum, good for attracting butterflies to the garden - such as Caryopteris, Buddlea and Laveteria and also some were chosen as they keep their leaves all year round to retain some winter interest for the benefit of winter visitors - such as Santolina, Photinia and Escallonia. All of these plants are frost hardy too considering the extremely cold winter period we had in France just before Christmas... worth thinking about when you're splashing out on plants.

Eh... voila!

For advice on planting or if you'd like something similar in your garden - all sizes of garden catered for- if you'd like some help... do get in touch!

Welcome to my business site...

My plan for this new site is to use it to post information on my work to give clients more of an insight into my gardening services available to them.

For anyone wanting references from clients who I've worked with, I'm very happy to provide these as I regularly hear how people have been let down by those who promise the earth and fail to provide clients with what they're looking for - especially difficult if your property is a second home and you're not there to oversee any work being carried out. I'm happy to send photos of any work done whilst you're not there and for larger projects I'll send you pictures to show ongoing progress.

I've tried to adopt a flexible approach to my work as clients' needs vary considerably. So don't ever feel that your project is too small or too large. You may just want some advice as to what to plant in the garden or how to tackle a specific area, want someone to come and show you how to prune your roses - I could go on as the list is endless!

So watch this space for more information - in the meantime if you want to get in touch I'd be delighted to hear from you.

E-mail jardinmiranda@wanadoo.fr