Taken from Lynne’s weekly column ‘Green Scene’ for the Western Mail
12th December 2020
A Shed Load of Ideas
A reader contacted me last week to design an ‘outdoor exercise area’ for his wife as a Christmas present. He is going to give her the drawings and a handwritten voucher promising her that the project will be completed early in the New Year.
I was struck by his ‘inventfulness’ and serendipitously later that week I had to pick up some fence panels for a job from Philip Jones Timber in Ebbw Vale – serendipitously because it sparked an idea for great Christmas presents.
Philip Jones makes and stocks an enormous selection of all things wooden. From some of the most comfortable garden chairs you’ll sit in, to summer houses, wendy houses, log cabins/outdoor offices and field shelters and my favourite ‘new-ish’ outdoor material – composite boards. They are just the job for decking as they’re non slip, don’t need any maintenance and look great. I actually have it at the cottage and love it.
So, back to Christmas presents and my lovely reader who wanted to surprise his wife with an outdoor keep fit area – we chatted about the options (and the Welsh weather) and he is now going to have a little log cabin with a composite deck outside. It has become a bigger project but it has also become a ‘family present’ – something the whole family can use. And once everyone gets bored with a gym (as if …), it can be converted to a study, office or a ‘den’.
Similarly, how about a shed for the man in your life – or a ‘she-d’ for the woman even? We have all learned how important personal space is this year. Remember: ‘A shed is for so much more than storage!’ Of course, it also means you don’t have to shop where there are crowds and you will be promoting local businesses.
Phil used to tease me mercilessly when I used to get timber from him when I first started landscaping as a rather naive 18 year old. He would always ask if I wanted ‘a long weight’, or tell me that ‘bubbles for spirit levels’ were on special offer. I was always sent from site to collect the materials, as I took the leg-pulling in such good spirit I used to get a good discount too. Those were the days before people were offended by everything.
His daughter, Danielle, has since taken over the business and is as personable and helpful as her dad, happily arranging vouchers for gifts and/or ‘secret’ deliveries. And the lovely Stuart even did my thinking for me by coming up with a great solution for putting up an awkward fence panel.
Find out more at www.philipjonestimber.co.uk although, like many good old-fashioned businesses, their website doesn’t really do their products justice. If you have a query please call Danielle or pop up and have a chat and a look around – you’ll also get a free cup of tea or coffee.
You’ve Been Hacked
A ‘hack’ when I was growing up was posh name for a ride out on your pony. A little later in life when I began gardening, it would be used to describe poor pruning. There was the cough that was referred to as a ‘hack’ and in journalism, a ‘hack writer’ was deemed to be a ‘pen for hire’. Later it referred to gaining unauthorised access to data in a computer, but most recently I have found out that the definition of Hack by Merriam-Webster is ‘a clever tip or technique for doing or improving something’.
I discovered this as a result of creating my usual Christmas displays in redundant outdoor tubs and troughs. People seldom plant up containers for winter interest so for a few years I have taken to literally sticking in small branches and cut pieces of evergreen foliage as temporary displays for the festive season, for my clients (see photos).
Most evergreen foliage is suitable, with holly and ivy being the most obvious festive choice and euonymus and other variegated foliage adding a splash of colour and interest. I have used skimmia, the old flower stalks of perovskia, and spotted laurel. Teasels can be added – sprayed with spray paint if preferred – and this year I even sprayed the old berries on hypericum gold, which have turned out lovely. Last year I used a lot of rose hips and haws but they’re not as plentiful his year. Just be imaginative, and stick the stems as far into the compost as you can to ensure the wind doesn’t destroy your displays.
My clients are always chuffed to see foliage being recycled from their garden and it was one of their teenage sons who congratulated me this year saying, “Great hack, that should be on Tik Tok.”
Remember when that was something a clock did?
Choca-holly-ic
Next Wednesday (16th) is National Chocolate Covered Anything Day! I kid you not – it’s one of those ever-increasing bizarre national celebration days. On the 16th December, the nation is encouraged to dip and drizzle their favourite foods in every kind of chocolate imaginable. As if lock down hasn’t been cruel enough to our waistlines.
However, I do have a reasonably sensible idea how to celebrate this day productively – by making chocolate holly leaves for Christmas desert decoration. Simply use a pastry brush to paint melted chocolate onto the underside side of a holly leaf, (it gives more definition to the chocolate leaf), leave to cool and carefully peel off. There will be breakages so I can’t promise to have protected your waistline that much.
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