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If you’re thinking about a career in gardening or horticulture, regardless of the aspect there are relevant memberships, accreditations and qualifications available. First and foremost, gardening courses can range from as little as 6 months to a couple of years depending on the level of expertise that you require. Before you can be accepted as a member of a gardener’s association such as The Gardener’s Guild, you must prove to have a minimum of one horticultural qualification at Level two or above. It’s highly recommended that gardeners seek formal training in other to ensure a steady development - both personal and professional.

When it comes to gardening, qualifications are very important. They’ll give your customers the confidence in your commitment to your trade as well as your reliability. Having a qualification in gardening can also make you more efficient as you’ll be able to identify plant properly, know when they flower and need pruning etc, which helps you to effectively manage your time. The skills qualifications you’ll need include LANTRA and City and Guilds/NTPC qualifications which typically includes licenses for the use of horticultural equipment. For instance, if you plant to use a chainsaw, you’ll have to contact them to enquire about local courses. Licenses are a legal requirement in certain events and represents your seriousness when it comes to safety and environment issues.

RHS qualifications are also very popular amongst gardeners in the UK. The RHS courses can be completed at local colleges or through correspondence. Here, there are various modules that specialize in different horticulture topics and can also be combined to achieve higher level qualifications.

Our gardens are often our pride and joy, so we want them to look their best. If you notice that your garden is uneven, you’ll probably want to do something about it. But how do you level your garden or lawn? A gardener can help you do this and will get the best finish, but if you want to have a go at doing it yourself there are a few steps you can take. Before you start, make sure you’ve got all the following equipment to hand:

• String line
• 4 rods & string
• Tape measure
• Flat shovel
• Water sprinkler or watering can
• A rake
• Earthmoving and compacting equipment
• Spirit level
• 2 x 4 piece of wood
• Wheelbarrow
• Protective gloves and shoes

Then, you can get ready to level your garden.

1. Mark out the area Push 4 rods into the ground around the area you want to level out in a square or rectangle. Tie your string around the rods to connect them all together, ensuring that the string stays tight. Then use your string line to any of the 4 sides to check that it’s level. You’ll then need to measure the height from the ground to the string on all four sides to check how much you would need to adjust the ground to make it level. Make sure you take note of the high and low spots and measure the difference between these spots.
2. Water the ground to soften it If you want to level your lawn, or the part of your garden that you want to level has grass on it, you’ll need to uproot the ground underneath it. To make it easier to dig and lift out the grass, sprinkle some water over the area before you begin. It’s a good idea to do this over a few days to really soften it – but make sure you don’t do it so much that it becomes too heavy and soggy.
3. Remove the grass Push your flat shovel into the ground, around 3-6cm deep, then slide the shovel horizontally to lift out the soil and the grass on top. As you repeat this process around the entire area, make sure you try to lift out the soil evenly to avoid making your levelling task even harder.
4. Add soil Fill low spots with nutrient-rich soil and spread evenly over the area with a rake. If you’re levelling out a large area of your garden, consider renting earthmoving equipment to make it easier.
5. Flatten the soil Next you’ll want to compact the soil to protect it from erosion. If you’re working on a small garden or area of your garden, simply use your feet – get stomping on that ground! You could also use a rake, but for larger gardens consider hiring a compactor. Then, leave the soil to settle for around 3 weeks before doing anything. If you’re doing this in the summer, you can water it sparingly to keep it from drying out.
6. Adjust until you’re happy It might take you a few adjustments to get the level of your garden or lawn right. Use a spirit level along a long 2 x 4 piece of wood to see whether the ground is even, then adjust by adding a little more soil or removing soil until it’s at the level you want it.

That’s it. A gardener or landscaping company will be able to level your garden or lawn perfectly, so consider getting some quotes from local companies.

1. Start in one corner of the sub-frame and position the first board across the inner joists. You want the deck board in the opposite direction to the inner joists, ensuring that it’s flush with the frame. Position any end-to-end joins between the deck boards halfway across an inner joist so you can screw both boards into the joist for stability. Make sure you keep a gap of between 5-8mm to allow for expansion of the wood.
2. Begin to screw your deck boards to the joists. You’ll need to secure the deck board to every joist is covers along your deck frame. Use two screws for every joist. Mark where you’re going to add your screws, ensuring that they are at least 15mm from the end of the board and 20mm from the outside edges. Drill pilot holes for the screws, being careful to only drill through the deck board and not the joist. Then screw the decking screws into the holes.
3. Continue to screw in the deck boards, ensuring you leave the correct expansion gap. You can stagger the deck board joins across the deck for more strength.
4. Sand down any cut ends if you need to before applying decking preserver to protect the timber from rotting.

When it comes to fence ownership and responsibility, this is often a subject of dispute between neighbours and understandably so. Owning a fence comes with a number of responsibilities such as arranging and paying for the maintenance and more. Therefore, if you’re not yet sure who owns the garden fence, then you’d probably want to have that sorted to make sure your property stays protected at all times. In this post, we’re going to give you an insight into some of the rules guiding fence ownership in order to help you make informed decisions. Let’s take a look!

There’s no rule of thumb on whether you own the fence on the right hand or the left hand side of your property. Therefore, if you’ve heard any “rules that states otherwise, you can fling that out the window because not everyone will own the left hand side to their fence. The first way to determine who owns the garden fence or which side of the fence you’re responsible for is simply by looking. Although this is not guaranteed or a definite way to determine ownership, it can go a long way to give you a good idea. As you would have expected, fences are most likely built on the land that belongs to the boundary’s owner with the further edge of the fence making the actual boundary. As a result, you can determine a fence ownership simply by identifying where the frames are.

Also, you can determine fence ownership using the title deeds for an official and accurate answer. A copy should be given alongside your paperwork which is received when purchasing your house.

Garden slabs are a joy to behold but only when done the right way. Well, the installation of paving slabs shouldn’t be exceed digging a little here and there, buying a small amount of mortar and pressing down the garden slab, right? Absolutely not! But we must admit how great it would have been if only it were that easy in real life. Let’s be honest, in reality, laying garden slabs does not only require you to prepare your sub-base painstakingly and mix your mortar using the appropriate materials, but you’d also have to work with accurate and precise paver placements to guarantee the patio’s longevity. Consequently, this happens to be a stressful and quite tricky challenge. If you lack the required confidence to pull this off, we’d recommend you hire the services of a seasoned professional who can guarantee the best results and also save you time and extra cash that may result from possible costly errors. In this guide, you’d gain more insight into the garden slabs laying process.

To get started, you’ll need sharp sand, cement, shovel, wheelbarrow, pointing trowel, rubber mallet, spirit level, jointing compound, hard-bristled brush and tarpaulin.

1. Mix a layer of mortar for each paver.
2. Apply the mixed mortar onto the sub base by using the trowel.
3. Slot the first flag in place and ensure not to stain the paver’s surface with the mixed mortar.
4. Using a rubber mallet, carefully tap the paver to the mortar bed. Once done, ensure the surface is even with a spirit level.
5. Take a measurement of the gap between the pavers
6. Repeat the above steps until all pavers have been perfectly laid
7. Leave the pavers to dry for about 1 to 2 days. You can protect it using a tarpaulin if concerned about rain.
8. Use the jointing compound to fill up the paver gaps to bind together the pavers. Ensure to wipe off any excess compound using the hard-bristled brush.

On a hot summer’s day, we often seek our garden lawn as a cooling place to sit and get some relief from the sun. However, since artificial grass is made from plastic, lots of people ask whether it gets hot, or whether it stays like natural grass. The answer is, it’s somewhere in between.

Of course, we all know to stay in the shade in midday sun and this is when your artificial grass will be at its hottest. Unless it is an extremely hot say and your lawn is in direct sunlight, you should still be able to walk on your artificial grass. The best thing to do is test it using the back of your hand before anyone walks over it with bare feet or children go to play on it.

In the shade, artificial grass should always maintain a cool temperature, although it will never have that refreshing feel of cold grass on a hot day. It will also cool down extremely quickly as the day goes on, so if your grass does get too hot it shouldn’t be unusable for too long.

Artificial grass has to meet high safety standards and most are UV stabilised, which means that they can withstand high temperatures without melting or getting extremely hot. It’s worth remembering that hot countries like Dubai use artificial grass, so the occasional hot day in a British summer should be enough for artificial grass to handle!

What Is Landscape Gardening?

Landscape gardening is basically the art of setting out grounds or planting of ornamental plants so that a picturesque effect is created. In other words, it can be seen as the beautification or decoration of a portion of land to generate a naturalistic effect in a limited space. However, it should also be noted that landscape gardening meant to beautify places, but also important and very functional as our surroundings make a whole lot of contribution to the quality of our lives. Landscape is a word that’s not only used to qualify an beautiful scenery, but also stands for a great historical records of natural features created by human activities over time. So what are the general principles of landscaping?

• The right landscape garden should express some thought or feeling, just like a good landscape painting. The expression can be bold, quiet, retired and more.

• The landscape garden area should be divided into various sections with a plan for each individual area. The whole plan should be actualized in such a way that an observer or visitor can imagine the entire plan and purpose without having to analyse each parts.

• It’s of great importance to combine both beauty and utility effectively.

• The design’s simplicity should be emphasized while executing the plan.

• The garden and building should perfect blend with each other in such a way that they could be seen as one rather than the landscape garden stopping abruptly in front of the building. The view of the garden from the building’s door or window should offer an breath taking scenery. In short, every part of the landscape should be planned so that every visitor will have a surprising effect when seen.

• The ideal landscape should not be too tight and should possess an open space.

• Do not overcrowd the plants and objects.