Margaret Traynor is a hard-working nurse in Glasgow’s Yorkhill Sick Children’s Hospital.  She is due to retire soon and her daughters Linda and Karen decided to write to ITV’s flagship daytime magazine show “This Morning” to see if they might help out with a special surprise.

Margaret's garden lacked any function or usability

Margaret had planned to renovate her garden for years but didn’t manage to get the time and resources, given her hectic work schedule, to do this.  The This Morning team decided to arrange this special surprise for Margaret as part of their Dreams Come True series.

Nicky was contacted just a few days before Christmas and asked if he would be interested in getting involved with the project.  He duly obliged and so he and the ITV team took their Christmas break in anticipation of a 48 hour surprise makeover in the second weekend of January.

On returning to work Nicky met with production assistant Ben Elcombe and Margaret’s son in law David at Margaret’s home in Partick in Glasgow.  This was a secret recce and Margaret was at work completely unaware of what was transpiring back at home.  Nicky had to work quickly taking measurements and drafting initial design ideas – the makeover was due to take place in 3 days time!

Concrete and old bark did not offer any colour

RHS medal winner, and host of ITV’s This Morning’s gardening spot, David Domoney conversed with Nicky by phone in detail about what might be possible to achieve in Margaret’s garden at the weekend.  It was agreed that decking would form the main functional area since Margaret had always wanted a deck, while aggregate and extensive planting would generate an attractive environment for the rest of the garden space.  David hadn’t yet seen the garden since the project was agreed upon at the last minute before the festive break and was reliant upon Nicky’s expertise in order to form an agreed design and plan of works for the project.

On Saturday 10th January at 10am Margaret was whisked away by her daughter Karen to Mar Lodge for a luxury spa weekend as both celebrated their birthdays.  David and his team of Garden Angels arrived in Glasgow around 330pm and met with our designer Nicky to formalise the plan of action and begin the ripout of the old garden including the shed, patio and old furniture, and source and collect the relevant materials.

The whole project was for charity and donations of plants and materials came from many well-known trade supporters such as B&Q and Dobbies Garden Centres.  The full list of suppliers can be viwed on ITV’s own page for the suppliers of this project. Nicky and GardenImprovements.com donated the decking materials and the services required to fit it.

Since no builder’s merchants were open on the Sunday it became a race against time to get all the relevant materials to the site ready for construction on Sunday.  The weather was horrendous!

8am on Sunday 11th January and already soaked to the skin the team began to plant up the trees and terrace the slope of the garden while Nicky made the preparatory cuts for the decking (squeezed into the back of the van for shelter!)

David Domoney

12 hours later and with much help from Margaret’s brother Ken and son-in-law David the decking was complete and the rest of the garden almost there.  The house was in the middle of a terrace and so all the materials had to come through the house or over the neighbour’s fence.  David Domoney’s team of 7(!) had to manouevre all their gear over and through the area where Nicky was earnestly piecing together the new decking for Margaret.  Daughter Linda played hostess to the whole team keeping us well fed with tea and rolls throughout the day and was left with a muddy brown (formerly white) kitchen to clean up when we had all finished!

Nicky commented, “It was a very daunting task having to complete all the work in little more than 12 hours – nevermind appearing on live TV! – but when you are up against it you tend just to get on with it and I didn’t really think about the weather at all.”

ITV Crew arrives at Garden Makeover project

On Monday 11th January the TV crews arrived and the finishing touches were applied to the garden.

Throughout the morning Philip and Fern spoke to David live while Nicky and the team made sure everything was in place for the surprise reveal.

At 12 noon Margaret arrived home and was greeted by David and a TV camera crew at the top of her front path in Partick.  She gasped at the site of the full skip and continued into the house to see what had happened.

The gasps of Philip and Fern were echoed by Margaret when the curtains were drawn back and Margaret stepped into her brand new dream garden!

The completed Garden as presented to Margaret on live TV

The transformation was tremendous and Margaret wept as Nicky and David and the Garden Angels team, family members and colleagues from Yorkhill congratulated her and toasted her upcoming retirement in a garden that she could truly enjoy.  Margaret, a previous lottery winner with 4 numbers, said to Evening Times reporter that it was better than winning the lottery in an article in which Nicky was also required to comment upon!

Post Live TV party on Margaret's new deck

Nicky was commended personally by David Domoney for his work with the promise of work on future projects at RHS Chelsea, Tatton Park and Hampton Court Flower Shows – so watch this space!

A grinning Nicky commented, “I am honoured to have been personally commended by David Domoney and I am looking forward to working with him again later this year.”

Once David and his team had headed home Nicky was invited by the family to stay behind and enjoy a glass of Champagne – he is also looking forward the celebratory BBQ to which he has been expressly invited to when the weather warms up a little!

Nicky added, “Linda made the whole experience a pleasureable one and I enjoyed meeting her and the other family members immensely – Ken and David were particularly helpful in assisting me with the deck construction!”

Margaret in the garden after all the hard work

Michele Tamlin, ITV’s This Morning producer also commended Nicky and this can be seen on our new testimonials portfolio – soon to be updated with the previous 3 years commendations.

Margaret and Daughter Karen relax with a glass after the TV crews have left

Nicky himself is very satisfied with the project and with Margaret’s delight at her new garden, “It was a real pleasure to see Margaret’s reaction at what we had all achieved and there was a tremendous sense of satisfaction among the team members and TV crew and there were hugs and kisses all round!”

Some sunshine at last!

Nicky Patterson

GardenImprovements.com

In the years since and particularly since I found my own feet as a designer in 2005, I am still frequently met with the “no maintenance” brief; these days however I am obliged to convince the client that there is in fact no such thing and steer them toward an idea of manageable maintenance that must, for a whole host of reasons, include as broad a spectrum of plants (and trees) as practically allows.

Like that last gasp of breath that finally snuffs out the candle-flame in the hopeless confines of a dungeon cell: ill-advised landscaping schemes, although individually small, have collectively harmed the quality of urban and suburban wildlife environments to devastating effect, especially when employed in tandem within the ever-increasing green-belt-evaporating new housing developments that spread so many of our towns and cities.

The plight of the humble bee has been signified in the past few years as a detriment of such arrogant development.  In the UK honey bee numbers have halved in the past 25 years while numbers of bumblebees have fallen by around 60 per cent since 1970 with three species going extinct and seven suffering serious declines.

The Telegraph’s Richard Gray discusses how the loss of wild flowers and disease are thought to have caused bee numbers to plummet in recent years and what plants scientists now urge us to be mindful of including in our gardens and public spaces.

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

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by Nicky Patterson

The format is familiar: new-build property that new owners require to be landscaped;  I arrive for a survey visit and am presented by a blank canvas of either a full plot of earth or fence to fence lawn.  The houses have generally been up and out of the wrapper for almost a year and now that the owners are satisfied with their interior fittings and decoration they turn their attentions to the garden: their initial landscaping budget has been squeezed out by their natural desire to embellish upon the interior design and also commonly by the addition of a conservatory or integrated garage conversion.

I am always excited by the prospect of these garden designs since the grounds are indeed left as a blank canvas and we, with the clients, can truly indulge on a personalised and bespoke design that will fit well with the client’s lifestyle aspirations and procure the most function possible from their new garden space.

The common problem is that the developers have left the gardens in a terrible condition.  Their obvious objective is to gain maximum profit for the property sale and this means that they generally do not spend much on improving the property grounds.  In fact they apply the minimum required to get a fast sale.  Monoblocking along with some tuf and cheap planting the front garden as standard is the most lavish cost attributed but this is crucial in their presentation of the property to the market and so it makes sense for them to spend here.

The back garden deserves none of this treatment as far as they are concerned.  At most they will include a lawn as an option but this, again, is to seem to make the property more presentable.  The truth is very different.

The developers never excavate away any hardcore bases they have used for cabins and site offices, they never excavate any clay or subclay that has been densely compacted by years of constant heavy plant site traffic.  This leaves a broad base of densely compact and variably impermeable sub-structure.  On top of this they will import anything from 2 inches to 2 feet of low quality unscreened topsoil which will respond to the weather much like a goldfish bowl would if filled with mud i.e. rainwater goes nowhere.  The developers will not install drainage as standard to alleviate these conditions.

The new owner is of course unaware these problems until they eventually focus their attentions onto the garden and see how the mud or lawn collects prolonged puddles and they will be unaware of the reasons why and the costs involved to rectify until they consult a professional.

So our initial budget has been bombed.  Either we cannot provide the garden the client truly wants and needs or the client has to shell out £000s even just to get to square 1 of the design implementation.

So what’s the solution?  In current economic conditions, direct confrontation with the housing developers would seldom result with a successful outcome.  Instead I feel we are left to simply creating more awareness of these issues through press and promotion so that, when these new-property owners come to take the garden to task, they can approach their budget figures and design aspirations reasonably, and we landscapers are not left to tricky negotiations after initial contracts have been agreed and the full extent of the poor site conditions is discovered in the opening days of the project.

Our dumper stuck in the mud (whilst installing drainage!!)

Best regards, your huffing grumpy gardener

Nicky Patterson, GardenImprovements.com

The snowy weather that affected the east coast of the country last week arrived to the GardenImprovements.com studio in Glasgow at the weekend. Clearly this early onslaught of winter has had a dramatic effect on the country’s ability to do business and none more so than on outdoor based construction trades.

We have just one site running at the moment and having already suffered major delays caused by the 3 weeks of torrential rain at the end of October, this weather couldn’t have come at a worse time.

My winter team have been working valiantly to clear the snow from the site each day to save the snow turning to pure ice, but working conditions are clearly difficult and construction nearly impossible.

While this will inevitably cost the business a lot of money, it has given me a little respite in the studio where the workload has been in overdrive for most of 2010.

I have hardly had time to draw breath this year; we started very well and from early spring were operating on 5 sites in tandem very successfully, but then our wee girl took quite ill suddenly at the end of April and spent the majority of May in Yorkhill Children’s Hospital eventually getting 2 emergency operations.

She is now recovered fully and is a completely different girl for the better, thankfully. The episode had a big impact on my ability to work and we lost some business both directly and indirectly as a consequence.

Then at the start of July our brilliant son was born and my wife, having had an emergency C-section operation, desperately needed me at home for a few weeks. This only compounded the issues I was working to resolve.

As when similar circumstances arise in any small business, this initiated a ‘domino effect’ scenario to which I am only now, thanks (ironically) to the terrible weather, catching up.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of our customers and staff for their patience and perseverance in 2010. 2011, I am assuring myself, will be a better year!

We have retained some the great fetures of the old site including our fantastic resources page showcasing all of our co-operative projects and our local business friendships as well as suppliers and helpful website links.  You can also now navigate to our main social networking sites such as twitter and facebook on the right hand sidebar and catch up on my latest updates via my twitter-feed at the bottom of the page.

We will probably be shifting the emphasis of our portfolio onto blog releases and onto our Facebook business page and a Flickr account.  We shall also shortly be announcing the launch of our YouTube channel which will serve as a video diary for our projects as well as showcasing our finished gardens and interviews with clients.  Exciting times!

The site will probably still be tweaked here and there but I would welcome any feedback you guys can deliever!

Cheers for now,

Nicky Patterson, Garden Designer @ GardenImprovements.com

Lawn-care in the west of Scotland is a constant battle against moss, dampness and heavy clay soil; but still we all love to have that little bit of “green” in our gardens don’t we?  Lawns get muddy and need to be cut almost every weekend.  Lawns are nice but become a chore.  Not everybody likes chores.

So what about an artificial lawn then?

I know what you’re thinking: “Nicky, you’ve cracked…you’ve lost the plot!”, but hold on – let me argue the case:

Artificial lawn, fake grass, astro-turf – whatever you want to call it – has come on leaps and bounds in recent years and the products we see now are fantastic in appearance and feel.  Consider the following benefits:

• A natural grass alternative
• No more mowing
• No more watering
• No more muddy patches
• No more weeds
• No more fertilizers or pesticides
• High UV resistance, always green
• Ideal for pets
• Child safe
• Hard-wearing & long-lasting
• Aesthetically pleasing
• Save water and time
• Looks great in all seasons
• Helps hayfever sufferers

Sound good? Of course it does!

Artificial lawns are of course more expensive than real grass as an initial outlay, but consider the time and money associated with keeping a lawn in top condition over the course of a year…what about two years…what about 10 years?! Now, wouldn’t you rather be enjoying those long warm weekend hours relaxing on a lounger or kicking a ball about with the kids?  An artificial lawn will let you do just that AND is cost-effective in the long-term!

Ideal for:

• Low maintenance gardens – reclaim your weekends!
• Children’s play areas – stop the mud trails through the kitchen!
• Golf putting greens and chipping ranges – stop landing your divots on the neighbours barbeque!
• Roof gardens – you don’t have to humph the flymo up the stairs!
• Around swimming pools and hot tubs – no warm feet on cold mud!

I know you all want one now!  Since we are recommended regional installers for Perfectly Green Artificial Lawns then you should drop us a line!

Nicky Patterson, Designer @ Gardenimprovements.com

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We have now installed our chat facility at the GardenImprovements.com website so that new customers can contact us directly to quickly ask about our service before they proceed with their enquiry!  You can ask us if we work in your area, if we are available for a meeting, for quick tips, or for the name of reputable tradesmen who offer different garden services to our own – or whatever you want to ask!

Queries remain private from public viewing and you will always be chatting to me personally – messages are relayed to my mobile ensuring that I am readily available.  Messages will be accepted between 7am and 9pm Monday to Saturday.  If you want a query answered outside these hours simply drop me an email to studio@gardenimprovements.com and I shall respond at the first opportunity.

We were sociable before -and now we’re accessible too!!

Cheers!!
Nicky Patterson, Designer @ GardenImprovements.com

This will be a quick post and I shall be blogging some more on tips and articles later this week.  In the meantime I wanted to draw your attention to the importance of garden improvements for your properties and more specifically the important role that design holds in this process.  I shall direct you to the following 3 articles and hope you can get some benefit from these:

The Sunday Times: Improve to move

Landscape Juice: Landscaping Through the Recession

Telegraph: recession is ‘no better time’ to build a home

Will be back soon!

Nicky Patterson

GardenImprovements.com

As we all look to our balance books and see what can be done to reduce outgoings and with constant pressure to be green and healthy at the same time, why not invest in your very own kitchen garden?  Feed your whole family for years to come from produce grown in your own back yard!!

We are offering as our winter (and credit crunch) special 20% off plans drawn to site your kitchen garden in the best possible place and tailor it with the most practical and fitting design for your lifestyle and your gardens surroundings.

We are also offering 20% off of labour costs for kitchen garden projects booked in January and February !!

Of course this is to try and fill our books during the enquiry barren winter months but it is also an opportunity for you guys to get a head of the pack, have fun, be lean and green and SAVE MONEY to boot!!

Book a survey with us quoting “KITCHEN GARDEN” in the further comments box and we will arrange to visit your property and discuss your requirements.

Nicky Patterson

GardenImprovements.com