Beat the credit crunch by investing in your garden

Yorkshire Bank has produced new research which reveals that UK homeowners believe their gardens are worth more than £9,000.

More than 41 per cent say they make the most of their gardens by using them every day.

Gary Lumby, Yorkshire Bank's head of retail, said: "Our research shows that Brits value their outdoor space - and are willing to pay for the satisfaction they get from having their very own green and pleasant land."

According to Yorkshire Bank, the value placed on a garden appears to mature over time, thus adding value to properties overall price-tag.

Even if your garden is small, it is easy to make it a welcoming and relaxing place by planting up pots and windowboxes.

Investing in your garden looks like a sure fire way to beat the slump in the housing market by adding value to your property...

RECYCLED CUPS MAKE GORGEOUS GARDEN GIFTS

It's amazing what you can make from rubbish - this elegant sundial is made from vending machine coffee cups...


This innovative new material has a lovely solid, heavy, earthy feel - very much like slate actually - and is a perfect choice for the garden

Produced as a direct result of the UK Save-A-Cup scheme

This lovely clock is also available. A great garden gift idea!

Health Protection Agency warns of heat wave risk

An official warning just published by the Health Protection Agency report says that there is a one-in-40 chance that the south-east of England will suffer a serious heat wave by 2012.

This is not good news for the many gardeners already struggling to keep their favourite plants irrigated. Fitting a water butt can help in this situation by catching rainwater -but on a large scale this can look unsightly. A better, but more expensive solution, is the storage of grey water and rainwater in an underground tank.

Mulching of plants can also help to prevent water being lost by evaporation - but a far better plan is to adapt your planting to include plant tolerant of drought.

Many of you will have noticed the unseasonally warm temperatures this Spring - and the daffodils already out! In fact, Trawscoed in North Wales recorded the temperature as hitting 64F (18C) on 12th Feb - twice the norm for the time of year.

Act now to replant your garden with more drought tolerant plants

Another great source of reclaimed garden gems

If you find yourself down near Exminster in Devon, don't forget to check out

Toby's Architectural Antiques and Reclamation

Artfully planned decay

'the real test of a well-composed garden is not how nicely it blooms but how beautifully it decomposes' Piet Oudolf

The man has a good point...

I admit I have long been a disciple of Piet's approach to planting design. When composing a new scheme, I start with a backbone of plants that will give structure to scheme throughout the year, even in the dead of winter - such as hedges, grasses and evergreens

I then begin to add in smaller shrubs and decidous plants, before finally adding the wow plants, the ephermeral layers of flowering perennials - the icing on the cake.

Read the full article in the New York Times

recycled chipped rubber tyre mulch - good or bad?

In the continuing quest for a greener garden, all sorts of products are being 'recycled' into garden mulches, dressings and surfaces. But are they any good? Should we be using them in sutainable and green garden designs?

Granulated or chipped rubber mulch is one of the new wonder products on the garden design market - but as with most things, it should be used with caution

THE ADVANTAGES OF RUBBER CHIPPED MULCH

* Rubber play surfaces are unaffected by the environment.
* The rubber will not absorb water and so will not freeze in winter
* Rubber does not attract animals or insects.
* It prohibits the growth of moulds and fungi

This makes rubber perfect for childrens play surfaces or public landscape architecture projects such as the garden at Fort Dunlop in Birmingham, UK

THE PROBLEMS WITH RUBBER CHIPPED MULCH

* Ground up rubber tyres have been discovered to kill ornamental plants because of their zinc content.
* Can smell very strongly (of rubber!) which is off putting in a garden
* Rubber does have a slight nitrogen value - however the toxicity of the zinc, cadmium and other heavy metals more than diminishes the chance of any benefit

So the conclusion seems to be that for residential gardens, rubber chippings are not the greenest solution - but for larger public projects such as parks, hotels and offices - this is a good option.

Offices, hotels and shopping centres may well benefit from this innovation - especially where gardens are designed more to be looked at than sat in. And whilst the metal content of rubber chippings can kill shrubs and perennials, where it is used as a mulch for an avenue or park of established trees (over a geotextile membrane) it can prove to be a very green, low maintenance and cost effective solution so don't write it off entirely!