BLOG
From first sketch to a garden that has grown in.
Practical guides for every step: laying out, building, planting and looking after your garden. For an ordinary Dutch garden, measured to your own plot.
Topics
From design and building to plants, materials and upkeep. Pick what you are working on now, or browse every article below.
Garden design
How to lay a garden out: dimensions, sight lines, and the order you make decisions in.
Construction
From drawing to garden: groundwork, drainage, foundations, and what you can do yourself.
Sun & shade
How much direct sunlight each spot in your garden gets, measured on your own parcel.
Seasons
What there is to do each month, and when your garden looks its best.
Materials
Paving, fencing and hard surfaces: what they cost and how long they last.
Inspiration
Gardens and styles to take ideas from, with what they ask for in practice.
Plants
Every plant that is native to the Netherlands and fits a garden, species by species: position, planting, pruning, diseases, and the insects and birds it supports.
Maintenance
Pruning, feeding and keeping up, with as little work per year as possible.
Latest articles
Materials
Garden edging: which edge for lawn, gravel and a sandpit
Which garden edging suits a terrace, gravel, lawn or sandpit? Types, sizes, Dutch prices per metre from €4.49, and its lifespan next to lawn, gravel or paving.
Construction
Garden Lights transformer: choosing 24, 60 or 150 W
A 60 W Garden Lights transformer carries 45 W of lights, the 150 W one 112.5 W. How the 75 percent rule works, the Flex cable up to 80 m, and the app.
Construction
in-lite HUB and cable: which transformer to choose
in-lite makes four HUBs from 75 to 300 VA and two cables: 14/2 up to 40 m and 10/2 up to 80 m. How to add up the VA of your lights and pick HUB, cable and app.
Construction
Lightpro transformer: 24, 100 or 150 W, and the cable
Lightpro makes three transformers, 24 W, Touch 100 W and Touch 150 W, and one 14 AWG cable up to 80 m. How to pick the size and connect lights and branches.
Plants
Alder Buckthorn: How to Recognise, Plant and Care For It
Alder buckthorn (Frangula alnus): a native shrub, 1.5 to 5 metres tall, thornless, with berries that turn from green to red to black. How to plant and care.
Plants
Arrowhead (Sagittaria sagittifolia): planting and care
Arrowhead (Sagittaria sagittifolia) is a native marginal plant, 30 to 90 cm tall, with white flowers. Where it fits in a pond, its price and how to plant it.
Plants
Blackcurrant bush: how to recognise, plant and prune it
Blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum): a native, thornless shrub of 0.6 to 1.5 metres, with glossy black berries. How to recognise, plant, prune it, and what it costs.
Plants
Common beech: where to plant it, hedges, pruning and nuts
Common beech (Fagus sylvatica): a native tree of 24 to 30 metres with a smooth grey trunk. Where it fits, how to plant it and when to trim a beech hedge.
Plants
Common bugle: planting, care and price
Common bugle (Ajuga reptans) is a native ground cover 7 to 30 cm tall that stays green in winter. Where it fits, how to plant it and what a plant costs.
Plants
Common daisy: planting and care for the native lawn flower
The common daisy (Bellis perennis) is a native perennial 5 to 15 cm tall that flowers from March to October. Where it grows, what it costs and what goes wrong.
Plants
Common dogwood: how to recognise, plant and care for it
Common dogwood (Cornus sanguinea) is a native shrub of 1.5 to 3 metres with red twigs in winter. Where it fits, what it costs and how to look after it.
Plants
Common foxglove: planting, care and poisonous parts
Common foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) is a native biennial 0.3 to 1.5 m tall. Where it grows, what it costs, how to sow it and which parts are poisonous.
Start from your own address
Type your address and your plot appears, to scale, with your house on it. You draw the garden on it.