The Sketch Book and Shovel

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!

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.

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!

Via the team at SpotCoolStuff: These hot-tubs are portable and look like great fun!  A little expensive though at around £3500+ but a cool idea non-the-less!  Check them out:

A Review of the Dutchtub Portable Wood Burning Spa | Spot Cool Stuff: Design.

A fantastic article from the Studio G team on the many uses of gabion boxes in garden design and landscaping projects.  We used a similar idea on a garden design in Anniesland; after seeing this I think I might use them again soon!

Studio G – Garden Design & Landscape Design inspiration » All About Gabions : Cheap Retaining and Other Garden Features.

Here is an article I wrote for the much celebrated Landscape Juice Network back in February 2009.  I think much of it still holds true currently for the many businesses, established and start-up alike in the landscape and garden design industries.

Landscaping through the recession : Landscape and garden expert.

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 Mr and Mrs R from Greenhills in East Kilbride near Glasgow in Lanarkshire, Scotland.

Design by Nicky Patterson Read the rest of this entry »

Being new to the landscaping and design business it was always going to take me a while to get used to the different aspects involved, none more so than the design process; fiddling about on the laptop with the design software we use was all well and good- but it couldn’t prepare me for the real life problems presented by an actual client and project.

by Matthew Thomson

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s some handy hints on getting started with composting delivered by Margaret Hoyenga over @ Nest In Style.  Good luck and let us know how you get on!!

Nicky Patterson, Designer @ Gardenimprovements.com