NOTES from. the bookshelf // July picks

With damp proofing works underway, I'm hoping that by late summer I can start doing something with the garden. This time around, I'll be doing my research first.

What to do with my new space? With so much to do inside the house, I’ve kind of put off having any grand ideas about the garden. And thank goodness for that as there are lots of hard landscaping issues to address before I get anywhere near the planting, seating, or decorative touches. I’m learning lots as I go from the brilliant builders who are on site at the moment (see my article about French drains) but turning to the garden design experts always helps. Herewith a bunch of books I’ll be poring over during July in the hope that, by August, I’ll be reaching a point where I can start to envisage a garden we can all enjoy and develop over time.

The Essential Garden Design Workbook by Rosemary Alexander and Rachel Myers (Timber Press, 3rd edition, 2017)

I bought this book after I moved into my new house in March with the aim of being able to plan my space properly from the beginning as opposed to rushing in. As Rosemary says in the preface ‘A complex route should be followed in developing every garden; it covers many different elements – interpreting the client brief, surveying the site, understanding soil and climate before considering various shapes and patterns – and then works these into a design based on a grid that links house to garden.’ And having seen the fruits of such labour by practising landscape designers such as my friend Miria Harris, it absolutely rings true. Rosemary teaches at the English Gardening School and this book prompted me to also sign up for a distance learning course on garden design so I could design my own space properly, hone my drawing skills for my planting design business, and also understand the gardens I write about in more detail. I’m hoping to get stuck into this course when the building works are over in August (fingers crossed!). For now, if you’re looking for an expert-led garden design workbook that takes you through pre-design, design, and post-design phases, including solutions and decisions, garden layouts, drawing out planting plans, moving towards building the garden, and plant sourcing, construction and beyond, this is your book. It’s aimed at potential designers, design students, newly qualified and professional designers and gardeners so don’t expect a generic overview. This is thorough, diploma-worthy stuff. It also includes notes on dealing with drainage, easily accessed via the index so I’m sold just on that, notably how to create a terrace level without compromising the damp proof course!

New Small Garden – Contemporary principles, planning and practice by Noel Kingsbury (Frances Lincoln, 2016)

My garden is also much smaller than my last space. I’m not overly concerned with the change in size but there is more of an urban feel to this one – for now. I’m turning to Noel Kingsbury’s New Small Garden for pointers on how to navigate my inherited space with all its current paving and minimal planting areas. The book contains inspiring images by leading photographer Maayke de Ridder and six whole-garden case studies so I’ll be poring over those for ideas on how to divide my garden into sections, create viable planting communities, utilise vertical planting to add height, and explore new ways to display plants and ensure longterm success when planting in containers. I have a surprising amount of sun in this garden so I’ll definitely be looking to add some shady areas in potential seating areas. I’ll also be taking tips on idea sized shrubs, evergreen foliage, and successively blooming flowers all within the remit of Noel’s over-arching commitment to sustainability and wildlife within his designs, rain-sensitive and using recycled materials to name a few approaches.

Shade – Work with the light, grow the right plants, bring dark corners to life by Susanna Grant (Bloom/Frances Lincoln, 2022)

I’ve been following Susanna Grant, co-founder of Linda – a shade-specialist nursery and planting consultancy in East London – for years on Instagram via @hellotherelinda not just for advice on the actual plants but because I’m captivated by her ability to focus on one thing. Now all that expert knowledge has gone into one of Bloom publishing’s lovely pocket guides – a book fully devoted to shade – and I couldn’t be happier having it to hand ready to plan the darker depths of my side return. Chapters include understanding the ‘bright side of shade’, shaping your space with intention and purpose, discovering exactly the right plants for the right place (not all shade plants are made equal), and learning to support your plants and help them thrive. My last garden was very shady in places thanks to a number of trees but I still managed to get my planting wrong as I didn’t fully take the type of soil (clay) I had into account, the vast network of tree roots, or relatively lengthy periods of full sun at certain times of the day or year. In my new space, the shade is shady all day long and so I’m excited to devote this zone entirely to the shadowy ones. Not just ferns, without which no garden is complete in my humble opinion, but also climbers, roses, shrubs, bulbs, and ground cover. This Bloom series also includes guides to Cut Flowers – Prepare the ground, sow seed, nurture, harvest, fill your vases by Celestina Robertson (Bloom/Frances Lincoln, 2022) and Pots – Fill your containers with plants, tend to their needs, watch them flourish (Bloom/Frances Lincoln, 2022) so I’ve added them to this month’s book trolley too.