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Prepare the groundworkThe look and durability of your patio will be greatly affected by the quality of the ground beneath it, say our experts. “The strength of your soil will influence how the slabs are laid,” Richard explains. “If [the soil is] newly laid or weak, and may settle over time, you may need a full concrete base, which can allow a thinner slab to be used [a bit like horizontal tiling]. “With a stronger sub-base, it may be possible to lay thicker slabs onto sand. This is especially good if you have irregular stone thicknesses, are using reclaimed slabs, or want to grow crevice plants in the joints.“Anywhere a masonry approach can be adopted is a good place to use stone,” he adds. “I wouldn’t use stone or any other heavy material on wet or moving ground; there, a deck is a better option.”
Consider the advantagesOur experts all agree that one of the major selling points of natural stone patio pavers is their durability. “If done properly, a stone patio will last for a long time,” James Porter says. Richard Sneesby agrees. “Stone looks better with age, whereas manufactured materials nearly always look worse. Scratches, scuffs and even small cracks can still look good, giving the stone an aged patina.”Trevor Cains adds, “Natural stone keeps its good looks for longer and is not as susceptible to lichen and moss growth. These can ruin the look of a patio, and are a health and safety issue due to how slippery they are.”
“Brick paths and patios can be uneven for furniture.” Andy points out. “Also,” he says, “if they’re not looked after and cleaned frequently enough, bricks can get slippery. Weeds, algae and moss growth are seen more often on brick paved areas compared to paving slabs, especially in the joints.”Roger agrees. “They may be prone to moss, algae and weed growth due to the large number of joints,” he says.
Consider the advantagesOur experts love the way brick adds character to a garden. Roger Webster, for example, says brick is “a natural material, warm and characterful and improving with age”. Similarly, Nicholas Macartney enthuses, “Brick patios, particularly those made with traditional clay bricks, add more character to a garden. They have a unique rustic charm all of their own. Most of them are a uniform size and still come in a range of shades representing various parts of the country.”Andy Stedman agrees and adds, “You can achieve a modern or classic look, and great textural contrast with other materials in the garden.”
“We all appreciate outdoor space – it makes people happy and provides a sense of solace, comfort and protection from the everyday busyness of London,” Isabelle says. “This garden is a great example of that.”
Check for fungal diseaseWouldn’t it be lovely to have amazing, disease-free buxus topiary? Unfortunately, box suffers from many different fungal diseases. We often assume that if our plants are looking sick, it’s the dreaded box blight, Cylindrocladium buxicola. To check if your box plant has blight, first look for signs of small black spots on the leaves, which die back and leave bare patches. More importantly, check for black stripes or lesions on any of the wood, as well as white spores on the underside of the leaves. Blight thrives in humid conditions and is very hard to treat. You could try cutting out diseased sections and hiring a licensed professional to spray the infected plants. However, often the only option is to remove the plants, making sure to disinfect the tools and dispose of all the diseased wood. Another fungal disease affecting box is Volutella blight, caused by the fungus Pseudonectria buxi. This fungus doesn’t present with the black stripes on the wood, or cause massive defoliation. The spores on the back of the leaves are pink-coloured. The other fungal diseases that can infect box don’t have such severe effects on the plant – box rust (Puccinia buxi) cause...
The porcelain tiles have different tones in them – including blue and brown – which blend beautifully with the foliage and the rusty frames of the mirrors Barbara’s used around the garden.Antique mirror, Frost.Find a garden designer in your area
Add some curvesIf you’re worried about a pergola feeling too oppressive in a small garden, try a tall, arched style like this one to retain as much vertical height as possible while still creating the feel of an outdoor ‘room’. If you can’t find a style on the high street that works, you could ask a local builder to create a bespoke frame, which could be as simple as four uprights with two curved struts overhead, or more complex if budget allows.Search for landscape architects and garden designers in your area
Tuck it against the houseFitted up right against the back wall of the house, this pergola transforms a small paved area into something quite magical. The garden faces south, so Kate Eyre of Kate Eyre Garden Design built the pergola in this sheltered spot and trained evergreen jasmine over it to create dappled shade.While this is, admittedly, part of a larger garden scheme, if you’re tight on space, it shows how you can turn a small seating area into a feature in its own right by creating a snug feel with layers of plants and decorative lanterns.Take a tour of the rest of this garden
Allow light to filter throughA fully enclosed pergola with a solid roof or thick plants weaving across the top can create a cosy, shady spot for relaxing. But if space is at a premium and you want to maximise every drop of sunshine in your small garden, an open pergola like this will still create a feeling of intimacy without blocking out precious light. To create the same effect in your garden, choose a pale-coloured frame and restrict climbers to the four posts, keeping the top free.
Raid skips (with permission)This just goes to show that even the most overlooked piece of building rubbish can be converted into a cute wall planter. Simply add a backing to the pallet just like you would to the shutter planters, then fill the gaps with pretty blooms in narrow pots. There should even be enough depth to stand a row of flowers on the top, too. (It’s not advisable to grow edibles in pallets, since the wood may have contaminants in it.)11 good-looking ways to repurpose a pallet
Try something differentWant to create an outdoor dining space that’s a little out of the ordinary? Why not seek out sawn logs to create stools – and hide the cheapest of pine tables beneath a floor-length tablecloth? Admittedly, the stools won’t keep your guests comfortable for long, but they can soon retire to loungers…
Design an outdoor roomYou don’t need a huge garden to mimic the layout of an indoor space outside. Here, a living/dining set-up, just like you might have in a through-room inside, has been created with garden furniture focused around a faux fireplace that’s planted with foliage. The pergola provides a ceiling framework for a canopy of blooms and lights.
Go for a south-of-France vibeLooking to create a Mediterranean rustic appeal for your garden? Hit salvage yards for the upcycled classic metal café chairs you might see outside a French bar, and look out for concrete or metal-topped tables. You can find heaps of this style of metal chair online, too. Place your set centrally on a patio beneath a pergola and surrounded by scented herbs and olive trees to boost the effect.
Louise built the terrace sofa out of pallets. It makes for a rustic and relaxed atmosphere.
Gardening and nature mean a lot to Louise, which is why she and Morten chose to settle in the countryside. “I’m a great lover of the outdoors, and enjoy working in the garden and sitting outside to eat. We have a 3-year-old boy who loves to play and run outside when he gets home from kindergarten,” she says. Louise also finds nature to be a great source of inspiration for décor and her creative DIY projects, which she happily shares on her blog. “I find inspiration in many places. It may be going for a stroll or looking at the trees in the forest, where, for example, I might find branches to take home and make into something new or just put in vases,” she says.
Build a hedgehog highway“Make sure hedgehogs can get into your garden,” advises Jamie. “Agree a ‘hedgehog highway’ with your neighbours, making gaps at the bottom of fences so that the prickly little characters can pass through.”If you need help planning a wildlife-friendly planting scheme, search the Houzz Directory to find a garden designer in your area
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