Although the days of Groundforce are long gone, the zeal of enthusiastic gardeners has not been quashed. In fact, upon switching on the telly box over the New Year I had the fortune to come across the gardener of the year finalist's great garden-off in the form of Gardener of the Decade. The contestants were all winners of the annual contest over the last ten years and were pitted against each other at the one of the most prestigious horticultural locations within the UK, The Eden Project in Cornwall. They were given gardening tasks such as weeding, separating, dead heading and planting cuttings correctly, all against the clock. I can't say that this really added any tension to the competition as it is quite difficult as a spectator to feel the pressure during a 25 minute potting task. I would enlighten you further with the proceedings, but my next memory was of waking up about three hours later having missed all the other events. This does not sound like I found it much of a shame, but secretly I did. One of my favourite things about gardening is the challenging of landscaping. It is so easy to fall into the same old rut as everyone else when the only option you have is whatever Wyevale, Notcutts and B&Q have in stock. This is usually a range of standard issue paving stones, some bark floor chippings, the odd ornamental statue and a few types of trellis. Oh, let's not forget the decking, a garden staple since 1992. At least it got everyone's mind off crazy paving. Being able to create an interesting and functional garden space that is also unique takes the type of inspiration only demonstrated by the wisest of garden lovers. Creating shade within the garden is probably the biggest challenge that a landscaper can face. Garden shades need to protect from good weather as well as bad, yet let enough good weather past when it does happen whilst making sure the bad weather never gets in. Sounds complicated, and it probably is which is why everyone seems to opt for the standard parasol in the middle of a garden table option. In my opinion fixing the shade to the seating is not the right idea; shade and shelter should allow freedom of movement. Using plants to create garden shade is a wonderful idea as a plant can be trained to grow over archways, trellis formations and gazebos; creating a wonderful dapple shade that is welcome should the heat of summer arrive in your garden. Unfortunately this only offers a summertime solution, but you could consider mixing this with a fabricated shade. Sticking with the plant theme, you could consider making parasol style garden shades out of the leaves of succulents such as palm. These are simple to weave, light enough to move around the garden and have the added benefit of not sticking out like a sore thumb. If a little shade making is not quite your cup of tea, consider investing in a pre-fabricated shade that can be stretched across an area of a garden. If you make sure that you have plenty of posts hidden amongst your garden plants and have secure hook or eye fixings at varying levels on each, it is a simple task to stretch the garden shade fabric and secure it in place between posts in whatever area is most suitable. The benefit of this method is that as the seasons change, the shade can be moved to suit the weather and even the time of day, providing you with a unique and versatile garden shade solution that would be the envy of the Gardeners World team themselves.
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