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A beautiful garden is a place to marvel at nature, relax the mind, and entertain with family and friends. It’s a chance to show off all the hard work you’ve done, choosing just the right plants and creating the perfect arrangement to display them. But what if you’re looking to add a little something extra to your garden? Where do you turn? One of the best, most eco-friendly ways you can do that is by adding a solar fountain to your garden. Here are some things to consider when purchasing one.

Location

• The first thing to consider when putting a solar fountain in your garden is the location. Not for the size of the fountain, but for the amount of sunlight it can get. Generally, all solar fountains operate with a solar panel either inside the basin facing up or outside the fountain on the ground next to it. In either case, you need a location where your fountain will be in complete sunlight all day long so it can run optimally. Avoid areas with trees or overgrown greenery that might hang over or even drop into the fountain and block the solar panel. If your panel sits outside your fountain, try and place it at least 1 foot away from any plants to avoid them from blocking sun getting to the panel.

Style

• After you’ve picked a location, you need to consider the style of fountain you want. Solar fountains come in many designs, so it’s not too hard to find one that will mesh with the theme of your garden. If you’re looking to attract birds and some of nature’s other creatures, a solar birdbath is a great choice. They provide a spot for bird stop and play, rest, and get a drink in their busy days. For something a little fancier, you can go with a tiered fountain. These have classic designs that let you enjoy the sound of running water all day long. And if you have a small garden and are looking for something compact, there are even tabletop solar fountains that can fit right in the corner of a flower bed.

Backup Power

• A backup power source is something a lot of people don’t think of with solar fountains. They think that they just get to enjoy the running water during the day and that it has to sit at night. While that used to be the case, it’s not anymore. Today, there are backup batteries that you can use with your solar fountain that store the sun’s power to keep your fountain going when it’s cloudy or at night. Many fountains now include these as a standard feature, but if yours doesn’t, don’t worry. You can easily find one at any fountain retailer and install it on your fountain in no time. They really are a great investment and will give you that much more enjoyment from your fountain.

If you’ve been contemplating adding a little something extra to your garden, look into some solar fountains. They’re good for the environment and good for enhancing the outdoor space. Use these tips and you’ll find a great fountain for your garden in no time!

About The Author – Marissa Alan is a writer with Outdoor Living and enjoys green living, cooking, and playing with her dogs. For more on products like solar garden fountains, decorative planters, bird baths, and glass wind chimes, visit OutdoorLiving.com.

The Garden Network has recently had a great deal of contact with BALI – a relationship which will continue to grow and strengthen in the future. We were given the opportunity for discounted tickets to attend a Robin Templar Williams Masterclass at BALI headquarters entitled ‘Difficult Sloping Gardens’. This proved very popular and rightly so!

Robin Templar Williams in action during his masterclass

I hadn’t previously met Robin – despite the fact that he lives and works quite close to me, but was thoroughly inspired by his ‘let’s get on with it’ approach. We started with some basic design principles using positive shapes and reminded that the design principles for sloping gardens remained the same as for level gardens.

Whether it was the way it was conveyed or the detail of the topic but I felt that I learnt as much about design in one morning as I had in several years at college and since. Part of this though was the new found confidence that came from realising that what I was doing was very much on the right lines but had now been vindicated by Robin’s commanding knowledge on the subject.

As designers our job is to solve problems for clients and when the garden is sloping this becomes an even greater requirement. The key was to follow the basic principles and ensure that you start with a good quality, accurate land survey which then needs careful analysis. Using photos and video to understand the nature of the land. The starting of the design should be of a broad brush approach to check flow and balance of the proposals. By taking a cross section through one or more places you can then test levels and wall heights to ensure the project will work. Some of the best advice was to make sure that you use fellow professionals to survey and undertake any engineering work that may be required.

As with any event like this there is also the opportunity to network with fellow designers and landscapers from around the country. It is often when talking to others like this that you realise that others face very similar problems and challenges to you and that although being a garden designer can be quite a lonely existence there is always a huge amount of support available on tap for the asking.

This event has proved very popular and BALI have organised another day to re-run the training event. There are a limited number of places available so don’t waste time in booking yourself on this very worthwhile course. Link to more details here.

There is also due to be a day that just deals with design basic principles which I strongly suspect will be equally worthwhile and popular! Details here!

Robin runs the successful Garden Design School with Moira Farnham

An excerpt from the full article :

First impressions of the garden are clearly crucial when trying to sell or let a property.

Over half – 55% – of prospective home buyers rated the state of the garden as important as the inside of the house.

The top turn-off for buyers is junk such as old fridges, mattresses and toys littering the garden – cited by 71%.

Other off-putting gardening gripes are dog mess, cited by 63%, overflowing rubbish bins (54%), plants intruding into the walls of the house (53%) and dilapidated sheds (52%) or decking (50%).

Sellers should also take care to avoid too many weeds (47%), uneven or grubby patios (46%), overgrown lawns (42%) and untrimmed trees (41%).

Privacy is the main thing home buyers look for in a garden – cited by 61%. After that, a patio (54%) and lawn (50%) top their wish lists.

But millions of homeowners are failing to tend their gardens regularly and 45% do not grow any plants or flowers.

As a garden designer seeing results of research like this is quite alarming. Creating a great garden that meets the needs of the owners is one of the challenges we face every day. I am frequently asked by people for a ‘low maintenance garden’ and while ‘no maintenance’ isn’t really an option you can certainly design gardens that will look great without too much knowledge or experience.

A recent project transformed a very dull rectangle that was both high maintenance and un-attractive

in to a usable space that not only added value to the property but also added value to the owners and their pleasure in being able to use the garden

Getting a garden designer to help you with this transformation will help you maximise the value of the space and will ensure that you don’t end up with costly mistakes.

So don’t lose out with your property, the garden is such an important part of it and with a little help you can be really proud of it. We’ll take you through the process and ensure that all your requirements are met, not only offering advice on suitable plants but also on layouts that will maximise your benefit – frequently coming up with ideas that wouldn’t be considered either by yourself or by simply employing the services of a landscaper.

What are you waiting for get out there and enjoy your own personal outdoor world!

Wouldn’t it be great though if instead of having to sow fresh seeds each year you just waited for the plant to come up and produce food for you? You are probably getting interested now – particularly if you have limited space and time. You heard right plant once and crop for ever!

Of course fruit trees and bushes fall in to this category – but here we look at two plants that are easy to grow, require very little maintenance and will just keep going!

First up is rhubarb.

I have just been given a couple of portions of root from a friend who has split their existing plants. Splitting them every few years helps to keep the fresh and strong. So splitting them has two benefits, firstly they help keep the plants healthy but also provide an opportunity to give plants away. If you start now then in a couple of years you too can give a piece of root away to someone else to have a go! Rhubarb can be grown naturally or many people force them under special clocheswhich helps blanche the stems. Picking is easy simply pull the stalk away from the base when it is ready to eat. Take care to discard the leaves to the compost as they are poisonous and shouldn’t be eaten.

I am not a fan of the texture of rhubarb personally but I do like the flavour! My favourite recipe simply involves cutting the stem in to inch long chunks and simmering for a few minutes until reduced to a soft texture. Adding banana helps soften the flavour a little, and add honey as a sweetener. Blend with some custard and chill in the fridge.

Secondly is root artichoke

 - again this is a plant once crop for ever vegetable. Jerusalem artichokes have an added bonus of producing tall sunflower like blooms. Best planted towards the back of a border. A neighbour kindly left a bag of their split out stock and in a couple of years you will be able to as well ( not to me – I already have some!) These are a root vegetable resembling a rather knobbly potato and they have a sweet flavour that combines well with potato. Be warned though! These are often referred to as f**tichokes for good reason!

The joy of both these plants is that they easily combine with a regular flower borderwhilst producing food at the same time – a real bonus! Anyone feeling even more adventurous can also try globe artichokes which are a real treat – if slightly messy, to eat! The plants are very architectural and make quite a statement so make sure you have plenty of room for these beauties.

So for food crops that don’t need an allotment or green fingers why not try rhubarb and artichoke and add some variety to your kitchen dinner table. You’ll be amazed at what you can achieve!

Blanche Surman, Affinity Marketing Executive at NFU Mutual comments, “We are thrilled to become official insurance providers of the Garden Network. NFU Mutual recognises the need to play an active part in community life and reach out to country-based groups and organisations like this one. We hope that Garden Network members will find the relationship of real benefit.

Tim Matcham, Director, the Garden Network said, ”The Garden Network is very pleased to be working with NFU Mutual to provide comprehensive home, garden and other insurances to the Garden Network members. “Regardless of location, country or city, NFU Mutual can provide the same excellent coverage. NFU Mutual is well respected, has a proud heritage and is able to deliver the quality insurances and service that Garden Network members and supporters expect. Our association is all the more exciting because we share the same values of excellence and environmental concerns.”

Such great news for the Garden Network – the network that is growing places!

First up was Coblands Nursery – I had the pleasure of visiting the Nursery in Kent last summer so it was great to catch up with Nigel Gibson again. They offer both commercial and retail outlets for their plants but were displaying a range from their Best4plants range which is an online garden centre, I guess in some way rivalling Crocus.

Presnting their range of ‘larger than usual’ bulbs were Avon bulbs, I think what appeals here is that the bulbs are UK grown, not, as so many are, from Holland or Europe. If you are looking for great spring and summer flowering bulbs this site is well worth a visit. They have won numerous RHS Gold Medals for their show exhibits over the years. As a little thank you visitors were presented with a pack of Gladiolous callianthus

I am really looking forward to trying these, having first seen them a few years ago when they were known as Acidanthera murielae!

Celebrating 50 years were the Beth Chatto gardens and it was great to see some of the team buzzing with enthusiasm and interested as ever, I have the gardens in Essex high on my list of gardens to visit.

There were a couple of interesting seed merchants there. Worthy of note were Harrod Horticultural with their range of Stephanie’s (Harrod) Kitchen Garden Organic Seeds and Thompson and Morgan for their wide range of seeds and plant plugs. Perhaps the most interesting thing particularly if you are new to growing your own is a range from Unwins called Gro-sure which come with a guarantee of successful results. There were of course many others!

Many of the stands had interesting organic or eco-friendly products on display including Vitax with some organic slug pellets fetchingly called Slug Death XL - no guesses as to what that does then!

The award for the Best Overall Stand at the event though went to a company called Carbon Gold. This is an innovative company formed by Craig Sams – who also started Green & Blacks Chocolate. A quote from their website

“Biochar offers a fresh solution to the challenge of climate change. Carbon Gold is developing a portfolio of projects that uses the latest technology to turn surplus biomass into biochar – a form of fine-grained charcoal that is high in carbon and largely resistant to decomposition.

Biochar offers a unique tool to combat global warming because it can capture the carbon dioxide that has been absorbed by growing plants and tie it up in the soil for hundreds of years, so preventing it re-entering the carbon cycle.

Biochar also increases soil productivity, retains moisture and reduces nutrient leaching, thus reducing the need for irrigation and artificial or organic fertilisers. Unlike charcoal, biochar can be sourced from various types of biomass, typically from surplus agricultural materials, such as crop residues, tree prunings and agro-processing by-products.”

This certainly seemed an amazing product and it will be interesting to follow its progress in the market, we shall see just what impact it can have.

There were of course tools and machinery on display and all sorts of novelties, like Backdoorshoes – which take on from where Crocs left off!

One thing I found which was particularly interesting as a garden designer was a publication on the Husqvarna stand which had analysed the many ‘garden blogs’ from around the world and had identified the most prevalent topics of discussion, surmising that these were likely to be the styles and trends most reflected in the corners of the globe – it makes fascinating reading and perhaps I’ll find a way to share some of its contents here.

Still on the design theme Vectorworks were showing their new Vectorworks 2010 software. I use an earlier version and recently reviewed Tamsin Slatter’s book on the subject. They are certainly forging ahead with developments and it is now justifiably regarded as the number one CAD software for garden designers. Like so many software packages it is a vast programme, but the backup and support available makes learning a pleasurable experience.

An interesting show and one that I could easily have spent another day at and still not spoken to everyone! Here’s to next year!

All is not lost – with a little assistance you can re-awaken the garden, breathing life in to it’s very core. Frozen water features can be rescued from their slumbers with a dash of salt! Nothing fancy about that – salt is used to great effect keeping our roads clear of ice and the same principal applies to your water feature. The amount of salt required will depend on how far the temperature drops and how big your water feature is, so experiment to work out what is best for you.

The other benefit of adding salt is that it will prevent algae growth in the summer too – so this simple solution can provide all year round benefit. A word of warning however as this won’t be an answer if you have fish or other wildlife inhabiting your water feature – they won’t like it either!

So now your blanket of white can become animated once more, giving a hint of brighter days, as spring surely approaches from the depths of our bleak winter months.

This tip courtesy of Helen Silver from the Property Styling Company

Following instruction manuals on how to do something is not in my nature. I am the type of person who is determined to figure it out for himself without the heavy burden of having to read instructions first!

So when I was asked to review this book I faced an interesting challenge. I was actually going to have to read some detailed instructions on how to create fabulous 3D rendered garden designs using Vectorworks – complete terror set in!

I have had about a years experience of using Vectorworks and have achieved a reasonable standard of 2D drawing skills, complete with rendering, insertion, labelling and reporting on plants, much of which was achieved following a days training with Tamsin – so I knew the basics (or at least I thought I did!).

Make no mistake I still have a long way to go to be called an expert on Vectorworks but the book has shown me how to take the 2D basics and transform them in to potentially thrilling 3D work.

What I found useful about the book was the way it was set out – in a straightforward, logical sequence with exercises demonstrated with simple to follow exercises and an accompanying CD. Before setting about a task we are given a taste of what the section is aiming to achieve, followed by short, well written, numbered sequence of instructions accompanied by screen grabs to add further clarity.

For me this won’t replace face to face tutoring but it does allow you to progress at your own pace and review procedures at any time. The power of this CAD tool is huge and finding the bits that mean you can make a difference to your customers is now much easier. Presenting 3D plans and walk throughs rather than a 2D representation of the garden will make a big difference for many of my clients who fail to grasp the way a garden will look when just faced with plans.

My only criticism is the small format, which while handy, also means that the screen grabs are frequently rather small and therefore hard to see – but that’s a minor criticism of a book that delivers a cost effective route in to using the power of Vectorworks Landmark.

You can contact Tamsin Slatter through her website and the book can be purchased through her or through other Vectorworks resellers

Gardens can be designed to meet the exacting needs of their owners and this makes the possibilities really exciting – when looking at before and after photos you start to get the picture!

Here is a garden completed last year.

Much better use of space:-

More inspiring, lower maintenance and adding value to the property

Invest in your garden and change your life for the better – you know it makes sense!