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Weeds are the gardener’s vital enemy! If there is one thing all gardeners put at the top of their most undesirable garden activities its weeding. Weeds over run our flower beds and have a persistence which makes the most patient gardener frustrated. They turn gravel paths into green carpets and patios into jungles! Weeds have an amazing ability to overrun any man made environment. We will show you how to stop weeds growing in your garden. 
What is a weed?
The definition of a weed is ‘a wild plant which is growing where it is not wanted and in direct competition with cultivated plants’.
The thing is in real terms the line between cultivated plants and weeds is an exceptionally narrow line which comes down to personal preference. Most typical garden weeds have been altered to take on the attributes of more favourable cultivated varieties. For instance polyanthus is selectively bred from common wildflowers primrose and oxlips. The fact is all cultivated plants have a wild relative or ‘weed’ from which they descend. 
The point is our selective breeding of certain weeds have exaggerated characteristics’ such as form and colour over their more natural competitive behaviour. In addition cultivated plants are rarely native to local climates and conditions meaning they need constant care to survive and thrive. This is why weeds, if left unmanaged will always overtake your cultivated garden plants. It is simply a natural process of natural selection and ecological succession.
But how do we slow down this succession and natural selection. How can we stop weeds growing in our garden? Below we have laid out 14 main lines of attack when it comes to stopping weeds growing in your garden. If you arm yourself with these main ways of beating weeds you will make the chore of weeding a thing of the past. Common misconceptions about weeds
Although there are many typical examples of garden weeds such as dandelion and nettle not all weeds are so easy to distinguish. A weed is an out of place plant by our own personal expectations of any given garden plot. For example Buddleia growing out of a crack in a garden wall is a weed. However if a Buddleia is placed in a planting scheme for attracting butterflies we start to notice the beauty and delicate nature of the shrub.
Humans have a very fickle attitude to nature and our acceptance and appreciation of many plants is intellectualised based on our understanding or misunderstanding of them. Many people dislike dandelions because they are persistent. But people who understand what amazing mineral accumulators and super foods they are encourage them! Either way the reason many of us get so called ‘weeds’ is we have not told nature properly what we what and what we don’t want. This can be achieved by either working with nature or manipulate growing conditions which stop weeds growing in certain places. Most of these strategies are put forward below. 
Don’t let weed seeds germinate
Many people don’t know the soil is full of dormant weed seeds waiting for a chance for enough light and moisture to sprout into life. Some weed seeds can be dormant for hundreds of years and be buried as deep as two feet in the soil.
This is why it is always beneficial to only disturb the top two inches of soil in your garden. Activities such as hoeing and no dig gardening help you to get rid of weeds at the surface and subsequently lower your risk of germinating more unwanted weeds. By constantly moving this top layer of soil you can disrupt the germination process leaving your plants weed free. 
Mulch your garden to suffocate weeds
By mulching your beds with a two inch thick layer of mulch you will suppress any weeds trying to grow up from the soil. The mulch will also make it imposable for any weeds to germinate and put their roots down from the surface.
Mulching is a very healthy way of managing your gardens growing areas. The organic material in mulch will slowly decompose from the bottom feeding soil life. This process will give you healthier soil and encourage a better soil structure. This is also vital for stopping weeds there is a huge difference to pulling out a deep rooted weed in fluffy soil than heavy clay! There are many different materials you can use for mulching your garden to prevent weeds. Some of these include course compost, straw, cardboard, wood chippings, hay and sawdust. 
Landscaping your garden to deter weeds
Commonly weeds have the upper hand simply because the conditions are right for them. If you want to stop weeds growing in your garden you need to take away the correct conditions for them to grow. This usually means landscaping your garden with weeds in mind!
Flower beds
Make sure your growing areas are heavily mulched or well planted so weeds are crowded out. For extra weed tolerance bury weed suppressant membrane under the mulch to guarantee nothing can grow there. If you wish to add a new plant simply pull back the membrane and cut a whole.
Lawn.
Weeds in the garden lawn are a common problem but there are ways to make conditions less favourable. Try to make your lawn more favourable to grass than weeds. Do this by making sure none of the grass is too shaded and make sure your lawn is mown regularly.
Most weeds cannot take high frequency mowing like grass species can. If you mow your grass more you will have fewer weeds. Sometimes you will need to give your lawn a couple of treatments with products specific to lawn weeds. There are some links here below. Gravel
Gravel is a great surface which is cost effective, looks good and more ecological than most surfacing. Many gardeners dislike gravel as they claim weeds can be an issue. If you do have gravel make sure it is laid over a robust weed suppressant membrane. Most importantly make sure your gravel is at least 50mm deep.
Paving
When it comes to how to stop weeds growing in your garden your choice of paving is an important factor. One of the most frustrating weekend jobs is going around the paving with a knife slicing weeds out of the joints. What adds to the emotional turmoil is knowing you will be doing it all again in a few months time!
New patios and paving should be laid on a robust 100mm sub base of compacted mot to stop movement. Paving should be laid on a continuous wet 40mm 1;4 mortar bed to prevent movement. Correctly laid paving this way will stop cracking hence gaps for weeds to get a foot hold. The patio should then be pointed with a 3:1 plastering sand mortar mix. Patios built this way will never get weeds. 
Block paving
Block paving gets some bad press when it comes to weeds as many of our Buckinghamshire and Chiltern clients don’t want block paving due to the gaps. Block paving is one of the best surfaces for driveways as the gaps allow for slight movement when heavy traffic moves over it.
This is known as flexible construction and needed for heavy vehicular loads. We recommend every five years to pressure jet out all the old sand and apply a sweep in weed killer. Using new, fresh kiln dried sand fill in the rest of the driveway. This will ensure a long term weed free block paved surface.   Crowed out the weeds
One of the most effective ways to stop weeds growing in your garden is to simply crowed them out! Limiting the amount of bare soil in your garden will mean weeds will find it hard to establish. By having established flower beds and borders with shrubs and ground cover there is no room for weeds to get going.
Use weeds to beat weeds
One very unusual stratergy that I developed myself over the year is to use weeds against weeds. But what do I mean by that? Well many of the plants we refer to as weeds we do so because they have an aggressive or self seeding nature.
What I like to do is encourage either edible plants or beautiful plants with these qualities. I have mass sown areas of bare grown with vigorous self seeding edibles such as parsley, wild rocket and radicchio. I have also used flowering plants such as verbena, poppies, nasturtiums, and aquilegia to out compete the weeds. 
Make use of your weeds
Although weeds are annoying to say the least they are a very useful resource in the garden. Nitrogen fixing weeds such as clover will fix nitrogen in your soil helping to feed your plants. Weeds make great animal feed! I
f you have livestock such as chickens, rabbits or goats they simply love feasting on the fresh shoots of common weeds. Weeds make great additions to compost making. A couple of hours of weeding can create an impressive amount of compostable material. This can go back to feeding the plants you want to keep! 
Eat your weeds
Many common garden weeds are vigorously dominant in the natural world because they have ‘special qualities’. It has been noted that most of the most familiar garden weeds have high medicinal and nutritional qualities. Plants such as Greater Plantain, Dandelion, Burdock, Common Nettle, yarrow, and purslane are all edible and extremely good for your health. I use young dandelion leaves in salads, make yarrow tea if I have a fever and purslane is great in stir fry’s.
We have to mention not to eat any wild plant unless you know for sure what you are doing. There are many resources for learning how to identify these magical unwanted plants! Eating on the wild side is a great book which has information on all the medicinal qualities of our common weeds and how to prepare them. Soon weeding your garden will be like visiting a free greengrocer collecting salad leaves and medicinal teas for your friends and family.   Weed them when they are young
It sounds like a very obvious point to make but it really makes sense to nip weeds in the bud before they get too big! The deeper roots become on weeds the harder it is to get them completely out. This means they keep on reoccurring week after week.
It is better to hoe your beds once a week quickly then spend hours pulling every month! By getting rid of weeds when they are young they are less likely to flower and set seed creating more weed seedlings. 
Weed when the ground is moist
It is always better to pull up weeds when the ground is moist. Try to avoid weeding when the ground is dry and hard this will make weeding easier.
Keep the weeds dry
In summer especially don’t allow weeds to access the water they need to grow. You can either water the plants you want in your beds individually and slowly or install a drip irrigation system. You can also buy terracotta watering Ollas which you fill from the surface and will water your plants slowly. This will help your weeds succumb to drought in summer.
Click images for more information!
Tools which help you weed the garden
In recent there have been many great inventions that help you weed the garden. These garden gadgets are especially god for taking the bending down and kneeling out of weeding. There are many different types of modern garden weeding gadgets.
Some enable you to sink prongs around deep roots and using mechanical leverage pull out the weed in one. Some use high velocity brushes to blast weeds and roots out of paved crevices, good for block paving! One of my favourite types of weeding gadget is the weed burners which use a gas blow torch to cook weeds down to their roots. Natural weed killer
The problem with traditional weed killers is they contain various chemicals and toxins. Whether there is no evidence they pose no threat to us or the environment does not mean they don’t. That is why many people prefer natural, organic weed killers. They are effective and usually consist of a mixture of salt and vinegar. Some claim these are not as effective as chemical based weed killers I have had mixed results. Here is a link to a good natural weed killer recipe.
https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Weed-Killer Use a good quality weed killer
If all else fails and you have to result to result to weed killer there are many on the market. Chemical herbicides are not all bad, there are some on the market that you can apply to the soil and will biodegrade after a few months. These are good for clearing new planting areas out of areas over run by weeds.
We have listed some popular and effective weed killers here below. Click images for more information!
Conclusion
Weeds are here to stay and just a fact of life for us all. The question of how to stop weeds growing in your garden can be answered by understanding weeds better. What do they need to grow? Have they an opportunity to take hold? Do your garden maintenance regimes nip weeds in the bud? By planning your garden spaces to be bullet proof to weeds and high frequency hoeing to vacant plant beds weeds will not be able to take hold.
By nurturing the plants you want to grow will mean weeds will not gain an advantage. By careful watering, mulching, hoeing, surface material selection and species manipulation weeds will simply not be able to give you extra work in your garden. With good knowledge and good practice any weeds that do emerge can become food, herbal teas or compost.
Thank you for reading our article on ‘how to stop weeds growing in your garden’. If you enjoyed the article and it has helped you in your search it would mean so much if you share it with your friends.
This really inspires us to write more helpful articles in the future.
I you would like to know more about Buckinghamshire Landscape Gardeners and the services we offer visit our home page. If you would like to re-landscape your garden to stop weeds growing then visit our contact page to organise a consultation.
Thank you again.
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Paving and patios are an essential part of any outside surface. A correctly laid patio will last for decades and is by far the most robust way to clad outside spaces. Having said this what paving you choose will depend on various factors. Budget, style, use, safety, and other garden features all can influence the type of paving you choose.
Styles
Usually a new patio is planned into a garden design or theme including transitions from the home onto a patio. Paving style is a major factor when deciding the right paving for you. Most of our Buckinghamshire clients usually have an idea of what paving they would like. We will always point our if their choice is a practical option for their garden.
Some potential customers love the idea of cream, porous, natural stone paving. This is fine but if you have over hanging trees, regular bird droppings, and many wild creatures this can be a tricky choice. Cream, light grey and white paving even with heavy sealants will look awful after a few years of these conditions. We feel it is our responsibility to our Buckinghamshire customers to advise on these forward thinking garden elements. Any paving type or style can be integrated into any garden. You may need to except that other than the patio itself other garden features may need to change. 
Usage
Usage is a very important consideration of a new patio. If you have young children it is good to have as much grip as possible. Textured paving or riven natural stone can be the best option here especially if your garden is usually wet. As well as adding anti slip attributes to your patio visual textures can add a satisfying atheistic to garden surfaces.
If your patio is exposed to damp shady conditions it is good to use as impervious paving as possible. The more absorbent you’re paving is the more likely it will suffer from algae build up. This can turn your paving a green and even black in colour. Absorbent paving or paving which flakes i.e. some metamorphic stone can also fall victim to frost action in damp conditions. It is good to think about what loads your paving will be exposed. Paving load is usually a factor of underlying patio base work. Soft textured natural stone however is not advised for anything heavier than human traffic. Bear in mind that your new patio will have to endure sometimes unforeseeable rigours of outside living. Wine spillages, spitting barbecue fat, muddy foot prints and wildlife gifts will end up on the surface of your new paving. 
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Resin Bound Aggregate.
Resin bound aggregates did give a glimmer of hope for a revolution for the typical driveway in Britain. This smooth textured gravel surface looks good and is permeable slowing storm water runoff. This gave it both aesthetic and ecological attributes but as years have progressed still resin bound aggregate only has clad a hand full of driveways across the UK.
There is a few reasons for this. Having laid resin bound aggregates for numerous contractors and priced up many projects for resin bound it is always the same story. In order to base the underlying ground for maximum rigidity as to prevent cracking certain procedures need to be exercised.
There is a few reasons for this. Having laid resin bound aggregates for numerous contractors and priced up many projects for resin bound it is always the same story. In order to base the underlying ground for maximum rigidity as to prevent cracking certain procedures need to be exercised.
To realise a truly ecological permeable solution a special type of free draining mot type one must be used as a base material. Then an ‘open textured’ tarmac must be spread to the surface leaving a 15-20 mm depth for the resin bound aggregate. The idea that tarmac is ecological in any sense in my view is false especially in a way that allows water to past through it into the underground aquifer.
The other option is reinforced concrete using a 6 inch slab again very non ecological and non permeable. The other problem with this is cost. All of the systems mentioned above for a robust installation that prevents cracking is extremely costly rendering it completely unviable for most people. Resin bound aggregate can crack if not based properly and also can get very dirty very quickly with its open textured surface a magnet for muddy shoes and loose materials.
Paving.
I remember my best friends crazy paving driveway which was laid in the 70’s to this day it looks perfect when pressure washed like the day it was laid. This particular driveway was laid on top of a solid slab of concrete at least 5 inches thick. Each slab was laid on a solid mortar bed without any dobbing.
This robust labour intensive method of driveway construction is the only way to realise a paved driveway with materials such as slate and Indian sandstone. I personally think these make great driveways but they lack ecological attributes and there is the issue of drainage not in keeping with Buckinghamshire’s drainage policy. In my personal view the only way to have an ecological, permeable driveway or front garden is loose gravel full stop! The problem with modern sustainable urban drainage policies is they do not deal with the UK’s flooding problems.
This robust labour intensive method of driveway construction is the only way to realise a paved driveway with materials such as slate and Indian sandstone. I personally think these make great driveways but they lack ecological attributes and there is the issue of drainage not in keeping with Buckinghamshire’s drainage policy. In my personal view the only way to have an ecological, permeable driveway or front garden is loose gravel full stop! The problem with modern sustainable urban drainage policies is they do not deal with the UK’s flooding problems.
I have visited many gardens around Buckinghamshire which are literally under water as all water runoff is channelled back into the ground at source. This means modern developments are riddled with underground voids full with water. In my opinion this potentially creates instability in surrounding ground as the seasonal flooding and drying of soakaways causes varying pressure under ground. The main reason most of these drainage strategies came into place was because of flash flooding and the drying of urban subsoil leading to shrinkage, cracking and subsidence. Today I believe we have the opposite problem with excessive ground saturation which also can lead to movement and property subsidence.
In my opinion sustainable drainage policy should focus on wild saturated landscapes such as the London wetland centre giving seasonal flooding habitats for local people to enjoy. Water should permeate back into the landscape not at source but via local wetlands designed within the landscape.
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I personally feel there is a place for paving on Britain’s driveways materials such as slate and Indian sandstone are in my opinion far superior in look and longevity to block paving. The example here shows a slate driveway with the drainage gully leading to an underground soakaway.
I personally think there should be more options for Buckinghamshire’s driveways and front garden landscaping. With a reviewed drainage policy and more wetland habitat creation our modern landscapes can become more aesthetic and bio diverse at the same time.
When deciding a material for your new driveway we advise you contact the local council for their guidelines. Buckinghamshire landscape gardeners can advise you on your options and what driveway or paving design would look best for your property.
Please contact us for more information. Or visit our paving or driveway page.
Growing your own vegetables this year in your ecologically landscaped Buckinghamshire garden!
1/21/2018
One of the few simple pleasures in life is to produce your own food by growing it from seed. In recent years many scandals such as the horse meat scandal has raised concerns about the source of our food. It has been speculated over the years that food produced with additives to prolong shelf life may be good for corporate supermarkets profits but are certainly no good for taste or health. Many speculators have suggested that herbicides and pesticide residues in our food may have links to the onset of cancers and other serious diseases.
It comes to a shock to many people that much of our food is grown using oil based fertilisers derived from fossil fuels. Most of the media always focus on the advances in sustainable energies such as wind and solar but the most sizable threat to the human race is food. When oil depletion occurs no amount of sustainable technologies will be able to replace synthetic oil based fertilisers. Ecospaces does a very good job of explaining this in this article.
It comes to a shock to many people that much of our food is grown using oil based fertilisers derived from fossil fuels. Most of the media always focus on the advances in sustainable energies such as wind and solar but the most sizable threat to the human race is food. When oil depletion occurs no amount of sustainable technologies will be able to replace synthetic oil based fertilisers. Ecospaces does a very good job of explaining this in this article.
So what is the solution? Well the truth is our centralised nucleated densities typical of modern human settlements may need a rethink. Since the industrial revolution, populations have seen a huge shift from dispersed throughout the countryside into cities. In order for future populations to feed themselves there will need to be a re-ruralisation of the population. Skilled farmers and vegetable growers will have to work the land and produce local produce once more.
But does this mean the human race going backwards? Well only if you consider; great health, strong family ties, happier people and almost no cases of cancer or dementia. Bold claims? Well this is exactly the reality of the peasant farmers of countries like Crete experience. In the 1960’s It was recognised that the village people of Crete had the longest life expectancy, happiest lives and had hardly any instances of cancer, cardiovascular disease or dementia. One of the main reasons for this was their local freshly grown and foraged diet. Vigorous physical activity in the form of landscaping and raising animals also meant fitter people. You can find a great article on the diet of the village people of Crete here. This way of eating or ‘lifestyle’ helped commercialised the now famous Mediterranean diet.
One of the most defining factors of this diet is its high percentage of fruit and vegetables. More importantly home grown fruit and vegetables! No pesticides, no genetic manipulation just fresh tasty produce metres from your kitchen door! But how do the great people of Britain and Buckinghamshire locally start growing food if they have limited time or no experience?
At Buckinghamshire landscape gardeners we propose two main options; Perennial fruit and vegetables and raised vegetable planters.
Perennial vegetables are vegetables that once planted produce year after year! Some of these include Rhubarb, Asparagus, and Artichoke. Orchard trees and shrubs such as gooseberries and apples can also give you a low input form of food production. For more information on this The Urban Farmer website has some good resources on this subject. The second way to grow more conventional annual crops such as lettuce, cabbage and potatoes with ease is raised sleeper beds. The height of the beds mean they are easy to work and being filled with good humus rich soil means large strong tasty produce all year. View some examples of our raised vegetable growing beds below.
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Buckinghamshire landscape gardeners are experts in fruit and vegetable gardening and how it can be incorporated into your garden. If you would like more information on this or a quotation contact us via the button below.
Check out our latest modern landscaped garden in Aylesbury.
One of the biggest fundamental narratives in garden design for suburban gardens is the transitional fluidity of space from the house into the outside living space. No more is this concept more important than in Abigail's garden in Aylesbury.
The garden used to be completely overgrown they had actually never been to the rear fence! We soon ground out all of the wilderness to get the garden to a clean sheet once again. The design was a simple concept of a limestone patio with easy to maintain lawn. See what you think! Oh and make sure you watch the video we now create videos for all our landscaping projects.
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Make sure you check out our video of the garden landscaping transformation from start to finish and a link to a great book about modern garden design below:
Check out our latest project a basic brindle block paving driveway in High Wycombe. In recent years it seems there has become quite a negative attitude towards this staple method of paving our driveways. The thing is there is no real alternative yet that has come along to take its place. However there is a very good reason why our old friend the block paver has lasted the test of time for Buckinghamshire and Britain's driveways as a whole.
The first thing is it makes use of flexible paving methods meaning the compacted sharp sand layer allows for very small moment and give which would crack mortar based paving or crazy paving. The block pavers can take the weight of a car and spread it evenly along the sand bonded surface.
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Even though block paving is made with concrete aggregates and colour dyes it does have some eco friendly credentials. The small gaps in the block surface let some rain water run off drain back into the ground reducing storm water run off and clay shrinkage.
Over all you can't deny traditional block paving still have its place in our modern landscaping and driveways. It looks good, is affordable and has some ecological credentials also.
If you are interested in a new driveway or creating a new landscaping scheme contact Buckinghamshire landscape gardeners today.
Most of the time it is hard to explain to potential new clients that if you have a very low budget labour costs can make hiring professional landscapers and garden builders a non starter.
But when Mr & Mrs Horley from Great Missenden called us with a vision and plan of what they wanted we arranged a consultation.
Their vision was to create a garden completely from waste including old wooden pallets and broken stone into a modern but quirky eco / wildlife garden. The only real materials bought was concrete for the path way and some native and ecological planting. The design was put together buy Sustainable & Ecological landscape company Ecospaces.
http://www.eco-spaces.co.uk/
The original concept was to create a journey to the long narrow plot which meanders through various habitats and wildlife features. Even though the materials budget for the project was £1000 pounds the finished product is nothing less than remarkable! Wildlife and eco gardens are not always every ones ideal garden with a conception that they look untidy but designed and built correctly great landscaped gardens suitable for wildlife are achievable!
Some images of the completed project can be found below!
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Some of the new wildlife to the garden recorded have been: Hedgehogs, Frogs, Newts, Foxes, Dormice, Dragonflies, Great Stag Beatle, Woodpeckers, Squirrels, Blue Tits and Sparrows!
If you have a garden project that needs building or help with a design whether a wildlife garden or new patio please do not hesitate to call Buckinghamshire Landscape Gardeners today.
New landscaped garden in Amersham including a new lawn with mowing edge. Video from start to finish!
7/28/2017
Check out our video below of our new landscaped garden in Amersham, Buckinghamshire including paving and a new garden lawn!
A very common theme in landscaping projects is the need to tackle all your gardens issues at once instead of in stages. It is tempting to do things in small sections to try to mitigate cost and effort but usually with landscapes and landscapes everything is interrelated.
When Ann from High Wycombe called Buckinghamshire Landscape Gardeners earlier in the year due to a soggy lawn she knew she wanted the perfect lawn but also a new pathway and steps. Quite quickly we realised the reason her lawn was so boggy was a funnel effect from the surrounding higher gardens. We decided to tackle all the drainage and landscaping issues all at once by installing a new drainage cage soak away with an outlet to a drainage grate along the house to solve her rising damp problem in the house.
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The new drainage cage is assisted by a new lawn with a free draining sharp sand layer under the topsoil to allow water to drain to the system effectively. The new lawn now retains moisture to grow well but does not allow excess water to sit on the surface reducing muddiness and the onset of mosses.
The drainage system has an overflow outlet under a new Ashdown brick path with basket weave bond pattern for a very effective route through the garden with a high grip in wet weather. The overflow is plumbed into the storm water drain but is doubted it will ever need to as the drainage cage holds a cubic metre of storm water. The new drainage grate along the house prevents storm water from causing damp in the houses structure through the external walls a true example of how landscaping can benefit most aspects of a properties longevity and functions.
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As usual with most garden landscaping solutions are found by assessing the garden holistically with drainage, hard surfaces, soft landscaping, topography and soil type all contributing to various landscape and building factors. If you are planning anew landscaping project and are based in Buckinghamshire including High Wycombe, Aylesbury or Amersham do not hesitate to contact Buckinghamshire Landscape Gardeners today.
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