DIGS

Dave and Ian Garden Services

Is your Garden Dull, does it need a makeover. Then visit DIGS for Landscaping ideas and see the 'Before' and 'After' photos. And if you live in the Bristol area contact us for our services. We do patios, brick BBQs, paths, fences, walls, rock gardens, ponds, water features, hedges, lawns, sheds, gazebos, carports, greenhouses and much more.

BBQs

Mobile BBQs & Brick BBQs

Designed to suit your pocket and your taste. Barbecuing started in the UK in the 1980's, influenced by American and Australian television and visits by Britons to Florida and California. Nowadays, many British have barbecue if they have a garden, mostly a "kettle" style BBQ which has a lid and wheels to move it out of a shed, although permanent brick barbecues are becoming more common.

The main foods to go on a barbecue are chicken, burgers, sausages, corn-on-the-cob, beef steaks, fish, kebabs and vegetarian soya or quorn based products. Other things to go are salads and relishes. Soft drinks and lager beer are the most common drinks for barbecues. However Modern Britain is multicultural and eclectic in culinary tastes and and middle eastern, asian and chinese cuisine now influence the food cooked at the British barbecue. e.g. Highly spiced chicken served with chappatis (rotis) would now not be unusual (Wikipedia).

DECKING

Wooden Decking, Landings and Steps from house to garden

Decking is a wooden platform built above the ground connected to the house and like a patio creates an external room linking house and garden, and is often enclosed by a railing for safety.

Access is usually from the house through doors and from the ground via steps. Residential decks can be constructed over steep areas or rough ground that is otherwise unusable.

Dry Stone Walling

Walls, dry stone walls and paths

Dry stone is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. Dry stone structures are stable because of their unique construction method, which is characterized by the presence of a load-bearing facade of carefully-selected interlocking stones. Dry-stone technology is best known as wall construction, but dry stone buildings, bridges, and other structures also exist. (Wikipedia).

Patios

Patios, Paths and driveways

A patio (from the Spanish meaning 'back garden' or 'backyard) is an outdoor space generally used for dining or recreation that often adjoins a residence and is typically paved. It may refer to a roofless inner courtyard or a paved area between the house and the garden.

Patios are typically made of concrete or stone slabs laid over a firm base. This base is often formed of a layer of compacted hardcore (stone chips), a layer of sharp sand, and a layer of cement mortar. The firmness and stability of the base is essential to the robustness of the top layer of slabs - an infirm base will typically result in cracked slabs. Patios that hold a lot of weight, such as driveways, require stronger foundations than those that are designed for light use. (Wikipedia).

Raised Beds

Raised beds, organic gardening and Permaculture

Raised beds are often up to 3 or 4 feet (1.0-1.2m) wide and can be of any length and the soil is normally about one foot (15-30cm) above the surrounding ground. Raised beds are often made from wood, brick or concrete blocks, and the soil is usually enriched with compost. Vegetables are often spaced much closer than normal so that when they are fully grown their leaves just touch creating a microclimate in which moisture is conserved and weed growth suppressed. Since the gardener does not walk on the raised beds the soil is not compacted and the roots have an easier time growing. The close plant spacing and the use of compost generally result in higher yields with raised beds in comparison to conventional row gardening.

Raised beds lend themselves to the development of complex agriculture systems that utilize many of the principles and methods of Permaculture. (Wikipedia).

Landscaping

Garden Landscaping, paths, patios and sheds

The term English garden or English park is often used to refer to a style of informal landscape gardening that was popular in the UK from the mid 18th century to the early 19th century, and is particularly associated with Capability Brown. Separate traditions of landscape gardens evolved in Japan and China and elements from Japanese gardens are often incorporated into the European landscape garden.