Peter's Garden Design Blog

The following pages will bring you my latest thoughts that may be useful to you on the subject of Garden Design.

To Deck or not to Deck?

Keywords: Deck, Decking, Maintenance, Sealing, Treatment, Hardwood, Softwood.

This is one of the most commonly asked questions that comes up in my consultations with clients. The answer is not necessarily straightforward, there are several factors that need to be borne in mind.

Some people just decide that they don't like decking. This is fine but sometimes it is a good idea to probe a bit more deeply into perceptions. The early days of the Ground Force type programmes on the television seemed to be aimimg to cover the whole of the United Kingdom end to end in one huge deck and understandably many people just got sick and tired of them. Some people have a perception that they are very difficult to maintain and I'll cover that in a moment.

In designing a garden it is important to take a careful note of the environment you are placing features such as decking. If an area is north facing and shady then a deck placed here will remain very wet during most of the winter months and will tend to gather algae and dirt quite easily. If you also have a demented dog which runs around gathering lots of mud on its paws then you have a double whammy. If on the other hand you have a nice open, sunny, southern aspect and no dog then your deck should stay looking fresh, clean and relatively dry.

Decks built in a good aspect with good quality treated timber should need very little maintenance. Treated timber is usually guaranteed against rot for a long period of time and should not need any additional treatment. If you paint it with any product then over time you are bound to wear it to some degree as you walk over it and so you are giving yourself a task to re-paint it every couple of years or so.

You may have to clean your deck from time to time, particularly if its in the dog, north facing category, but I'll cover how to do this another time.

How about the advantages of using decking? Well there are several. It is a light coloured material which can make any space tend to look bigger. It is a nice soft material to use which goes well with most other components in your garden and from a practical point of view is very pleasant to walk on. Its very pleasant in summer to be able to walk barefoot from your house, onto your deck, then onto your lawn.

If you have different levels to deal with it can be a much cheaper way of dealing with them than building brick walls and patios. It can often cover areas of uneven terrain or old unwanted parts of a garden such as an old patio without the need to excavate and remove all that is going to be present underneath the deck.

Its a way of getting levels much closer to thresholds of doors within the house, although the way that this is done has to be done very carefully so that it doesn't compromise the waterproofing integrity of your house walls.

On balance it can be a tricky decision but a good garden designer should be able to guide you to the right answer for you and your garden.

Peter - October 2009

Whats new in Garden Design?

Keywords: Garden Design, 3D, Design Tools

These days there are many tools available to assist the Garden Designer. Before the days of Information Technology we had to make do with pen and ink or watercolour and while this may on occasions have been theraputic and enjoyable it was probably not the best use of our skills. Nowadays many of us use quite sophisticated drawing and editing software on our computers to produce the level of finish and accuracy that the client should expect.

For several years now I have been exploring the possibility of using 3D to best show clients what their garden will look like when it has been built. Until recently most of the options available were not very good, with poor quality slow graphics which took a lot of time to create. Now I have settled on a package that works well and is versatile and relatively easy to amend as the design process unfolds. Now my clients can see just what their gardens will look like from the comfort of their living rooms before making their final decision. You also have the ability to walk through the garden and see it from any angle you wish.

Peter - March 2010