Garden Design in Southfields

Landscaping and construction started and it wasn’t long before we could see the full potential of the garden. After a full garden clearance (saving some key plants), we put in footings and built a brick wall to the right-hand and rear boundary of the garden. We also built a door for access to the alleyway.

Old or matching bricks can be hard to find in London, but we successfully sourced some really good quality London reclaimed yellow stock bricks for the wall. Even though these bricks were from the Victorian era of house building and have been weathered for perhaps a hundred and twenty years, they still worked exceptionally well in a contemporary setting.  Time and weathering over the years had given them a beautiful unique look. We further enhanced the wall with black up/down lighters set at intervals.

Contemporary horizontal batten fencing along the left-hand boundary was then installed and we added a well-designed 300mm strip continuing all the way around on top of the beautiful brick wall. To finish the contemporary look, the timber batten and garden door were painted with a grey/blue semi-transparent wood stain.

Click/tap any image to see a larger version in a lightbox.

We always listen to our clients and combine their great ideas with ours. Any garden needs to be unique to the client we are working for.

In this urban garden project in Wimbledon, our clients managed to source some premium quality 900 x 900 porcelain tiles from Italy.  In combination with smaller black and white UK-sourced tiles for the inlaid panel on the patio, these beautiful Italian tiles worked perfectly to make a truly unique entertainment space.  It’s never one item in a garden that makes it look great. It needs every element to work perfectly together to make that contemporary garden and entertainment space.

To that end, we also built a strong pergola which was painted with a charcoal/black semi-transparent wood stain. We installed a simple lighting circuit loose laid into the rafters and a patio heater installed on the back wall of the house.  With the main entertainment area nearly complete, we moved further into the garden to finish the landscaping and construction.

To break up the height and emphasise planting, we built raised beds on the right-hand side of the garden.  A well-designed corner raised bed with bullnose-sawn sandstone coping was added to one side. This design allowed for a comfortable seating area in that corner.  Seating in combination with the rest of the raised beds at different levels really enhanced the planting. On the other side, we constructed an L-shaped raised bed incorporating a reservoir at the center.  We then added a really impressive blade fountain with water cascading above it. All raised beds had a smooth rendered finish with three coats of masonry paint in light grey.

This garden design in Wimbledon (near Southfields) was completed with the installation of an artificial grass lawn and extensive planting to all the raised and ground-level flower beds.

Gardens outside many properties in and around Southfields and South-West London are not very big. At PM Landscapes, we specialise in gardens across a wide range of sizes, and creating something special for a small space is nearly always part of the brief. We are very good at it.

For every garden we need to create space.  We also need to create depth and height otherwise you just have a rather uninspiring box. When we add planting to raised beds we are able to break up the height in key areas of the garden making it visually and practically much more appealing. These are constructed with brick or concrete blocks and often rendered for that contemporary feel.

Raised beds can be as narrow as 600mm with a planting space of 400mm which is more than enough for an easy-to-maintain small garden. In this property in Wimbledon, we designed and built raised beds but more importantly, included built-in seating. The benching was set to a corner of the garden and created visual impact while allowing the garden to retain maximum space at the centre. This space, in turn, can include free-standing pieces of furniture; such as a round table with chairs in timber or metal. A great combination.

Click/tap any image to see a larger version in a lightbox.

Storage in any property with an urban garden and particularly in South West London means there always seems to be overspill into the garden. When the loft space and internal storage reach their limits, then the garden is the next place to store items.  This can soon overwhelm even a medium-sized garden.

A brand new contemporary 3m x 2.4m apex garden shed placed in the left-hand corner of the garden was a key component in the landscaping and design of this Wimbledon garden. Positioning worked well with the daily changings in daylight allowing the garden to retain lots of open space. By having the new shed in the corner with the long 3m side facing the house, the garden plans came together beautifully.

The old garage was demolished and all materials were removed/recycled. We also removed very old paving and warped decking. Raised beds and a seating feature were built down the right-hand side, and another lower-raised flower bed was built on the left of the garden to balance the look.

The clients for this Wimbledon project chose Brazilian slate. It was a wonderful choice and worked exceptionally well with the colour scheme of the shed, flower beds, and fencing and allowed a decent-sized paved area outside the shed door.

Click/tap any image to see a larger version in a lightbox.

Our landscapers have been landscaping and gardening in Battersea, Clapham and Southfields for many years, working in both garden design and construction. In Battersea (and Southfields), gardens come with their own unique set of design requirements, mostly related to limited space and optimal design to make the most use of that.

As a golden rule, size differences require careful layout design and planning to ensure the garden still retains all the required elements to satisfy the brief. Battersea has seen massive gentrification over the last two decades which has been accelerated by the relocation of the American Embassy. Battersea, Southfields and Clapham have a lot of history, and a great deal of renovation and improvement has taken place which means that it is a great place to live and entertain. The houses in Battersea, Southfields and Clapham have great character but many gardens lack inspiration and are sadly not used to their full potential. We work on a wide range of projects, loving to create stunning gardens both large and small. Battersea, Southfields and Clapham garden design has its own particular challenges, but we think we have the perfect solutions.

Click/tap any image to see a larger version in a lightbox.

This project in Broomwood road is a typical Battersea garden and similar to many gardens in Southfields. After consultation and planning, we mapped out the garden and divided the limited space between a beautiful built-in seating area and a lawn. With an existing retaining wall that required only minimal work, we upgraded fencing all around to ensure the garden was well-contained by strong timberwork.

The planting was simple but well thought out. Minimal maintenance and the choice of plants that will survive in their new homes. Much of the planting was arranged around, above, and below the seating area, with an additional emphasis on scent and colour.

We expertly installed an artificial lawn which allowed the younger members of the family to continue to play mini-football on a new hard-wearing pitch! The overall result left maximum space, with designated functional areas, and it all came together rather beautifully.

Many properties in London include old stock walls. Some of these are very well constructed and can be fully integrated as a beautiful feature of the new garden design. We see a lot of these walls in Battersea in particular. Like so many previous projects, the client and the team made a decision that we would incorporate it into the design. With a soft-wood batten trellis above the wall to match the contemporary tongue and groove fence panels on the side boundary, everything came together very well. This is a garden that can be used in any season. A beautiful functional contemporary addition to the property which can be used by all the family.