Choosing the right materials for your garden

When designing a garden, it’s a good idea see what materials and plants you might be able to keep. An old fruit tree or a cobbled path can become, when cleaned up, one of a garden’s best assets, and give it an air of maturity. If you have a blank slate, consider your needs first, and work around them. Most people can sum up their needs in a few sentences such as: “somewhere safe for the kids to play” or “we need somewhere to park the car, but also want some screening for the house”.

When you have worked out your needs, think about layout, materials and plants. The main cost is generally hard materials and the labour to install them. When choosing materials, use salvaged materials such as brick or setts, and choose local gravels and paving materials. Ireland has some wonderful local stones, including limestone from Kilkenny and Carlow, various sandstones and limestones from Mayo, Donegal, Galway and Clare, and endless local gravels and pebbles. These can be more expensive than imported alternatives so, if you need to, it’s worth cutting back on the amount you need rather than on the material itself. These materials also look vastly superior to their foreign counterparts, and age with grace, improving rather than deteriorating with age.