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Do I Need A Gardener Or Landscaper?

This is a question that’s often asked by most homeowners across the globe. While it’s true that both gardener and landscaper can make your garden a lot more beautiful and pleasing to the eye, it’s also crucial to know the significant difference between the two professions.

So who is a landscaper? We have two types of landscapers: the landscape architect whose job is to design a landscape and a landscape builder whose job is to do the physical requirements of creating a landscape. Both types are very interrelated such that landscape architects can also be landscape builders or have one or more of the other type in same team (as most landscaping building projects will be supervised by a landscape architect).

Now the main difference between a landscaper and a gardener is the type or scope of work they’re qualified to undertake. Generally, landscapers require just one or more types of trade licences to work, meanwhile a gardener may or may not need a trade licence. So who is a gardener?

It’s the job of a gardener to come in and maintain the landscape garden once the landscape has successfully built the outdoor area. In other words, it’s part of a gardener’s services to prune plants, mow the lawns, do the weeding, fertilize your soil and much more. It’s not their job to construct a large retaining wall or a gazebo. And you can also be sure they won’t appear with a backhoe ready to sculpt your landscape.

Overall, deciding who to choose between a gardener and a landscape depends on the type or scope of work that’s required. With the aforementioned differences, you should be able to easily determine who to call when in need of a landscaping or gardening service.

How To Repair A Pothole In Gravel Driveways

When the integrity of your gravel driveway is impaired not only does it have a negative impact on the curb appeal of your property, but also makes your driveway a danger zone. If your driveway needs to be repaired, you’d simply have to grab the bull by the horn and get it done - the sooner, the better to avoid the problem getting worse and to have your beautiful gravel driveway back as soon as possible.

The major cause of potholes in driveways is usually water, when it gets trapped beneath the surface of the driveway. Therefore, you may also want to enhance the drainage in the area as part of your repair. The repair process is quite simple for confident do-it-yourselfers, but if otherwise, then calling in a reliable professional will save you some time and extra money that can result from possible errors. So how do you repair gravel driveway potholes?

✓ Prepare the area. This involves removing all forms of debris from the pothole. To achieve this, you can rake, shovel or brush the loose stones, soil and other debris from the pothole.

✓ Fill the pot hole. Make use of a coarse gravel to fill up the pothole to a depth of about 3 inches beneath the driveway’s level. Upon the filling, simply tamp down the coarse gravel using a commercial tamper or any available homemade option. Once done, the final 3 inches to the surface of the gravel driveway should then be filled up with gravel which perfectly matches the colour and texture of the remaining driveway.

✓ Compact the patch. To achieve this in an easy and fast way, simply run your car’s wheel up and down over the repaired spot gently a couple of times. This will be enough to compact the patch and seal the pothole.

• Have a step tread width of 900mm – if you don’t want them that wide, they should be no less than 760mm
• Add a central step riser to stairs wider than 900mm to prevent them buckling
• Add a step depth (the vertical distance between each step) of between 150 and 180mm if building your own riser, so the steps are at a comfortable depth

• Step treads (the actual step themselves)
• Step risers
• Coach screws
• Deck screws
• Saw
• Drill

1. Make sure the ground where you want to put your steps is level and firm. If it’s not, consider laying concrete or paving slabs to provide a secure surface for your steps to sit so they don’t sink.
2. Grab some joist off-cuts and cut them to the same width as your step treads. Attach them to the step risers at the top and bottom using countersunk coach screws.
3. Place the steps against the sub-frame of the deck; if you’ve put slabs down for support, make sure the steps sit in the middle of them. The longest edge of the stair riser should be on the slabs, and the short edge against the deck. Drill pilot holes through the step and sub-frame joist, then screw the step to the sub-frame with more coach screws.
4. After drilling pilot holes, screw the treads into the risers at each end with deck screws.
5. If you don’t want gaps between each stair, you can add joist off-cuts or deck boards. Measure the height and depth of the gap, then screw the off-cut or board into the step riser with two screws at each end.

Being a strong and durable product requiring little maintenance and expected to last over 2 decades, it’s little wonder resin is now a popular material amongst homeowners in the UK to build their driveways. However, there’s always the issue of the driveway fading, cracking or even becoming worn and tired. So is it possible to repair resin driveways? The answer is yes, a resin driveway can be repaired, however the best approach to use largely depends on the issue being faced. As a confident DIYer it’ll be very easy to do, but if you lack the confidence then calling in a professional for help would be a better option. So let’s take a look at how you can repair your resin driveways.

For cracks, the best reparation approach would be to chisel it out. Once done, then you can proceed to breaking the stones to form a rough edge. It’s important to make sure that the matrix of the stone remains unaffected. Make a new mixture of resin bound stone and pack it in tightly to the gap. While doing this, we’ll recommend making use of a plastic trowel to avoid burnishing. This fresh mixture will then create a smooth and perfect surface by interlocking with the edges. You can follow similar procedure for patches but these are larger holes or damages than cracks and as the name suggests are mostly likely to remain noticeable but will prevent further crumbling of your resin driveway.

For homeowners, who aren’t so keen about the patch repairs, you can opt for an overlay especially in the event whereby the majority of the surface has failed. Although many usually shy away from this approach because of the perceived high expenses, but the fact is that the approach is actually cost effective as you won’t have the need to spend more money in the long run.

Scarification is the name given to the process where you remove excess thatch and moss from your lawn to encourage it to grow and look healthy. Although it sounds difficult, it’s actually pretty easy – simply grab a sturdy rake and apply moderate pressure to rake out moss, thatch and dead grass. Then collect it up and add to your compost heap if you have one. You can also use a petrol or electric rake, but you just want to tease out the moss and thatch. Don’t be tempted to go deep into the grass, as this could damage your lawn. So when should you scarify your lawn? The experts say that the best time is in the autumn, when the grass is actively growing and it’s not too hot, cold or dry. Most of summer’s weed seeds will have gone, so you won’t encourage weeds to grow in the raked-up soil. This soil also makes an ideal seed bed for over seeding with new grass seed, so that’s why you don’t want to get weeds in there as well. However, you may also carry out light scarification in the spring – usually around April. Make sure you don’t go too far though – as you will end up with a rather disfigured lawn if you scarify too heavily and the dryness of summer stops the lawn from recovering. It’s also best to scarify your lawn in the spring if the following apply:

• If you couldn’t do it the previous autumn – if you keep putting it off, you might end up with extreme moss and weed growth
• If your lawn is shaded – these areas will thin over winter and start to thicken from spring onwards, so if you scarify in the autumn you’ll make your lawn even thinner.
• If your lawn is under trees – pair the shade from the trees with the fall of leaves in the autumn and your grass won’t be healthy, but in the spring the trees are bare, allowing lots of light onto your lawn to help it grow.

• What you need the shed for
• How much space you have
• How big you need the shed to be
• Which style of roof you want
• What material you would like
• How big your budget is

• Hand-crafted from Nordic White Spruce
• Felt roof reinforced with high-grade polyester
• Tongue and groove cladding makes it more weatherproof so ideal for items that must be kept dry

• High eaves for more head height and to store taller items
• Pent roof and fixed windows allow lots of light
• Ideal for putting up against a wall or fence
• Door can be hinged either side

• Ideal for small gardens or those with fewer tools to store
• Apex roof for water runoff
• Tongue and groove walls
• Tall floor-to-gable door

Does Landscaping A Garden Add Value?

When taking a good look at the image of new homes or perhaps you’re just thinking about getting one, one thing that several people will look out for is the garden. The thought of owning a perfect little oasis is all homeowners’ dream.

In a recent study conducted by Rightmove, it was discovered that to more than 60% of home buyers, an access to a garden was a priority. And according to the Royal Chartered Institute of Surveyors, this demand for garden is set to grow by 20% over the next 2 years.

Therefore, it’s obvious that having a beautiful landscaped garden is always a great asset to possess. But exactly how much value does a garden add to a property?

According to the studies carried out by Foxtons, it’s suggested that a garden can add as much as 20% to any property’s value, however, it should be expected that this value can vary based on a number of factors. In urban locations such as London, where there’s really not much outdoor space, possessing a garden can add an enormous amount to your property’s value.

However, if you happen to live in sub urban areas such as Wilmslow, where almost every home possesses a garden, what will influence the amount of value a garden will add to your property depends on it’s size as well as it’s unique features.

What’s more? Another important influence of a garden’s added value is the time of the season in which you’re selling your property. For more value, the best time to sell is always in the spring or summer when there are several gardens in bloom and multiple colours to please the eye. However, when it’s autumn and winter, the idea of staying outdoors for a quick get together or gardening is always very far, hence the value that’ll be added at this point may be low.

How Much To Landscape A Garden?

Also known as a nation of gardeners, the UK is filled with individuals who take their outdoors seriously. As a result, it’s little surprise many people over here employ the services of expert landscape gardeners to help out with various tasks such as decking, building patios, ponds and reshaping their gardens to keep them in a top condition and make them a lot more useful. However, before you get started with your landscape gardening task, you’d like to figure out a estimate of the amount it’s going to cost. Let’s have a look!

Providing an accurate assessment of a generic landscape gardening project is almost impossible as gardens are all unique. A total refurbishment of a big garden will definitely run into thousands of pounds even before accounting for essential items like garden furnitures and planting. We’ll break them down to smaller elements of landscape gardening and give a rough estimate of the cost.

Firstly, a patio is an effective means of increasing your garden’s usability whose cost varies depending on the materials used. Generally, a patio will cost within the range of £70 to £90. This price may be higher in areas with greater demands like London.

A decking also serves the same purposes as a patio or paved area. However, it’s usually made of wood which delivers a much more natural feel perfect for the garden. The cost of decking varies largely depending on the wood incorporated. For instance, if you opt for a cheaper wood such as pine, the cost you can expect to pay would be within the range of 60 pounds to 80 pounds per square metre. However, for more quality and durable hardwood, you’ll have to pay about 200 pounds per square metre or more.