My Blog

Welcome to Tim Austen’s garden design blog

Garden design tip 1

I am conscious of the fact that I haven't really done a specific garden design post to date.  I have been mulling over how to present these.  Shall I just dispense the information in a prescriptive way, like a garden doctor, if you will?  Perhaps in bullet point format: All gardens...

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Potato planting: under St. Patrick’s thumb!

It was with some relief that I managed to plant my potatoes last week.  I know - can you believe it? - they were not planted until the 9th of April! Yes, the fact that they had not been planted by the purported St. Patrick's Day planting deadline had been troubling my...

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Garden visits: E.H. Wilson memorial garden

[caption id="attachment_1385" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Entrance to Wilson memorial garden[/caption] E.H. Wilson was born in Chipping Campden in 1876.  A small memorial garden to the great plant-hunter can be found there.  Barely noticeable, the garden is accessed through a small arch, which is not much more than a gap in the wall...

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Weather forecasting for the garden

It is not my intention that my blog is used as a long term climate recording tool, but the ongoing variability in our weather is so dramatic that I will continue to comment on it as long as I feel it is impacting on the plants in our gardens.  So...

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Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks!

The garden has been battered by near gale force winds for the past twenty- four hours. The blossom has been stripped from the trees, foliage has been flattened and debris lies scattered across the garden. I am residing indoors nursing my cold; doing some garden design sketches, at least. Nonetheless, I...

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Garden colds

Environmental conditions have changed abruptly: day time temperatures have tumbled to below 10°C in a spell of unseasonable cold weather, skies are in the main dull with some sunny spells, the wind has picked up, and we have even had a spot of rain  - although, this is welcome to...

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Joys of Juneberry!

As a garden designer, one has to have a store of ready answers to often asked gardening questions.  These need to be confidently rolled off the tongue, without hesitation, to instil client confidence in your abilities.  I find that some practice is required here as the right answer may differ...

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Parched March

If someone had told me that I was going to be out with my watering can before the end of March this time last year, I would have told them to go indoors and take a strong dose of a reality pill, extra strength brand for crazy gardening folk!  But...

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Obsessive edging

Here in Ireland, we have had a spell of unseasonably hot weather over the last few days (pushing 20°C) and this is expected to continue for a while yet.  And the clocks have just changed giving us an extra hour of daylight in the evenings.  This favourable combination of temperature...

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Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland seminar 2012

[caption id="attachment_835" align="alignnone" width="491"] Flyer for this year's RHSI seminar[/caption] Tim will be speaking at this year's RHSI seminar to be held at the National Botanic Gardens this Saturday the 3rd March at 10am. Tim will talk about his personal experiences and how they have influenced his garden design.  He will explain...

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