10 Tips for Minimizing Waste
See how careful garden design can meet your needs and make the most of your space.
You can count on a garden redesign to bring joy and take your outdoor space to the next level. Careful garden design delivers lifetime benefits and it’s a pleasure to watch how these benefits only multiply as the garden matures. However, when it comes to garden design, sometimes we fail to think in as much detail about the process of construction and design as we do about the finished product. In this first part of our series on careful garden design, we take a look at how you can minimize waste in the design and building stages…
1. Your garden in the right hands. It sounds simple, but working with a recommended designer, project manager and contractor is essential. Their top-quality services can help save time, reduce waste and keep the project on track. This professional excellence is important across the entire garden redesign process, from planning and sourcing materials to building and planting your new outdoor space. This lessens the time you spend on the project and minimizes its environmental cost. In short, working with the right professionals will provide you with a seamless, first-class experience which delivers the highest possible standards.
2. Work to a plan. Most of us dream of the spaces we want to create but have little idea of how to maximize the potential of our outdoor area. This is where a garden designer can help: their skills, experience and creativity can generate transformed, uplifted spaces that meet homeowners’ specific needs. Your investment in these initial stages can save time, money and materials as you enable your landscaper and contractors to work to a detailed, comprehensive and clear-cut design that covers all features of an outdoor space.
3. Minimise product waste with sensitive design layout. A good garden designer gives exact measurements of materials to be used in a garden redesign. Paving units, for example, are generally sold in standard sizes. If you can design paved spaces as multiples of your chosen flag size, you reduce the number of cuts. This saves time, money and materials; it also minimizes waste and ensures a clean finish.
4. Experienced contractors are worth their weight in gold. Contractors are the people appointed, either by the client or the designer, to build an outdoor space. A skilled and experienced contractor knows that correct installation of materials is the key to enjoying the full lifespan of those products. To find the right person for the job, spend some time talking with recommended contractors about your project and find out whether they are familiar with the types of materials proposed in your design. Poorly installed materials will need replacing much sooner than their recommended lifespan, so choosing an appropriate contractor is desirable.
5. Use the right materials in the right place. As in the fashion industry, the best outdoor spaces are built with high-quality materials that are fit for purpose. By choosing and using the right materials in the right place, you will reduce time-consuming heavy maintenance and extend the durability of everything you use. A good garden designer will use their knowledge to determine which materials work best in your outdoor space to meet your needs. For example, you might like the look of some softwood decking, but if this is installed in shady, damp areas then moss and algae will soon grow on the surface, which makes it slippery and dirty. For decking in a damp, shady area it is best to use hardwood or composite decking as this has a longer lifespan than softwood. It can therefore last a long time without needing to be maintained or replaced.
6. Using reclaimed materials. A sure-fire way to add history and character to your garden is to source quality materials previously in use somewhere else and repurpose them in your garden design. You could even repurpose materials from another part of your home… Our designer Alex has previously worked on a historic Yorkshire home where a log burner was being installed in the old fireplace. The lintel - a beautiful piece of York stone - was removed from above a home’s main fireplace and repurposed as a step feature in the garden. This meant that the stone, which had been above the fireplace for at least 200 years, remains a part of the home.
7. Refurbish, update, upcycle. Once the garden redesign springs into life, you’ll want to add finishing touches, such as furniture and garden ornaments. Even this stage of the redesign process, with careful consideration, can be made sustainable. There has been a definite move in the garden industry towards restoration of old pieces of furniture, many of which have sentimental value. As we give older pieces of furniture a new lease of life or recycle a well-loved piece into something with a new purpose, we creatively connect with our surroundings and transform a space into a place.
8. Beware the trend. Like other areas of design, garden design follows trends and these are not always the best fit for your outdoor space. Think hot tubs during lockdown. Many of us had the time to use them and they rose hugely in popularity, but why take up space in your garden if you don’t really want it and won’t actually use it on the regular? Instead of wasting your garden’s potential on fads, it’s best to carefully consider what you want from your garden so you can get the most out of it. Besides, one of the great joys of garden design is its creativity: this is your chance to create a unique and individual outdoor space that is one of a kind. When your designer helps you to realise your own vision, rather than something based on the latest fad, you won’t ever go wrong.
9. Energy efficiency at the top of the bill. While energy saving has become a hot topic in recent times, sustainable solutions don’t mean compromising on style or flexibility. Simple devices like timer switches on lighting and pond pumps can help you make huge savings on energy use and bills, costing you and the environment less.
10. Waste not, want not! We’re all being encouraged to recycle as much as possible and gardens can be an incredible part of this process. Household ‘waste’ such as peelings from fruit and vegetables can be composted and used to nourish the soil, and rainwater can be harvested in water butts to water plants during dry periods. It’s a win-win situation.
If you’re considering a garden redesign and want more advice on how to minimize waste, get in touch for a friendly consultation.