Garden design, planting and landscaping.

Our garden design, planting design and garden landscaping  services cover the following london areas.

Chelsea SW3, Clapham SW4, Earls Court SW5, Fulham SW6, South Kensington SW7, Battersea SW11, Blaham SW12, Barnes SW13, Mortlake SW14, Putney SW15, Wandsworth SW18, Wimbledon SW19, West Wimbledon SW20, Chiswick W4, Ealing W5, Hammersmith W6, Hanwell W7, Kensington W8, Nottinghill W11, Shepherds Bush W12, West Ealing W13, West Kensington W14.

Middlesex

Twickenham and surrounding areas

Surrey

Kingston upon Thames.

For all inquiries please call - email us on 0208 846 9099 or scott@scottlawrence.co.uk. Alternatively fill out our enquiry form by clicking here Garden design, landscaping enquiry form

Topsoil suppliers- Advise on supply

Topsoil suppliers and finding a good one can be a time consuming if not expensive exercise. Compared to other bulk bag products you might buy for your garden topsoil is relatively expensive and as such careful consideration should be taken before choosing a supplier. Buying topsoil for your garden is normally something you will only do once or twice so you want to be picking the best topsoil available. We only use Rolawn Topsoil and associated Rowlawn products for reasons I will go into.

 

When I first started in the garden profession years ago I naively thought that topsoil was topsoil, every supplier had the same soil, just selling it at different prices. How wrong could I be? The bulk bags would turn up and often were turned straight away. I've seen bulk bags made up of 70% clay, excavated soil from demolition and soil with huge quantities of peat (to bulk it up and give the appearance of good soil) Another trick some unscrupulous suppliers use is to have a few inches of good topsoil on top of inferior soil below. Once it's paid for and loaded off the truck you'll find it extremely difficult to get it picked up and refunded off an unsavoury supplier. Another factor to take into consideration is Japanese knotweed, if you don’t use a reputable supplier where the soil is traceable and passes quality control then you could be inviting this monster into your garden.

 

As a garden designer and plants man I need to rely on a supplier that will provide me with consistent and top quality topsoil which is why we only use Rowlawn Topsoil.

 

Click here to go straight to the Rolawn website to buy your topsoil.

 

Raspberry varieties

Different raspberry varieties fruit at different times of the year. You can, if planned enjoy this superb "super food" from July until the first frosts. Early fruiting varieties fruit throughout July, midsummer from mid July to mid August, late summer varieties throughout August and Autumn fruiting raspberries late August until the first frosts.

Early Summer Fruiting Raspberries

Glen Moy, Malling Jewel, Redsetter

Midsummer Fruiting Raspberries

Glen Ample,  Glen Prosen

Late Midsummer Fruiting Raspberries

Malling Admiral, Octavia, Tulameen

Autumn Fruiting Raspberries

Allgold, Autumn Bliss, Galante,Polka 

With more raspberry varieties coming available every year.

Beneficial garden insects

Attracting beneficial garden insects to your garden should be one of your new years resolutions especially if your keen on starting a fruit or vegetable garden this year. There are many insect "houses" out there available for purchase which are great at providing habitats for hibernating insects in winter but there is a great deal you can do during the growing season to attract beneficial garden insects into your garden, provide nectar rich plants and leave small piles of logs, debris at the back of the border, out of view.

Insects that are beneficial in eating those pests include:

• Ground beetles (leave them all apart from vine weevil)
• Ladybirds (excellent at eating large quantities of aphids)
• Lacewings (eat aphids and other pests)
• Hoverflies (eat aphids)
• Ichneumon flies (lay their eggs into the larvae that will turn into the cabbage white butterfly)
• Spiders 
• Velvet mites (look like money spiders, eat other small insects)

By attracting beneficial insects into your garden you will help maintain a good balance thus reducing the need for nasty chemical controls (in my opinion should never be used around food crops, ever)

I will add more information on this topic as we go throughout the year.

Buy raspberry plants and canes online

Buying raspberry plants and canes online is easy and highly reccomended seeing as local garden centres seem to only stock the odd variety, if any at all. This time of year (until March) raspberries are supplied bare rooted ie: no pot or soil around the roots so are easily shipped. Expect just a 12" cane and some roots. If your not ready to plant now don't worry just dig a small trench anywhere in the garden and just cover the roots with soil (this is called heeling in) When you've found the final spot you would like them prepare your new planting holes, lift the raspberry canes and plant.

Don't put it off if you want home grown, organic, delicious raspberries this Autumn, buy your raspberries online today, they run out very very quickly. Summer fruiting raspberries that are planted now will not fruit until 2011 but if impatient like me you could enjoy a crop of autumn fruiting raspberries this year. Two excellent autumn fruiting varieties to try are Raspberry Autumn Bliss and Raspberry Polka.

I cant urge you enough to order your raspberry canes now, demand far outstrips supply.

Winter pruning roses

Winter prune roses rom now until March. This will be the last pruning before this years growth starts so remove any weak, damaged branches and growth that is congesting the middle of the plant. Cut the branches that you wish to keep back about two thirds and cut just above an outward facing bud. The idea is you want to have a nice open shrub (goblet shaped). Theres no need to ne scared about pruning roses (they really are tougher than you think).

Climbing plants for the shade

Climbing plants for the shade.

I am always asked by clients what plants to grow up shaded walls, more than often this has been tried without success and the client has all but given up. With the right climbing plant choice there is no reason why the right climber suited for the shade will not grow up a shaded wall. Often reasons for failure are the climbing plant is planted too close to the house wall, house bricks are extremely porous and will absorb lots of water so when planting dig your planting hole a minimum of 30cm away from the house and angle the climber back towards the house, water well in the first year and with the right plant choice it should do well thereafter.

2 Climbing plants for the shade  that you should be aware of planting next to your house though are Parthenocissus (virginia creeper - boston ivy) and Hedera (ivy). Both are self climbing (self attaching) and will require a lot of ladder work to keep them from taking over. 

With a bit of careful research finding the right climber for the shade should be no more difficult than choosing any other garden plant.