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Climate changes
If this year is anything to go by we are definitely experiencing some changes to our weather patterns. We have more rain than I can remember, I know this because the power has gone out an amazing 13 times in the past 6 weeks ( yeah I hear you say why are the lines not buried, and how can a squirrel knock out power to a whole town, well the same way a dump truck can when it tips it’s load, or too many birds take a break on a power line and it shorts out).
Back to the weather, instead of 90f plus temps they have been 75f and at night instead of 75f they have been 55f, it’s almost English weather, except over there the temps have been much higher.
We have also had nearby, a huge increase in Earthquakes ( by this I mean hundreds of small quakes) this year, many place the blame on this, to the new habit of ‘Fracking’ , which I’m sure isn’t helping.
We’ve a serious issue with lack of bees to pollinate the crops , it’s not just the honey bees the wild bee population is suffering as well, as is the bird population, which probably means that the insect population is affected as well. In sure mother nature doesn’t like it when us humans mess with what was once a very balanced eco-system.
Some areas of the country are experiencing record droughts, which if it continues will have a far reaching impact on food production and where folks chose to live.
So with all this turmoil around us, a couple of friends and I decided it was time to change how we grew herbs & veggies…
So today we are launching Hort Cuisine something we have been working on for a few years now, it’s a rather fun way to grow at home.
It starts with our Hort Cuisine patented grid system
Here’s an example Hort Cuisine, herb garden
and here’s the beginnings of a Hort Cuisine ‘Knot Garden’
here’s the Knot Garden sector planted
We are going to make smaller ‘Balcony’ sized versions too
Which should be an ideal size for balconies.
In the next few days you will see just how easy these kits are to do yourself at home.
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Weekend Landscape & Garden Projects
if you need some inspiration for a small landscape or garden project read on….
We’ve been designing & building dream gardens for homeowners for 40 years now, winning awards, being creative and watching various trends come & go, customers desires and generally listening to clients wishes.
Some have been quite modest… as below.
others rather more ambitious..
Almost all the clients, wanted to complete some of the work themselves. The part they most wanted to do was the planting, either spring, summer or fall bedding, bulb planting, or perennial , shrub and herb planting. Recently we have seen an interest in vegetable growing.
Being folks that listen to our customers , it’s how we win awards, we also understood that we would have to make it much easier for folks, than a traditional planting plan we started out a few years ago to develop a new easy way to layout a planting scheme- we consulted other experts , eventually settling on one method with two products ( one a normal version the other an eco friendly version). inspired we then applied for a patent.( this in itself should be the subject of a blog all on its own)
Last week I am very happy to say we picked up our patent for the “Weekend Garden Kit”, which I have to confess was exciting, a big thank you for all who helped us, of which there were many.
Here’s how it works.
This simple to use system enables you to place the plants & features in the correct position without the need for time consuming setting out or measuring.
By using a grid system , we can add the position on the pot label, it makes the whole process much faster, and less likely for error. – they actually come as part of the kit.
so to set this out all you need is the special landscape fabric and where to plant or place the feature.
The result should then be this
To make this even easier we developed a free app called “PicaGardi” available on iTunes, Google play and Kindle to enable you to see ‘How ‘ an idea might look in your own project before you buy, take a look it’s fun and free and works on Phones and Tablets.
You can download it here www.terratemplates.com
You can either select a picture from your ‘Gallery’ or take a new one with the ‘Camera’ button, then press ‘Ideas’ to see and idea float across the screen, tap it, pinch, scale and place to see how it would look on your project.
If you would like to make some comments or suggestions or just receive more information please fill in the form..
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Edibles continued….
Continuing from our last blog, we move to a slightly larger herb and veggie garden. Using our newly patented Weekend Garden Kits.
We’ve also added some african marigolds to help keep pests away, our next one will include some nasturtiums to further help protect naturally.
This garden uses one of our recently patented Weekend Garden Kits, which helps save a huge amount of time, reduces significantly weed growth and helps preserve moisture levels.
By purchasing the kit early, you can use it to almost effortlessly remove weeds in your plot area – this is achieved quite simply by, marking out the area and then covering with a generous layer of old newspapers, place the weekend garden kit fabric over the newspaper and use the pegs provided to keep in position. After about 4- 6 weeks all the weed growth beneath will have been stopped and the earth should be almost clear.
Simply remove the newspapers, and any debris, reset the weekend garden kit, and plant as directed for the chosen layout.
The one above took less than 2 hours to plant you can see how here.
http://www.picagardi.com/index.php/how/new-weekend-garden-kit-video
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Edible Landscaping
Today there are many more who would like to grow their own Herbs & Vegetables, the desire is not just from homeowners with traditional gardens, but also those living in flats & apartments, using either a balcony or a kitchen window.
Those without any space are looking at allotments & community gardens when they catch the ‘bug’
Demand is ‘growing’ all the time, from all over the world.
Schools are finding that they need to include growing in the curriculum showing children how to grow edibles which leads to more interest in cooking, which then creates a much healthier lifestyle and a huge demand for fresh food.
So what are the best ways to grow?
This is an interesting question and I suspect the real answer is – It depends !
It depends where you are in the world
It depends on where you want to grow
It depends what you want to grow
It depends how much light, heat and water you have available.
It depends how much time you want to spend growing.
It also depends on what resources you may have to use.
Initially it depends how much skill you have, interestingly while you will quickly learn ‘How to’ , mother nature has a habit of throwing you a curve ball now and then, so somethings you expect to do will with will suddenly suffer and others will thrive.
So let’s take a look at the methods of growing first as we could spend simply ages trying to find the best places and times to grow.
Small :-
Can be as small as a pot , grow bag or individually planted between existing plants in a landscape.
Medium :-
Multi pots, planters, or raised vegetable garden
Large:-
Fenced in Garden, Roof garden, Commercial enterprise.
What would you like to start?
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Growing Trends
I thought it would be fun to share with you, our interview schedule.
We are on air at 1pm & 7pm daily at www.cravingtalkradio.com or you can download as a podcast for later listening.
Our first interview was with Belinda & Terry, this is their lovely garden.
and a more romantic version, the pool is so inviting….
and the famous ‘Zen’ deck, now sanded and restored to its glory…
Our next interview was with John Stanley of John Stanley Associates in Australia, we didn’t talk about his garden as it’s a tad larger than most as you can see – what a view !
What we did talk about was trends in edibles and concerns over bees, you can hear both on Craving Talk Radio.com, we are due to revisit John in Perth again shortly.
Coming up soon is :-
Kelly Daniels lovely garden,
and here is some of her superb photography.
Then we have:
Dwayne Hoover the Horticulturist at the Kauffman Memorial Garden in Kansas City we caught up with Dwayne early one morning – 6am to be precise, the team was starting to put together the summer bedding.
Then it’s Jenny’s turn and her Fairy Room at the Celtic Ranch along with ‘Half-pint McGee’, who will soon be your little heart throb…….
Then it’s the turn of the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City,
and the lovely sculpture park. You have to be strong to play badminton here !
and my favorite the Henry Moore collection…
this next amazing sculpture is some 56ft tall..
to read more about our rather different programs visit www.grotrends.com
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When weather plays a part
As it seems for some of us climate change is playing havoc with our normal weather – for some way too much rain, others nowhere near enough and yet others both but at the wrong times along with huge temperature variations. I thought it might be an idea to show you some projects that eventually turned out quite well despite the conditions we encountered during construction.
The thing to remember is, that they took longer to complete, longer to establish and usually they cost much more because the folks building them could only work in short time sections.
This first project was constructed on very heavy wet clay, here is the site as we saw it when we started work.
here is the site after we have been working a little while. Almost ready to put the finishing planting, turfing in etc,.
Here, during an inspection, the plants have established and the grass is growing well, you would never know how bad the conditions had been. Happily this project won a number awards for us.
This next site was similar… in this case we recommended the owner take a few long weekends away, whilst the garden looked so bad, actually we also wanted the housebuilder to leave so we could apply a finished landscape, without him running equipment over the finished work.
and so it slowly took shape..notice it’s somewhat tidier looking..
The trick is to let the ground dry out, drain where necessary, and what ever you do, do not over compact the sub surface where planting and lawns are due to be.Also as soon as possible get the site clean and tidy and keep it that way, the client usually has had enough after about week 8 of these very distressing looking pictures., fortunately In the end it looked just like any other project.
perhaps nicer than some..
We found that if management spent a little extra time with the client in these situations, it wasn’t long before the project was back on course, with a happy client and a happy workforce.
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Herbs & Edibles in the landscape.
As youngster I remember going blackberry & wild raspberry picking in the hedgerows in the country lanes near where we lived in England. Then later after I was married we would holiday in the Jura mountains in France each year, where we would hike a few days and find the most amazing tiny wild strawberries and a blue berry ( makes the most amazing Tarte au Myrtilles) with the most intense flavors. All washed down with a delightful Crement du Cerdon slightly sweet sparkling wine.
In England we would often pop down to the local ‘Pick your Own’ and gather raspberries, strawberries and sometimes gooseberries when in season.
Which was great fun, especially as we could test taste a few along the way….
Today there is a much bigger demand for growing your own at home, due in part to a return to more natural activities ( getting lost behind a small screen is ok, it’s not very energetic, and it’s probably a strain on the eyes) . A lot of today’s youngsters would like to know how to grow plants. Many younger adults are seeking to help them, whilst us old-en’s have the knowledge.
The trick is, as always a balanced approach, until you feel confident enough to really ‘go for it’
Can you see the edibles in the picture below?
Of course if you happen to have the odd Châteaux just lying around you could always develop something on a rather more grand scale..
Sadly unless you happen to be a Hedge Fund manager, Politician, CEO of a public company or Daddy was very generous this approach is beyond most of us.
So with this in mind we have started to develop a rather novel approach, tailored to today’s rather busy folks and designed to grow with you as they say. First however, try something quick easy and useful, a Deck or Patio vertical herb garden. – just growing a few herbs is both fun, educational and beneficial.
Once you are happy with the herbs, then start being more adventurous, depending on the space available you can start a larger edibles garden.
The next phase, slightly larger edible area will be our next blog, along with ideas on how to implant within the landscape.
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Interview spots
We thought one of our interviews should be on board a sailing boat, after all it’s about as tranquil and peaceful as
a lovely garden – unless like yesterday it was blowing at about 40 mph ( then it requires a little more skill and a lot less sails)
First however our next interviews are going to be fun.
The first is in an absolutely amazing sculpture garden, that has 13 Henry Moore sculptures among a host of others that are equally interesting. Sculptures are fantastic for creating a interesting focal point in a garden, leading the eye from one part to another as you travel through the garden and it’s story unfolds. Sadly sculptures like these superb Henry Moore’s are beyond most folks budgets, although a number of firms make very acceptable stone sculptures, urns and statues.
The next is with a truly traditional organic vegetable grower, this is a growing trend as we discover more and more information about some of the effects of GMO seeds and the long term effects of today’s insecticides & pesticides.
The opportunity to design, develop and use the garden landscape is now more important than ever, with the erratic climate swings we’ve been experiencing, growing your own vegetables is both economical, generally healthier in many ways, and fun.
Schools are beginning to realise that not only is it a learning resource but also a huge cost saving when it comes to providing nutritional foods for the kids to eat – the kids learn where their food comes from, how to grow it, and then how to prepare and eat it – a truly win, win , win situation.
With the advent of vertical gardens, and mixed planting in pots, it’s possible to grow herbs and vegetables even on the smallest of spaces, all you need is light, protection from extreme heat and cold and of course water.
This herb pot is quick & easy to create and will last most of the summer.
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Growing Trends internet radio
Yesterday was the launch of our new internet radio show, it’s really all about people, how they make a difference to the environment they live in, how they have created their very own paradise, landscape or garden space, where they retreat to recharge their batteries after a hectic working day.
Each has it’s very own charisma, all are different, personal, delightful and special, Ann and I are very grateful to these wonderful people opening their truly amazing spaces to us, to interview them.
You can find us at www.cravingtalkradio.com – Growing Trends, we hope you will enjoy each visit with us. Please do, drop us a line at info@grotrends.com ask a question or request we visit you, or like us on Facebook – Growing Trends where you can see more pictures of the garden landscapes we visit each week.
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Growing Trends is now on air
So folks now you can get to hear our dulcet tones along with our pretty pictures and design ideas.
Our very own internet radio show is available to all , you can find us at www.cravingtalkradio.com the show is called Growing Trends, and broadcasts at 1pm and 7pm central time. Ann Miller & Chris Coope are the Co Hosts.
Do take a moment to listen, and by all means send us a note at info@grotrends.com – a nice note please ! or even a question, you never know we may be able to answer it for you.
On the other hand if you have an interesting landscape we could interview you..
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Some great landscape detail.
Let’s start with the unusual, well perhaps not unusual more not where you would expect it.
A car park in Portland, Oregon.
Miniature gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show
A Joker water fall with brick edge
A very large tree being moved.
A moon gate
Hawaii – a different way for a tree to remain standing !
A clever way to screen pedestrians from too much sun..
Providing shade at the upper level
Immaculate aftercare
Is it Art ?
an interesting restoration or is it pub conversion?
“Knapped flint’ walls are just amazing..
a lovely old stone wall…
Building stepped walls is not easy, this one has been
very well thought out.
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Special gardens don’t just happen.
The picture above is from a classic French village, in this case it was a restaurant we stopped at during a summer vacation. It was special because it drew the eye and the multitude of geraniums seemed to go on for ever. Red is by the way a great attention grabbing colour !
Sometimes a garden landscape just seems to ‘pop’ right out at you and you look almost spellbound by its balance and harmony. This doesn’t happen by chance very often. It is a result of a client choosing the right designer and then working together as a team to create a dream. A living stage if you will , that constantly changes with the seasons, and yet develops into this amazing restful, visual smorgasbord of colour, contrast and functionality.
Today I thought it might be fun to show some projects under construction, you will notice that most are ordered, very little mess to clutter the picture ( the cleaner you can keep a site the more efficient and the higher the final quality often is).
So with out further ado, here are a few true craftsmen at work.
This was an exhibition , with all the parts pre designed, when everything arrived on site, we realised that the back of the site had been raised 18 inches ( 450mm) and this required a complete re-adjustment and refit on site, so Tony and his co-worker did just that. You would never know looking at the final result.
This roof garden looked just like a normal roof, for a little while..then Mike and his co-worker went to work.
It’s hard to believe that this roof above became the picture below…
Or we started with…a real mess!
Some 300 tonnes of sub base, 100 tonnes of sand and 30,000 bricks, 250 tonnes of soil, 500 sq m of turf, 200 plants later….
became this..
What you cannot see, is that these are natural bricks, selected because they are softer looking, colour fast ( they do not bleach with time as a concrete block does) and because they are ‘fired’ they are not all the same size or shape. This is significant because it is almost impossible to lay a continuous pattern without it running out of line, it takes quite a bit of skill to get it just right.
or we started with.. the brickwork in the picture is the edge of the conservatory..
and created…
it is both exciting & fun to create a dream space for someone… here an old set of steps leading to a lawn is completely revamped, we extended the terrace, drained the lawn and raised the levels some 6 inches (150mm).
with a little extra effort…
and looking back..
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