yardz

WOOLLY WALLY POCKETS MAKE GREAT VERTICAL GARDENS

Woolly Wally pockets from www.gardenbeet.com are a great way to make a simple vertical garden.

They are suitable for indoor and outdoor use and are available in one, three and five pocket sizes. Woolly Wally pockets are enviromentaly friendly being made from 60% recycled plastic bottles. Prices start at £35.00 for the one pocket version.

www.gardenbeet.com is a great website that is well worth a visit - attached to it are two blogs - one looks at design in general and the other Eco Chic Garden ideas.

 http://www.gardenbeet.com/index.html

WINDOW BOXES WITH A FESTIVE FLOURISH

Decorating window boxes at Christmas can be great fun - there is more you can do than just trailing flashing lights over bedding plants.

There are many Christmas tree decorations that are shatterproof being made of plastic. These are perfect for using outdoors as they are light and weatherproof. It is better with windowboxes to stick to a simple colour scheme and design, taking into account the style of house or apartment. 

Why not carry the theme of your decorations through from the window boxes into the inside, using the same style on your main Christmas tree.

Lighting is very easy with a wide range of micro LED lights that will not overpower the size of your display. LED lights are also very economical to run. If getting power to your lights is a problem, try using battery LED lights which are easy to install and cheap to buy - from £2.99 for a set of 20 lights.

RABBITS,PIDGEONS,LETTUCE,JELLY AND DECK CHAIRS

It may be a strange time of year to look at deck chairs but these are super stylish and would make great presents. Available from www.rume.co.uk , they are available in two colourways - 'rabbit & lettuce' and 'pidgeon & jelly' .

The chair frame is made from solid merpauh from sustainable forests in Malaysia. The sling is hand printed in the UK on cotton canvas. 

The really neat thing though, is that you can get matching cushions in heavy canvas. These would be great to link existing leisure furniture to your deck chairs - or just use them inside and snuggle down dreaming of summer days!

Deck chairs £115.00   Cushions £55.00
  

 

MORE THAN JUST TRELLIS

www.DWR.com is a great site and blog that looks a design in many areas. It also sells a range of amazing stuff.

This is one of their offers, a stainless steel trellis for indoor and outdoor use. It is expandable and can be used both vertically and horizontally. The stainless steel is joined with brass connectors to keep it expandable and rust free for many years.

Available in two sizes: Small  $80 Large $130

COOL COOL SNOWMAN FOR CHHRISTMAS

I'm not that mad on illuminated outdoor Christmas decorations but this one, pardon the pun, is really cool! Standing 4' high when fully inflated, it is illuminated inside with 50 LED lights - which makes it cheap to run.

Available on www.ebay.co.uk for £36.95

AMOOSING LIGHTING FOR CHRISTMAS

It is always difficult to know how and if to decorate the yard for christmas. I saw this wonderful amusing Moo Wall Lamp on one of my favourite blogs, www.myurbangardendecoguide.com The light designed by Trond Svendgard and Ove Rogne is constructed of poly-resin and steel so is suitable for outdoor use.

It is available from www.scandinaviandesigncentre.com  £773.92

THE ULTIMATE MAINTENANCE FREE YARD

 
I've mentioned Sedums in posts before. They are a great plant that as an alpine are able to withstand hardy conditions. This makes them perfect for low maintenace situations such as on roofs. They are very good in dry conditions as their foliage stores water.

Though usually used on 'green roofs' I see no reason why you couldn't just plant the whole of you yard with sedum to create a living green mat.Once planted, as long as the preperation is right, it's as easy as laying turf, you have an almost maintence free garden. By mixing varieties you would be able to having a reasonable succession of flowering and the plants will become a kalidoscope of colourful foliage. It is also a very enviromentally friendly way of gardening with no need of fertilizers and irrigation.

It is well worth looking at www.sempergreen.com who are international specialists in the field of using sedum and will give you some great ideas.

SHELVES VEGETABLE

As regular visitors to my blog will know I am really interested in vertical gardening and the advantages it brings to the small space gardener.

This French System by the designer Germain Bourne is designed for flexible vertical growing. Each shelf is filled with a suitable growing media allowing for vegetable culture from sowing to harvesting. Watering is via a waterfall system with water flowing from the top shelf to the bottom. The system is made from stainless steel and is 3m long and 1.6m high.

It looks very stylish and would look great filled with a selection of grasses for those not into 'grow your own' yet.

SOLAR PYRAMIDS

Though I use them myself and find many of the new designs very interesting, solar lighting is not always that practical. Solar lighting is great outside in the summer when daylight has enough power to recharge batteries enough to give a long period of light at night but present technology, even with LED, has not acheived the same over dull winter conditions.

Never the less I do like these solar pyramid shaped lights from www.cdn.overstock.com . They are designed for edging a deck but would fit anywherewhere light is needed to outline an edge. The shape is very practical with the four solar panels to pick up sunlight as the sun moves round and the are made from rust resistant stainless steel. My one gripe though is the fixing screws which seam a bit heavy handed.

£22.06

http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Pyramid-shaped-Solar-Deck-Light/3938812/product.html
 

BEACH LOUNGER BRINGS THOUGHTS OF SUMMER

As the rain tips down and thewind blows a gale, I was taken with thoughts of summer on finding this Beach Lounger Seat from www.lovethyspace.co.uk.

This inflated comfortable lounger is available in three colours - dark grey, light grey and orange. It can be used in two positions, either upright with the foot rest behind for support or as a perfect lounger with the rest for your feet. The chair comes complete with a hand pump for inflation and a handy carrier bag. The fact that it is inflatable and easily storage makes it a winner for balconies and roof gardens but perhaps not in November.

www.lovethyspace.co.uk   £99.00