The Organic Garden. Allan Shepherd

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СКАЧАТЬ to the gardener has increased over the past few years: look out for paving materials made out of reclaimed brick, chipped slate, recycled glass and reclaimed aggregates. A lot of energy is needed to produce glass, and likewise plastic, but both materials are used extensively by the gardener to capture heat and speed up the growth rates of plants. Old windows can be recycled into cloches and although polytunnel plastic wears out after a few years it can then be turned into mini cloches or laid on the soil to heat it up in early spring. Plastic is used extensively to make water butts, watering cans, compost bins, raised beds and other common garden objects. Look for products that are 100 per cent recycled.

      Fencing, hedges and walls

      Possibly the first thing you need to do in a garden, if it hasn’t been done already, is to fence, wall or hedge it off. A barrier between you and the rest of the world helps to keep out four-legged pests like rabbits, deer and sheep (although will rarely deter foxes and cats); gives shelter and privacy to a garden; and helps to screen out ugly noise and views. Fences and hedges also offer protection from wind, but a solid fence that stops the wind dead is less stable than one that slows the wind speed down. Fencing can cast shade on a garden so you need to strike a balance and plan your materials carefully.

      Fencing options

      If you’re buying a standard cut-wood fence, the sort of thing found in most garden centres, look for the FSC symbol, as before. A company called Forest Garden supply a huge range of DIY shops and garden centres with a massive range of wood products for the garden, including fencing, gates, sheds, storage boxes, trellis, and so on, using wood cut from FSC-approved UK forests owned by the Forestry Commission. Hurdles are a nice alternative to wire fencing and the more conventional garden fencing in most DIY stores and garden centres. They are made from untreated coppiced wood and can be bought or made at home using the same skills as for rustic furniture-making. The best website I found on the subject was www.allotmentforestry.com. Not only does this have a whole set of wonderful free fact sheets explaining how to make gates, fences, tables, arches, bird tables, hurdles, plant supports and a laptop table, there is also a directory of craftspeople working with coppiced material in England. For more information on fencing, see page 79.

      Hedges

      NEVER PLANT LEYLAND CYPRESS! Sorry, had to get that out of my system. Leyland cypress (Cupressus leylandii) is a fast-growing conifer that needs to be trimmed to maintain a good hedge, and rarely is. You usually see hedges brown, dying and ugly because the owner panics as they grow and grow and grow…and cuts the top off. Or else you see them more than 6 metres high, from which height they shade everything in sight. See www.hedgeline.org for some truly awful hedges gone wrong and try to avoid doing the same in your garden. I’ve picked out some good hedging trees on page 81: check them out before buying.

      Hedging takes a few years to establish and will not keep out pests until it is thick with growth (and even then rabbits may still get through). In the interim use a wire fence as a temporary shield. The height and type of wire fence required varies from pest to pest (see page 216), as does the lengths of the stakes used to support it. For the

       Ethical choice: natural finishes

      Gone are the days when everyone covered their fences with creosote or white paint as a matter of course. The average can of paint contains fungicides, heavy metals such as cadmium, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Titanium dioxide, used in most shades but particularly in ‘brilliant white’, is a possible carcinogen and can cause respiratory problems and skin irritation. Paints also give off VOCs (volatile organic compounds) when drying. VOCs are known to induce eye, nose and throat irritation, headaches and dizziness; some are suspected or known to cause cancer in humans. There is now a range of environmentally sound alternatives for waxing, polishing, painting, decorating and otherwise preserving internal and external surfaces. CAT sells some of them, as does www.greenshop.co.uk and www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk. Brands include Auro, Green Paints, Stuart Furby’s Lime Earth Paints, Ty Mawyr Lime, Eco-strip, Holkham Linseed Paints, Osmo Uk, Earthborn, La Tienda, Treatex and Clearwell Caves.

      stakes use local untreated chestnut, which lasts longer in the soil. Bash the stakes in at 2-metre intervals with a sledgehammer and draw the wire as tight as you can before fixing it in place using a hammer and 10-mm fencing staples. For more information on hedges, see pages 80–82.

      Making a wall

      Walls tend to be made out of earthen materials (i.e. those that come out of the ground), although you do get some very nice walls that mix earthen materials with wood – a technique known as cordwood masonry. If you want a stone wall, research which stone is local to your area and buy accordingly for a wall that fits in with your local environment. Alternatively, use reclaimed brick (www.salvo.co.uk or check with local builders’ merchants), or make your own – see left. Making your own bricks gives you a great sense of pride. Organics is all about gaining confidence by doing it yourself. Avoid using concrete blocks. Many show gardens have experimented with walls made with recycled materials, including old bottles, tin cans, rubble, and so on. These are either built using a binding material such as mortar, or more simply stacked in rows using gabions. Gabions are steel mesh boxes primarily used in the road building and construction industries. Now you can get garden-sized gabions from www.stones3.co.uk. Fill the mesh up with natural stone, reclaimed building rubble or any material that will hold weight.

      Cob is used extensively by eco-builders. It is made by mixing subsoil with straw and water, and then pounding or treading it down to form free-standing walls (see page 57). In a similar vein, rammed earth, mud bricks and stabilised earth blocks are all popular natural building materials for walls.

      Seating areas and paths

      Grass is the most obvious soft landscaping choice for a seating area. If you’ve got a large lawn and want to cut down on the mowing, think of leaving some of it to grow longer into meadow and keep only a small patch of regularly cut lawn for seating. Meadow lawns need only be cut two or three times a year, saving energy and creating a habitat for wildlife (see page 165). You can get different mixes of grass seed nowadays, catering for different uses and sites: www.organiccatalog.com is a good place to start looking. Wiggly Wigglers, www.wigglywigglers.co.uk, have also launched their own cut wildflower turf which you can lay like ordinary turf.

      For something a little shorter than a meadow, plant an informal lawn with flowering bulbs. Plant spring bulbs and your lawn will be free of flowers and ready to walk on by the time it comes to summer socialising. Remember that lawns get very scuffed up if you have to do heavy work in the garden. My own lawn is more or less dead but I plan to reseed it with a shade-tolerant seed mix when work is complete.

      Woodchip can be used as a non-living soft landscape material for seating areas and paths. It can be laid directly onto the soil, but to ensure seating areas and paths are kept weed free, it’s best to use a permeable geo-textile membrane underneath. The membrane is laid in a single layer and the woodchip poured on top until it covers all the membrane to a depth of at least 5cm. Most garden centres sell woodchip – usually recycled from forest waste. Geo-textile membrane tends to be made from plastic: for a more natural alternative try Hemcore Biomat. This is made in Essex from hemp grown in the UK without the use of pesticides and herbicides.

      www.traceytimber.co.uk, sell woodchip made from reused pallets. Biomat is available from www.amenity.co.uk and www.ewburrownursery.co.uk. Try www.rooster.uk.com, www.drgrowgood. co.uk, www.specialistaggregates.co.uk СКАЧАТЬ