The Sketch Book and Shovel

Welcome to another project article in our Garden Design Portfolio Series.  This garden has been designed by Nicky Patterson and will be built by the team of garden designers and landscapers at GardenImprovements.com.

The design was commissioned by Mark R from Williamwood; in-between Clarkston and Giffnock in the southside of Glasgow in Lanarkshire, Scotland. Read the rest of this entry »

Landscaping and Garden Design – voluntary Customer Charter.

Here at GardenImprovements.com we aim to deliver a service that meets with your complete satisfaction.

We know how important it is to you that the goods and services that we say we can supply are delivered with the greatest of skill and expertise from management level right through to all operatives who work on our behalf.

Whilst it can never be 100% guaranteed that problems will never be encountered, we hope to demonstrate that we have the ability and the will to work with you to ensure you are provided with the best quality and service at all times.

With this in mind GardenImprovements.com have adopted this voluntary Customer Charter and commit to delivering on our promise.

You can be assured that we have the necessary landscaping skills and experience to meet your requirements.

We are committed to continuously seek improvement in all aspects of our business and we are actively involved in the training and development of our staff.

Our voluntary Charter requires us to aspire to the following:

* Continued self assessment and ongoing training were practicable. Maintaining proper records and accounts and staying up to date with current legislation, health and safety and delivering best practise at all times.

* Declare to any potential customer the length of time we have been trading and provide, if required, up to 5 customer references and allow inspection of at least one previous project.

* Put in place and maintain all the necessary insurance covers including public and employers liability.

This voluntary Charter also requires that, in the unlikely event of any dispute involving price or workmanship that GardenImprovements.com shall agree to have their work inspected by any independent person or persons who are satisfactorily qualified in Landscaping or Horticulture relevant to the activity that has been carried out.

This voluntary customer charter was initiated by the Landscape Juice network which provides a forum for UK landscapers and gardeners and seeks to improve industry standards through shared knowledge.

A weekly update on Nicky’s Tweets…just an idea but I can’t imagine anybody would read through all of that!  Probably won’t do this again!

• Low budget driveways: spend same money but get a smarter job with a little professional input http://bit.ly/38iXKD < Glasgow Driveway #
• FavBlogs: How about some innovative ideas to wrap up the week?  This one comes from French company B-ton Design…. http://bit.ly/6MtCAt # Read the rest of this entry »

• Spider dragging a dead sparrow just scuttled behind TV cabinet – I can hear it breathing… #
• LJN: Add on products – HOT TUBS etc: I'm thinking about offering some add on products to my clients, wooden hot tu… http://bit.ly/7FK7Bi #
• RT @The_RHS: How's ur garden looking now most of the ice and snow has gone? http://bit.ly/8lnFVe #
• Meeting with new finance director!! 2 signings in one week!! #
• LJN: The Hard Landscaping Show: Exterior Decking will be exhibiting at the Hard Landscaping Show. Come and see us … http://bit.ly/5QNYg7 #
• Thanks for the RTs @Jenbabes3 @LandscapeJuice @susancohan @Arcadia1 #
• FavBlogs:
  Today’s, garden has me longing for summer. My own garden has a small and fairly successful meadow that … http://bit.ly/6mdrZM #
• 'Entourage' star Emmanuelle Chriqui named 'most desirable' woman of 2010 by AskMen.com poll http://bit.ly/57AzSv – can't argue with that! #
• LJN: Connects / combos: I may have to buy a van in the immediate future due to the girlfriend getting a new job an… http://bit.ly/8NY3ae #

Well our 2009 garden building year was cut a week short by the snow and ice and we have had an extended break over winter of 4 weeks!  We are champing at the bit and raring to go for 2010, only as we return to work today we find everything still covered in 4 inches of ice and snow!  So to the design studio then and to make sure we are ready for the exciting projects we have lined up for 2010!

This year we will be building a number of exciting gardens around Glasgow and the west of central Scotland, including 2 primary school eco-gardens and our aim is to make sure we are documenting the progress in each project – so expect video diaries, twitter updates, blog showcase articles and even some press coverage!

We will be available (as soon as the ice thaws!) for consultations for your garden design or driveway build from Monday 18th January.

Wishing you a Happy New Year and all the best for 2010!

Nicky Patterson, Designer @ Gardenimprovements.com

Please check us out and connect with us at our profiles below!

You get a good buzz from finding a new shop or website or TV show or film that ticks all your boxes.  In terms of garden inspiration and quirky ideas, Flora Grubb Gardens ticks our boxes!  It’s thousands of miles from sunny Glasgow but can still be admired through these fantastic images from the Danger Garden blog.  Check it out:

danger garden: Flora Grubb Gardens.

We are looking forward to installing our first wildflower lawn, and though we had planned to have one installed in our upcoming Glasgow west end design our clients have opted to do this themselves as part of their ongoing gardening activity!  Fair enough!

Our fellow Landscape Juice Network members, Shadows Garden Design have provided this excellent guide to installing your own wildflower meadow, check it out:

Bringing your garden out of the Shadows: How To: Make a wildflower meadow.

Here is the completed project with plants from Matt’s small garden design in Busby from earlier this year;  the second in our YouTube series!  Let us know what you think!

To see a commentary of the design process for this project please click here

Some more exciting inspiration from Studio G – this time an article on the work of Brendan Moar…I love this tunnel idea.  Fantastic work:

Studio G – Garden Design & Landscape Design inspiration » Brendan Moar’s Dry Spell Gardens.

Hi! This is the first of hopefully many of our garden designs and landscaping projects that we’ll be adding as YouTube videos.  This project comes from Stewarton in Ayrshire:

To see a commentary of the design process for this project please click here

Kind regards

Nicky Patterson, Designer @ Gardenimprovements.com

Please check us out and connect with us at our profiles below!

Here is an example of a recent landscaping project we undertook in Thornliebank near to Giffnock in the southside of Glasgow.  Andrew S asked us to landscape and revamp the front garden which had been left in a bit of a state by the builders who had recently put an extension onto the rear of the house.

by Nicky Patterson

Read the rest of this entry »