Anna Kettle wrote:
: On Fri, 04 Jun 2004 19:21:39 +0200, martin wrote:
:
:: "Flippin' deck
:: http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/st...231770,00.html
:: Jane Perrone delights in the demise of a certain garden fad, and has
:: some advice on putting right its inherent wrongs
::
:: Friday June 4, 2004
::
:: A blackbird on the wing, taking in an aerial view of an average UK
:: street, has probably noticed a colour shift in the past five years.
:: Our once green and pleasant land has been invaded by a hideous
:: scourge that poses a threat to all that is good about gardening:
:: wooden decking.
::
:: A story in today's Telegraph details how a retired couple from
:: Northumberland objected when their neighbour turned his garden into a
:: "wooden fortress" with the addition of a "giant deck". The story
:: pushed all the right buttons for the average Telegraph reader -
:: feuding neighbours, a former Royal Navy petty officer, an antique
:: dealer, local planning officers and listed property. I found my own
:: buttons pushed, however, by the idea that anyone could believe that
:: covering over a perfectly good bit of garden with a large wooden
:: structure where one is likely to spend, oh, hours a year enjoying the
:: sunshine is anything other than an expensive folly.
::
:: Decking is at the heart of what I call the "Ground Force approach" to
:: gardening, the idea - promulgated by the likes of the garden makeover
:: show's Charlie Dimmock - that the way to the perfect garden is a trip
:: to the nearest out-of-town DIY megastore for an expensive pile of
:: wood and a violent shade of woodstain. The result? A sterile
:: environment that is useless for garden wildlife, becomes a slippery
:: hazard after a few months of neglect in our watery climate and is
:: often out of scale with its surroundings.
::
:: The trouble is I am an allotment gardener at heart, a breed resigned
:: to the ranks of the terminally uncool by EastEnders' downtrodden man
:: of the soil, Arthur Fowler. Gardens shouldn't be viewed simply as an
:: "an extra room" that can undergo a miraculous lifestyle makeover akin
:: to slapping on a few coats of misty buff on the walls or buying a new
:: sofa.
::
:: Good gardens evolve. They aren't constructed overnight. When I see a
:: garden, my thoughts turn to how many plants I could pack in to
:: provide both colour and food for my kitchen and for garden visitors
:: like bees and butterflies. I know it will take months to see my
:: ideas through from preparing the soil, to sowing seed, planting out,
:: weeding and watering. There's nothing productive or beautiful about
:: a stretch of bleak wood - it's good for neither herb nor hedgehog.
::
:: The good news is that decking - like all fads - is quickly joining
:: laminate flooring, inflatable chairs and luminous socks in the ranks
:: of fashion has-beens.
::
:: If you've already fallen under the costly spell of Ground Force,
:: think about redeeming yourself and your garden by renting an
:: allotment (average cost: £10-20 a year), digging a wildlife pond
:: (average cost: about a tenner) or planting a wildflower meadow
:: (average cost: a few packets of seeds). The decking backlash has
:: begun."
::
:: AMEN!
:
: Tis true. I was visiting the tip on Tuesday and met a man discarding a
: load of decking. Mind you he was dicarding it in favour of a
: conservatory which is hardly wildlife friendly unless you are a red
: spider mite
:
: Anna
:
:
: ~~ Anna Kettle, Suffolk, England
: |""""| ~ Plaster conservation and lime plaster repair
: / ^^ \ // Freehand modelling in lime: overmantels, pargeting etc
: |____| www.kettlenet.co.uk 01359 230642

The idiots will be on to you about pruning so look out lol