Nowhere is a person happier I believe than in their garden, pottering around tends the borders, weeding and tending in to the needs of the plants. There are times however when you may want to develop new areas of your garden or create some landscape features. DIY landscaping projects in the garden are not as daunting as you would first imagine, there is nothing more satisfying than completing some landscaping work yourself and then having the fun task of choosing the new plants for the area and watching the plants grow and mature.

Great projects to get involved with:

Digging a pond – A pond is a wonderful addition to any garden; they provide habitats for wildlife and can encourage new species of wildlife to visit/reside in your garden. They also provide a great opportunity to add new aquatic plants to the garden such as lilies and bull rushes.

Garden Terracing – If your garden has a slope or gradient to it (or you have the ability to create one) then a garden terrace can be a great addition to any garden. The terracing can be created using concrete retaining wall blocks (normally used for industrial projects but readily available) to hold back the soil and create the terrace structure. The terrace can be finished off with a patio where you can sit and enjoy your garden in these late summer evenings.

Create a themed area – One of my favourite projects which I recently completed in my garden was transforming my tired rockery into a Mediterranean style rockery which I planted with herbs which are native to the Mediterranean area. The rockery looks amazing as purple Sage and Rosemary sprawl across the rocks and it smells divine. An extra bonus is the fact that I now have fresh herbs for my cooking!

Topiary – This is a tricky skill to master, but if you have the patience the results can be fantastic. My front garden used to be a tired and under-used space, I had an old pampus grass and a few roses – totally underwhelming. So I pulled everything up and I have created a topiary garden with a number of trees and bushes which I am training and clipping into fantastic shapes, the garden has been covered with decorative gravel ensuring that the focus is on the topiary bushes. They have certainly been a head turner and people always stop to look at my garden as they walk past.
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