European gardens, garden, tours, Italian, villas, houses

Taking your Garden to new heights!

Dealing with Levels in Garden Design In a board or card game, sometimes it can feel like you have been dealt the worst possible hand and yet sometimes starting from a seeming position of disadvantage can actually see the game play into your hands; as it unfolds new opportunities arise that you did not think were possible, you get creative, you exploit and then you come out on top.  In garden design, we are sometimes dealt these difficult hands, none perhaps more so than the steeply sloping site.  Yet, with a...

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Plan your garden design

So, you’ve watched the garden makeover programmes on TV, read the garden magazines, you’ve Googled garden designers and famous gardens in Ireland and across the world, you’ve used Facebook and Instagram to find those wow garden images and you’ve put them all together on your Pinterest account.  You know what you want and you’re ready to get the garden designed.  You deserve congratulations at this stage, as you will have put concerted effort and significant time into getting to this point.  What’s next? The next big step will be for you...

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house extension, garden design, gardens, makeover, home improvements, gardening, home, extension

Garden extension

In the current Irish housing market, many people are adding extensions to their homes rather than moving to add value to their properties, add more space etc.  I'm in that bracket myself with my kids becoming teenagers, suddenly the house seems much smaller than it did a few years ago.  But retired couples may also want to make space for visitors and give themselves the nice large, sitting room that they have always dreamed about. The architects design concepts often involve nice views to the garden with floor to ceiling windows,...

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My bloom journey is underway!

[caption id="attachment_3060" align="aligncenter" width="614"] Giardino della mostra by Tim Austen for Bloom 2013[/caption] I am all of a flutter about Bloom 2013 having just uploaded the details about my show garden on to the official Bloom in the park website and apparently there are only 30 days to go before the event opens! Giardino della mostra or “garden of exhibits,”  - I think it reads wonderfully in Italian and I look forward to hearing it enunciated by Italian visitors to the show - is a County Wicklow inspired garden supported by Gardenworld,...

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Garden design enrichment – get it now!

A timely reminder, if you don’t mind, that the seminal Irish garden design event of 2013 (Bloom in the Park excepted) is taking place this weekend in Blanchardstown, Dublin. If you live in Ireland or indeed the UK and you are interested in what’s new in garden design then I would urge you to attend the Garden and Landscape Design Association's seminar Simply Gardens…Design Inspiration for your Soul’. This is the seventeenth successive annual design gathering held by the GLDA, which is no mean feat in these straightened times. [caption id="attachment_3034" align="aligncenter" width="413"]...

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Tree stakes and ties

[caption id="attachment_2898" align="aligncenter" width="615"] Small tree with adjustable tie[/caption] We are all feeling a bit battered by the recent strong winds here in Ireland.  Spare a thought then for your garden trees, some of which will have felt the worst effects of the wind with branches lost or, worse still, their central leaders (main stems) having snapped. Others may have had their roots torn out of the ground. Good staking of young trees will help to avoid such unfortunate outcomes and will assist a tree through its early establishment years. Although I have...

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‘Tis great to be a garden designer, so it is!

On a beautiful sunny winter's day in Wicklow, it is hard not to be appreciative of the fact that I am a garden designer.  And, it is the variety in my job that I find most fulfilling.  Today, I zipped over to get some paving samples from Ken (from whom I also bought a bag of coal for home), then headed up the road to show these to my client, whose garden we shall be constructing in January. [caption id="attachment_2539" align="aligncenter" width="447"] Plants to be salvaged growing along fence line![/caption] Part of...

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What sizes of paving slab to use in your garden design?

So you have picked out your paving stone but what size of slab do you go for? The size of your paving slabs will obviously be determined by the look that you are trying to achieve.  I find that as a general rule-of-thumb, smaller sizes will work best for more intricate designs. I also feel that it is best to use a single type of paving but to avoid monotony another material can be added to frame or subtly divide up an area or to provide a contrast with the main material. ...

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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 of course what is good about the Northwest garden show!  As ever, I would be interested to get your comments and feedback on any of the items discussed or mentioned in the video. Thank you Mediabox for posting the video to...

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