Lewis – Page 14 – Awnings 4U

The post party garden cleanup

Posted on September 1, 2015January 12, 2016 by Lewis

I have written hundreds, if not thousands, of words about respecting gardens, enjoying the peace and tranquility of it all and really putting your feet up and relishing that holistic, natural experience of the great outdoors in your own personal space. Occasionally though that peace gets disrupted. The party I was at over the weekend certainly showed no great respect for anything, least of all a garden. Once the dust had settled and the weary eyed began to stir to survey the carnage it was pretty clear this would be a monumental clean up effort, not least in the garden itself. Cans on the floor, food everywhere, turned over tables and chairs, general waste spread all over the grass and in the bushes, puddles of sick littered about. It was...

Pruning bushes: Cutting back

Posted on August 2, 2015January 12, 2016 by Lewis

One of my favourite gardening activities is pruning. That is the art of grabbing a pair of giant scissors and going to town on anything that looks remotely out of kilter in your garden. It is an extremely cathartic experience; you can release all kinds of tension from your stressful days at work. It is also a useful experience for your actual garden itself. When your garden starts to overgrow the detrimental effects can be many. First of all having an overgrown garden is an extremely ugly affair. Vines, weeds and stray, loose ends all over the place It can be unruly and not much fun to be in, when usually the garden is a space which we are supposed to enjoy. The second effect is that it’s never an...

The border between garden and home

Posted on June 18, 2015January 12, 2016 by Lewis

Now for us in my home we have a very simple set up when it comes to our house and the garden; a very clear divide. We have the back wall of our house with two doors that lead outside to the garden; one from the garage (where we keep all the gardening equipment) and one from the dining room (which is now a living space.) That door is slightly less traditional, being French Windows. It’s that kind of transition I want to talk about today. That border between your home and your garden and the ways in which people manipulate it. Some opt for a conservatory; the most popular and one of the most powerful methods of blurring that line. Moving out into your garden and allowing you, even...

A place for smokers

Posted on May 29, 2015January 12, 2016 by Lewis

I don’t smoke. After losing two grand parents to lung related illnesses and working in the NHS I honestly can’t imagine anything more idiotic than willingly breathing smoke into your body. I mean, seriously? Anyway; it’s come to my attention that when it comes to designing outdoor spaces we now have to consider the needs of the idiotic in our plans. Smoking, it seems, doesn’t wait for any weather conditions, even in the pouring rain they feel the need to kill themselves just a little bit more. So how can we accommodate the idiocy of others? “Sheltered smoking areas” are the thing we should be looking to include. Cover from the elements, a way for these people to keep themselves warm and maybe even sit down in some sort of...

What is “Gardening”?

Posted on April 19, 2015January 12, 2016 by Lewis

I have written hundreds of words about gardening over the years; from beginner articles all the way to advanced bulbing techniques. What I have never talked about though, and what I have always assumed, is that people had a basic, working knowledge of what gardening was. I assumed people knew the basics, the techniques and had a vested interest in the green arts. But what if people were coming to my articles and thinking “this is all very well and good, but what is gardening?” It’s not a question I’d ever considered. Gardening is… well, that’s harder than I thought. At it’s most basic level gardening about the tending, nurturing and caring about nature. Specifically a small piece of nature that you can call your own. You choose the layout,...