My Blog

Welcome to Tim Austen’s garden design blog

Design inspiration, on an Olympic scale!

Garden designers are always looking for design inspiration for their next project.  Most design ideas are stimulated by something a designer will have seen or experienced whether directly related to garden design or not. Another thing that garden designers ought to be doing is keeping on top of developments in the overall...

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Crazy about currants, using fruit and vegetables in the garden.

[caption id="attachment_2182" align="aligncenter" width="553"] Red currants - an easy to grow garden fruit[/caption] I have just harvested my annual crop of red currants from my garden's solitary red currant bush.  This tough, easy-to-grow,  garden shrub does so well each year and satiates my need for breakfast berries - the rest of...

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Latest garden design trends? Tim is grilled by Joanne Sweeney-Burke!

A video of my interview with media guru and former The Apprentice finalist 2011 Joanne Sweeney-Burke of Mediabox at the Northwest Garden Show, Donegal May 27th 2012. I am interviewed by Joanne about trends in garden design, investing in your garden, growing your own vegetables, hiring a garden design consultant,  and...

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Garden design live (3): finishing touches

I bet you are wondering did we ever finish our garden project outlined in my posts: garden design live 1 and garden design live 2?  Well, I am pleased to report that we did finish the garden and that it looks great!  "It is totally amazing, we did an awesome...

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Building a show garden at Bloom in the Park, Dublin

This day, three years ago, I finished my second large show garden at Bloom in the Park at precisely 8am in the morning when all garden designers are firmly ejected from the build area by exhibition staff. Show gardens are huge undertakings involving serious personal commitment by the garden designer and...

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Tim to open the northwest’s gardening extravaganza!

[caption id="attachment_2799" align="aligncenter" width="504"] Tim and Diarmuid Gavin open the northwest garden show in 2011[/caption] I'm heading up to the northwest again this weekend to visit the wonderful and vibrant North West Garden Show that is held in Castlefinn, Donegal (and I have to say that this is one of Ireland’s...

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Garden design live (2)

[caption id="attachment_1968" align="aligncenter" width="614"] Setting out the garden design[/caption] So, you saw the design plan in my previous post of the 17th May.  Now here we are on site doin' a bit of hard work!  In the above pic. you can see the new shape of the lawn is nicely defined...

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Ecological gardens

For landscape architects and garden designers alike, there is a contemporary approach to planting design that seeks to mimic or at least draw inspiration from the dynamics and make-up of natural plant communities. [caption id="attachment_1952" align="aligncenter" width="610"] Mount Usher gardens, Co. Wicklow planted to William Robinson's naturalistic style[/caption] In garden design, this...

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