Pergolas can be used in the garden to create a passageway or to frame a seating area. Click4Garden offers a wide range of kits as well as individual pergola components to allow for the creation of your own personal vision.

Preparation of the area for installation of your pergola. Consider the location carefully before proceeding. Where will the sun be at the time of day you use it? What access is required? Determine the footprint required for the pergola proposed. Ensure the area is clear and mark out positions for the posts. Measure diagonally across the area to make sure it is square.

Posts are common to all pergola designs and how you install these will depend on the ground conditions. For soft ground you will have a choice of either installing the pergola posts directly into the ground using MetCrete post fixing concrete or use Metpost Pergola Spikes. For solid ground such as a patio or a concrete hardstand area, install your pergola posts using Metpost Pergola Bolt Downs fixed with Metpost Anchor Bolts. Whichever method is chosen, make regular checks with a spirit level, during the installation, to ensure that the posts remain vertical.

Assembly of your pergola. Site and install the pergola posts using the chosen method of fixing. Use a spirit level during the installation to ensure that the pergola posts are vertical. Drop the pergola rafters into the post cutouts. Ensure that they are horizontal and that there is an equal overhang at either end. Fix each pergola rafter into place with two screws driven through the posts at either end. Mark the centre position of the fixed rafters and fix a Metclip to each rafter. Mark the positions, equally spaced, where the remaining pergola rafters will be situated and fix Metclips at each position. Drop a rafter into the Metclips and adjust to ensure that the overhang at each side is the same. Fix the pergola rafter into position using screws or galvanised nails through the pre drilled holes in the Metclips.

Enjoy your pergola!

Log edging comes in various forms and is used to ‘finish’ and dress a section of garden. Fixed straight board log edging is used for long straight runs and flexible edging rolls suitable for curved areas. Both types come in a variety of forms.

Log roll, as the names suggests, is a flexible form of edging. It takes the form of half round or full round logs, held together with steel wire. Log roll is particularly suitable for curved boards or irregularly shaped garden areas, log roll is supplied in an easy-to-carry roll.

Log board is supplied in rigid shorter lengths and provides a straight edge where a long run is required. They can also be used for small retaining work. All our log boards have integral spikes which mean they can be driven directly into the ground.

A gate can be used as a portal – the way in or out of an area.  A garden gate used for this purpose should be functional and practical.  The gate should be easy to open and close and, if necessary, lockable.  There are many garden gates on the market that would fit the bill; decorative metal garden gates, galvanised garden gates and timber/wooden gates.  All these types of garden gates come in varying heights and widths.  It is worth remarking that when purchasing your gate you need to consider the width of your gap as well as the size of the gate you require.    Be aware – your garden gate may not come with any gate fixings; this aspect of gate purchase is worth checking.  Gate fixings can be bought separately and there are a number of choices available to you depending on the ‘look’ you want to create.  As a final check you should make sure the fixings you have chosen fit the gate style you have decided upon.

Apart from using gates as portals, they can be used as part of your garden design.  Garden gates can entice you from one part of the garden to another, from one garden room to another.  Gates draw your eye to them and make you wonder what is beyond.  A secret garden?A vegetable garden?A walled garden?A greenhouse?  Gates take you by the hand and lead you towards them.  This is particularly the case if the gate is solid and you don’t know what is beyond.  If you have chosen a decorative metal gate as part of your garden design your eye will be drawn through the gate to what lies beyond – perhaps the rolling fields or simply a different garden space from the one you are leaving.

Don’t think of a gate as simply a gate – think of it as a piece of garden furniture and take time to consider your options.

Although you can choose from traditional lap panels, professional lap panels and closeboard panels; perhaps this is the opportunity to be more inventive? Continental style or Elite style fence panels have more creative styling, are of higher quality and longer lasting. They have mortice and tenon corner joints, a smooth planed finish and are pressure treated for longer life. They are also FSC certified – the trademark of the Forest Stewardship Council – thereby ensuring that the timber has come from environmentally approved forests. Whatever the style you choose, it is worth fixing your fence now and not waiting until you have to struggle with the grown-up flower border and hard summer ground.

If your fence or fence posts have suffered damage but are still serviceable, you may be in need of some Metpost Repair Spurs. The Metpost Repair Spur is the solution to the problem of posts which have broken off at ground level but are in a sound concrete base.

The Metpost Repair Spur is ideal for repairing gale damaged fencing and is available in 3″ and 4″ sizes both have the Wedge Grip fixing design. If the concrete around the old post is not sound, it may be necessary to move or re-stagger your fence post using a Metpost Spike.

The Metpost Spike is the work-horse of the Metpost family. They are manufactured from heavy gauge steel and the rigid construction is finished with a durable, protective red oxide coating which can be painted to match your fence panels and posts. The spike holds fence posts above ground level which helps to protect the base of the wooden post against rot so ensure a longer life

Worth around £110m in 2010, the market for garden buildings was down 14% on 2009. However mid-way through this year, 2011, the market was only down 5%.

The three most popular types of garden buildings include; modular garden rooms (43% of the market by value), log cabins (32%) and timber framed buildings (24%).

As the garden buildings’ market has evolved, additions and further choice have been added to the garden building experience. There are now many different roof finishes to choose from, including different colours. Even more popular over the last few years is unusual shaped garden buildings.

A major factor in the increase predicted next year is the number of people who now work from home. Garden buildings are perfect for their needs.

This year will still be tough for the garden building industry, but the future looks positive with a more favourable economic climate hoped for during 2012-2015 as the country starts to return to growth.

The volume of units sold is predicted to rise at a lesser rate than the increase in the value of the market, and is predicted to reach 30-32,000 units in 2015, an increase of 15% on present day volumes.

The Telus garden building is likely to bring a new excitement to downtown Vancouver. Set for completion in 2014, the new build is likely to attract many organisations from the suburbs into the city.

“Our goal is to make it something that is an icon and that will be a model and example that others look up to” explains Andrea Goertz, a Calgary-based Senior Vice-President at Telus Corp.

The garden building will replace the ancient Telus offices on Richards Street. Construction is likely to begin February next year, following the re-zoning requirements being met.

The one million square foot building is going to cost around $750 million, with 22 storeys of offices and 46 storeys of residential apartments.

The office tower has plans for three interior sky gardens, high up in the building, as well as a public piazza at street level.

The gardens are likely to feature gazebos and garden arbours just as traditional gardens do.
The residential homes will feature green technology, including geothermal heat exchange.

Mr Henriquez explains that the building will feature an “organic wood structure entrance canopy.” And, in Henriquez fashion, there are trees everywhere.

“I think trees, roof gardens and landscaped urban agriculture are very much a part of the normal landscape in cities now” Mr. Henriquez adds.

The architect said that he wanted to break the similarity of many of Vancouver’s major buildings. Creating instead something “idiosyncratic and considered; the product of a city with a history and a story to tell.”

Choose the location for your click4garden composter bearing in mind that an earth base under the composter allows drainage and access to soil organisms.  Composters come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes but the wooden clicki4garden composters are perhaps the best to use.  The wood provides insulation and allows the compost to breath.   Build your click4garden composter, place it on the bare soil and then get recycling. 

Composters, like us, benefit from a balanced diet.  You can feed it with garden refuse as well as kitchen waste and below you will find a list of some ‘dos and don’ts’. 

Do compost:

·        Uncooked vegetable & fruit scraps

·        Tea bags and coffee grounds

·        Old flowers

·        Gerbil, hamster & rabbit bedding

·        Soft prunings

·        Perennial weeds

·        Vegetable plant remains

Don’t compost:

• Meat & fish
• Dairy products
• Cooked food
• Coal ash
• Cat/dog litter

The composting process requires air and in an ideal world we should add all our compost at once and then turn periodically to let the air through.  However, most of us accumulate waste gradually and therefore add it to the composter in layers.  This build up of layers can cause compaction and the decomposition of the waste becomes less efficient and therefore slower.   Turning your compost is labour intensive but speeds up the process. 

Finally if your heap is predominantly green material add straw, paper or shredded woodchip which will help break it down. 

Have a look at our click4garden composters and become greener today!

Although a rather small town, being only about 2 square miles, Green Tree is making its name in Allegheny County for its parks and recreational facilities.

Recently there has been a further addition to the park; the fourth gazebo is now complete and situated behind the baseball backstop within Green Tree park. Also refurbished were tennis and basketball courts at Wilson Park.

The most recent garden building is the largest of the four gazebos and has been painted in the district’s signature colours of cream and beige.

“The way it’s constructed makes it quite a beautiful thing” said Councilman Art Tintori, who expects the most recent gazebo to be used for innumerable activities. It was used for the first time last month for the town’s Oktoberfest celebration.

“The thought was to use it as a bandstand but you could have any kind of event you wanted,” Mr. Tintori said.

The most recently erected gazebo cost $15,000 and was presented by two local organisations; the Schafer Foundation of Green Tree and the Rotary Club of Green Tree.

Borough manager Dave Montz said, “Officials have formed great partnerships to install recreation areas and upgrade them. This is really the council’s commitment to ensuring the borough’s recreational facilities are updated,” he said.

Mr. Tintori echoed his remarks. “It’s a public-private partnership that supports what we’re doing. It’s great.”

A park in Milton Keynes has been allocated a sum of £4.6m from the lottery fund. This welcome sum is to help restore garden buildings where the World War II code breaking activity took place.

Bletchley Park Trust will be using the money to renovate the code-breaking huts; however in order to finish the project the Trust has a further £1.7m to raise.

The derelict garden buildings are at risk of collapsing very soon if they are not restored shortly. It’s a race against the clock to save these snippets of WWII history.

Museum operations director Kelsey Griffin said:

“[The code-breaking huts] are certainly not going to last through one or two more bad winters, they are really no more robust than a garden shed. At the moment visitors can’t go in them because they risk falling through the floors.”

The code breaking work which was so essential to the war effort was performed right in the park, in these buildings which now need so much attention. Bletchley Park made massive advances in technology, including cryptography.

In order to receive the £4.6m lottery fund allocation, the park will first have to raise the £1.7m needed to complete the project.

Bletchley Park has therefore started a fundraising campaign called ‘Action this day’. This is a phrase coined by Winston Churchill following a letter from the code-breakers stating their desperation for resources. Upon receiving this letter Churchill ordered: “Action this day! Make sure they have all they want on extreme priority and report to me that this had been done.”

Bletchley Park has so far seen numerous donations from technology organisations and Stephen Fry, television personality, has also lent his support.

The summer house at the Colby Woodland Garden near Amroth has been hiding a beautiful secret; locked up for many years the gazebo has now been opened to the public.

On show inside the garden building is the work of muralist Lincoln Taber. Taber trained in Florence before moving to the UK where he then decorated the inside of the gazebo.

Up until now visitors could only peer through the windows; however the gazebo will now be open to the public daily.

Inside the gazebo, the walls are decorated with clematis, painted beneath are wine glasses and a bottle of champagne. This is thought to reflect what Taber imagined the gazebo should be used for – dinner parties.

Higher up inside the gazebo, the American artist also painted fake windows where a heron can be seen flying past. The ceiling, showing the signs of the zodiac, represents the eight people involved in the project.

The gazebo also sports a fake door with a view of a path down the garden, the real doors open into the actual garden.

Taber was born in California but travelled all over Europe. On a trip to Spain he met Salvador Dali and trained in Florence with Nerina Simi, thereafter he worked with Annigoni. Taber finally settled in England in 1967.

Steve Whitehead, head gardener said: “It is the perfect place to sit and relax and now there’s the added attraction of being able to gaze at the interior of the gazebo.”