June; making garden "rooms"

We are not all lucky enough to have acres of space that can be divided by Yew hedges, gravel walks and the odd tennis court or swimming pool here and there. However, even the smallest garden will benefit from being sub-divided into garden spaces that offer some surprises, a sense of journey and even a sense of mystery.

One of the reasons that new houses are so dull is that the gardens are an open book and are taken in at one glance.

A friend of mine has a typical terrace house with a long, thin garden. Her neighbour has gone for the B&Q option as I call it with a rectangular lawn with decking one end and paving the other. Brilliant if you are blind, inebriated or can't be bothered to walk to the park to practice penalties.

Her garden however winds its way from a sheltered seating area surrounded by climbers and small trees onto a path that goes through perennials, flowering shrubs, roses and fruit. There are no straight lines and at the end of the garden there is a secluded natural seating area with logs to sit on and wildlife to admire. 

It is full of life and colour and whilst it may not be great for footballers it is never without interest. The divisions are achieved by arches, trellis, trees and shrubs. You don't have to cut an area off from everything else. Thinking about what the garden can be used for ( a quiet corner for reading for example) will help you decide what you need.

If you do want to make some garden rooms a simple rule in design is to decide if you are going to have a garden of curves or straight lines and then choose your materials accordingly. You could always be adventurous and go for winding hedges or undulating trellis though rotating Laurel pyramids as seen on TV may not quite tick the sustainability box.

Whilst surveying your estate and calling for afternoon tea to be served you may want to get the staff onto this month’s priorities;

• Now is the time to get the summer bedding and hanging baskets out there. The worst of the frosts will be over, but remember to be very generous with the watering. Annual bedding plants will have come from a cosseted environment so will be used to regular hydration.
• The slugs seem to have been particularly numerous this year. I have resorted to the tried and tested control method of filling small leftover plastic containers with beer and giving them a cheery end. One gulp for me and then one gulp for them.
• Weeds may be getting a hold of your borders. Hoeing annuals, wiping Round-up or something similar on the leaves of the ground-elder, bindweed and couch and spraying SBK on nettles and docks will all help keep them in check. I find that brambles are best dug out.
• Lawns have suddenly picked up their speed of growth. Setting the height of your mower to a 35-50mm (1-2 inches) will ensure you are not too hard on the coarser grass varieties in your lawn but will allow the finer grasses to flourish. It is the finer grasses that stand up to the dry month’s best.
• When your spring bulbs look truly past it and the leaves are turning yellowy-brown you can then safely chop them down. Too early and they may not flower next year.
• The seeds from spring annuals and perennials can be sprinkled onto the borders for a show next year. Leave the Aquilegia and Forget-me-nots until the seed heads are dry and crispy then simply spread them over your chosen area.
• Magnolia, Fuchsia, Penstemon and Caryopteris are all on the tender side so now is the time to give them their prune rather than in the colder months when the frosts may get to them.

If you have strawberries, you might have timed it just right to put up your feet and enjoy a bit of Wimbledon in classic style. Mine are on course for a good year, but if you are going to buy them I suggest you go for organic, locally-grown varieties. They are much tastier than their imported cousins and it’s better to support your local grower isn’t it?

Then again the staff may have sorted all that out for you. 

Dream on.