A sloping garden in Ventnor by Isle of Wight Garden Designer Tim Brayford

Natural stone walling and steps

A sloping garden in Ventnor, Isle of Wight

Our clients had lived in their family home for a great many years, it was steeply sloping and mainly laid to lawn with some mature shrubs in peripheral areas. The lawn had however become increasingly difficult to maintain and our client had become concerned that one day she might slip on the steep slope and have a nasty accident whilst mowing it. They liked the idea of having the garden divided into terraces so that they might maintain it themselves but appreciated that the construction of this was a major undertaking for which they required specialist assistance.

Amongst the challenges that we faced, quite apart from the slope itself was how to blend in the new work without disturbing the best areas of mature planting. We split the slope into three distinct areas with grassed pathways and shallow flagstone steps for access, the latter had a special challenge of its own , it had to fit around a main drain and soakaway pit!

Circular Paving and planting

No sooner had we commenced the project than it began to rain, almost every day for the next five weeks, it soon looked like a moon-scaped garden instead. However, the construction of the natural stone supporting walls was soon completed and the levelled lawns grassed with a specially grown turf specifically grown for a coastal location. We relocated many mature shrubs to new locations reinforced by some new areas of tree and shrub planting and constructed circular patios in different parts of the garden to take into account the daytime passage of the sun.

Tim Brayford Landscapes – This lovely Dogwood was well worth keeping

The whole project had taken just over three months to complete, our design had successfully given a new lease of life to their garden. It was far easier for them to maintain, just two or three hours a week.

Our clients said:- “Tim Brayford did a marvelous job, the new features fit in so well with the rest of the garden and I get a great deal of pleasure from it. People who come round are always commenting on how nice the garden looks.”

Tim Brayford Landscapes were established in 1980 and we are British Association of Landscape Industries National Award Winners for Garden Design & Construction. For more photos, advice & stories about gardening please visit our website email timbrayfordlandscapes@gmail.com phone 07890 869918

Tim Brayford’s Isle of Wight Gardens 4

A successful garden will contribute significantly to our well-being and quality of life. It may play host to a broad range of flora and fauna enhancing local biodiversity and collectively benefiting the wider world environment by absorbing CO2. Here are just a few examples from gardens on the Isle of Wight and elsewhere.

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A brick edge circular lawn with mixed peripheral planting makes best use of this small space.

A delightfully scented cottage rose

A late summer flowering border

An attractive combination herb and vegetable plantings together in a raised bed.

Summer flowers

Tim Brayford Landscapes were established in 1980 and are British Association of Landscape Industries National Award Winners for Garden Design & Construction. For more photos, advice & stories about gardening please visit our website email timbrayfordlandscapes@gmail.com phone 07890 869918

Tim Brayford’s Isle of Wight Gardens 3

A secret courtyard

Irises provide some early summer colour

Wildlife enhances garden living spaces, find a spot for a bird box

The delicate flower of the Meadow Cranesbill

Natural stone walling & paving combines well with herbaceous plants

Gardens and Deer by Garden Designer Tim Brayford

Gardens And Deer

One of the joys of a well laid out garden is that it will attract wildlife, and if you are very lucky you will occasionally be visited by wild deer. However, you can have too much of a good thing so here’s some suggestions of what you can do to ensure that you can enjoy both the deer and your garden.

There are six species of wild deer in the UK varying both in size and habits, one of the smallest, the Chinese Water Deer, is of a very localised distribution and is usually found on open arable land or in reed beds, it is the one least likely to be seen in a garden. Of the others the largest herding species, Red, Sika and Fallow are most often found in the more rural areas and are less likely to be found in a suburban garden although they do occasionally turn up in unusual places. The smaller native Roe and the alien Muntjac are the two most likely to be found in a garden.

Roe deer are sometimes seen in gardens

So how do you know that the deer are present? They are mostly dawn or dusk feeders, Muntjac can feed through the night and you may see chewed off plants and not know quite who the culprit is. Neatly bitten off stems similar to a cut from a sharp secateurs is indicative of a rodent attack, squirrels, rabbits or hares. If the stem is cut on to one side and torn off the other this is more typical of deer.

So what can you do to prevent this damage?

Planting things that deer don’t like to eat can be helpful such as Camellia, Rhododendron or Hydrangea, the RHS produces a comprehensive list of suitable plants.

Camellias are unattractive to deer

Tree guards and shelters are a wise precaution, particularly with new plantings. These will protect against both small and large herbivores, and to some extent carelessly used strimmers!

Fencing off the most vulnerable areas such as vegetable, fruit and roses gardens may be necessary, especially in areas where there are high numbers of deer. Stock fencing up to 6’/1.8m high is ideal, reinforced with 3”/75mm squared netting if Muntjac are present. Make sure the bottom wire is well secured to the ground as deer are known to push up under such fencing. A strand of the highly visible electric fencing tape used to contain horses on the outside of the fence can also be useful. Avoid using double strands of barbed on top of stock netting, deer are prone to getting caught up in this and suffer painful fatal injuries.

Repellents such as lion dung, ultrasonic screeching devices and flashing lights have all been mooted as deer deterrents but in reality their effect is short lived and the deer soon learn to ignore them. Greater details about deer in gardens are available on the BDS website

Tim Brayford Landscapes were established in 1980 and we are British Association of Landscape Industries National Award Winners for Garden Design & Construction. For more photos, advice & stories about gardening please visit our website email timbrayfordlandscapes@gmail.com phone 07890 869918

Pond Life by Garden Designer Tim Brayford

Pond Life

Damsel flies

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Marsh Marigold and Bee

Yellow Flag Iris

A small wildlife pond

Dragonfly

jersey butterfly

A Jersey Tiger butterfly feeds on a pond side plant

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Fish fry in a healthy pond

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A pair of wild ducks

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A Common Toad

The Wilder look by Isle of Wight Garden Designer Tim Brayford

The Wilder Look

Meadow Cranesbill

A stumpery

Spindle berries

Midsummer meadow flowers

Woodland and Bluebells

Leave some wood to decay for fungus to grow on

Yellow rattle is an essential plant in a wildflower meadow

Damselflies are attracted to pond side plants

Fritillaria naturalised into a boggy pond margin

Wild Cowslip

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A shady path leads to a focal point

Hellebores provide some early spring colour

Snowdrops can be moved in the spring after flowering or as bulbs in the autumnA decorative frog waterspout helps to oxygenate this lovely garden pool

Free-range chicken help to gobble up all manner of garden bugs.

The Wildlife Pond by Isle of Wight Garden Designer Tim Brayford

Yellow Flag Iris

The trouble with having a wildlife pond is that I supposedly ‘waste’ a great deal of time watching it. It is the most fascinating habitat in the whole garden. I have had mine for some years now and the first inhabitants, pond skaters, arrived within an hour of it filling up. Since then we have had Damsel flies, Dragon flies, Water Boatmen and lots of other unidentified little bugs that skitter and wriggle about in its depths. That’s the thing about ponds, if you get it right you don’t have to stock it, it stocks itself.

A newly arrived dragonfly assesses the pond

So what makes a good wildlife pond? Firstly it must be deep enough in the middle for creatures to overwinter successfully, mine is about three feet deep with a shallower shelf around the edge. I used a butyl liner with the correct padding underneath, it pays to get this bit right as a hole in the liner is an expensive mistake to rectify. The edges have a gentle slope and because mine abuts the lawn I laid turf over the edge to hide the liner. I then did something that a lot of gardeners would hold their hands up in horror at, I chucked some clay soil (devoid of stones) into the bottom. Well, those newts have to have something to hide in, don’t they?

Bees are attracted to wildlife ponds

Be choosy about the plants you want to have in your pond. I chose native plants as far as possible, although I did succumb to a small, white waterlily . My favourites are Watermint, Brooklime and Water Forget-me-not. Avoid really rampant growers such as the Bull rush and Canadian Pondweed in your pond as these will soon choke it. I made use of the wet clay soil behind my pond to plant yellow Iris as well as Purple Loosestrife and Meadowsweet. I planted the pond lily in a pot but everything else I anchored under the turf edge or weighed them down in bunches on the shallow shelf to do their own thing.

You can get as artistic as you like with decorating the outer edges to attract residents and visitors. I chose a couple of semi-rotten large branches to drape over the back edge and dip right into the water and these have been a great hit with all types of birds as bathing and drinking perches. Insects love the flowering plants around the outside and in winter finches feast on the seed heads.

Damsel flies are attracted to the wildlife pond

My pond is never going to be the tidiest and, yes, I do get some duckweed and blanketweed (a revelation in itself when you see what takes up residence in it) but it most certainly is one of the busiest.

And don’t forget that essential item a Garden Seat!

Tim Brayford’s Isle of Wight Gardens 1

Tim Brayford Landscapes – This attractive garden was once covered in concrete!

Sheds come in all shapes and sizes, but why not build one from scratch?

Make the best of small spaces

Foxgloves are an attractive biennial for early summer borders

A well laid out vegetable garden is aesthetically pleasing as well as functional

Tim Brayford Landscapes were established in 1980 and are British Association of Landscape Industries National Award Winners for both Garden Design & Construction. For more photos, advice & stories about gardening please visit our website

email timbrayfordlandscapes@gmail.com phone 07890 869918

The Garden in Summer by Isle of Wight Garden Designer Tim Brayford

Early summer flowers

“That beautiful season the Summer!
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light;
And the landscape
Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Summer is the time that all the hard work and planning of earlier seasons comes to fruition.

The long days and balmy evenings will see the traditional English country and cottage gardens at their best, with earlier flowerings of Poppies, Delphiniums, Peonies and Aquilegias to be followed by Hostas, Japanese Anemonies, Rudbeckias and Heleniums to name but a few.

Cutting down the stems of early plants such as Lupins may lead to a second blooming in late summer and dead heading repeat flowering roses such as the fragrant “Claire Austin” is beneficial.
The fresher air in the evening is perhaps the best time to enjoy sweetly scented Honeysuckles and Nicotianas

Mid summer herbaceous border

Bright and colourful summer bedding like Geraniums and Busy Lizzies can highlight decorative tubs whilst Petunias and Nemesias may be found in hanging baskets. Keeping a few Begonias to hand in pots can be a useful way of plugging any gaps that may appear in herbaceous borders until a more permanent solution can be found in the autumn.

Bees feast on these late summer flowering Heleniums

Watering may become necessary during a prolonged dry spell, a thick organic mulch will help to retain moisture and if seed free deter weeds from germinating. If the lawn starts to turn brown raise the cutting height of your mower and cut less frequently.

Watering is best done at night when evaporation is less and there is little risk of scorching or better still install some sub-surface irrigation.

Do not be afraid of pruning back plants that are starting to obstruct paths or gateways and do make a note of any possible changes or improvements for future reference.