Improving

Garden Structure

Before you begin to plan the structure and layout of your garden, you need to take a look at what surrounds it. Helen Dillon, the world renowned gardener, provides some top-notch advice and tips.

• What currently surrounds your garden?
   
• Is it a wall, a hedge, a fence, or nothing at all?
  
• Do you like it?
  
• Is it high enough?
  
• Could you afford to change it?
  
• If it’s a wall, is it tall enough?
  
• Are you considering putting up a trellis?
  
• Do you want to use cheap trellis or order some expensive, good-quality hardwood that fades to beautiful silvery grey?
  
• If you would like a hedge, do you live in the city and need the formality of a yew, beech or hornbeam hedge, or do you want the country look of a hawthorn, holly or mixed hedge?
  
• Perhaps you don’t need an actual division between you and next-door-neighbors – how about an informal group of small trees such as birch or (in mild areas) a grove of myrtles, to act as a screen and windbreak?

For more hints, tips and advice on creating and maintaining a gorgeous garden, buy Helen Dillon’s Garden Book (Frances Lincoln Ltd)