Soil health can make or break a successful planting scheme in your garden. While may plants are hardy enough to thrive in any environment, a chemical balance could be causing them to struggle. So why is soil so important?
Your Soil Could Be Classed As Unsafe.
If you are completing building work or a large garden renovation, soil can be WAC (Waste Acceptance Criteria) tested to ensure that it is safe enough to go to landfill. This can be useful if you are completing a project, or likewise if you are starting one. Many companies and councils will ask for this test to be completed as best practice ahead of work commencing. Failure to complete a WAC test could lead to expensive landfill charges as well.
Your Garden Could Have A Chemical Imbalance.
Chemical testing can also highlight the quantities of different minerals prevalent in your soil. Some plants are very sensitive to certain minerals or chemicals; the chemical balance of the soil can be changed using certain types of fertiliser. Having a basic chemical test can allow you to see which nutrients are out of balance and allows you to consider different options for fertilising and remediation.
Poor Microbial Biomass.
Analysis can also provide you with a measure of microbial biomass. The biomass shows how active the soil is at decomposing plant and animal residues, releasing carbon dioxide and plant nutrients. Biomass can be affected by soil texture, pH, and moisture – a simple analysis into soil health can highlight all these areas.
Soil is the literal foundation of your garden – it is important to ensure that it is healthy as you build your garden up.
There have been changes in biodiversity requirements. The biodiversity of a site is defined as the level of variety in desirable plant or animal life within a habitat. Currently, the Government’s National Planning Policy requires that local planning authorities encourages developers to improve biodiversity. However, there is no current standardised approach to how this is implemented, and the requirement is not enforceable by law.
The Environmental Bill
The Environmental Bill for England, which is currently going through Parliament, will introduce a mandatory requirement of increasing biodiversity by a minimum of 10%. This is referred to as biodiversity net gain. Keeping in line with the Government’s aim to leave the environment in a better state than we originally found it.
The introduction of the Environmental Bill is due to come into place at the end of 2020, with a two year transition period. Following this, planning approval will only be granted upon receipt of evidence that the development project will increase biodiversity by at least 10%. This biodiversity net gain will also need to be maintained for a minimum of 30 years and long-term protection will be a planning condition or obligation.
The Requirements
This increase in biodiversity requirements will have a direct impact on the approach landscape architects take in the future. Having to submit a biodiversity net gain plan for any projects. In these plans they will need to choose between three different possible approaches to addressing the biodiversity requirement:
Avoid any harm to the biodiversity of the site altogether. This could be through designs that are sympathetic to the surroundings or avoid existing features of interest.
Compensate for any harm caused by the development. This could be through the creation of alternative local habitats. Replacing trees or considering alternative ways of introducing a habitat.
Pay a tariff which will go towards supporting both local and national habitat creation projects.
As well as detailing how the net gain will be achieved. The biodiversity net gain plan will also need to include how the biodiversity value has been calculated. This value should be calculated using DEFRA’s Biodiversity Metric 2.0, and the estimated value upon completion will be compared to the original value of the site.
To prevent the illegal clearing of sites before a planning application takes place. Biodiversity records from Local Environment Record Centres will also be referred to. Any sites that have been identified to having been cleared will be subject to relevant penalties.
ProHort Ltd provide a range of landscape plans and landscape and visual impact assessments, which address the requirement for biodiversity net gain. Why not find out more about our Landscape and Visual Impact assessment service and get in touch?
As we all know, the future can be incredibly hard to predict. However, we, as well as others are seeing several trends in the landscape designs, we are producing currently. This is what we believe the future may hold for landscape designs.
Less effort, larger reward: As we become a ‘time-poor’ (or perhaps better stated, ‘time conscious’) workforce, we are seeing trends towards gardens that contain less traditional planting. The planting which we are completing now definitely follows this trend – the trend is for colour and low maintenance planting.
Natural tones: We are finding that clients are leaning towards natural colours – greys, browns and greens in their garden. This can be added across all materials – including fencing, decking and paving. This natural aesthetic creates a calm, natural feeling atmosphere, which may help people relax.
Long-lasting: Composite fencing and decking is proving more popular than ever – this decking combination mixes wood with plastic to create a material that is long lasting and is less likely to stain or splinter. We are finding that our clients are wanting materials that will last.
Contemporary: While many of our clients do prefer a traditional aesthetic, landscape designs are leaning more and more towards a contemporary feel. This may include curved edges, rather than straight lines, contemporary and bespoke lighting or wooden feature areas. This aesthetic can tie in with creating a low maintenance, natural feeling garden.
While we cannot predict the exact future, these trends are currently prevalent in garden design. How do you think this will change ahead?
Many of us can become dissatisfied with our gardens after a while – we may be looking out our window at the same view day after day and growing bored with what we see in front of us. There are many ways that we can take our garden to the next level and regain our love for the space.
Colour can be a really easy way to take our garden to the next level. Have you considered a bed with themed, seasonal planting? These beds could be used to add colour throughout the year. Colour can be adapted – if you have a favourite colour, or a specific aesthetic, then planting can be easily modified. Colour can also be added through updating a patio, decked area or painting a wall – even power washing an existing patio can add some brightness or colour to your garden that has been missing.
Water features create an immediate feeling of luxury – the calming sound of the water will help you relax. Water features come in all shapes, sizes and varieties, which make them perfect for any garden. Finally, water features will attract wildlife to your garden, which can help pollinate flowers and add some busyness and interest in your space.
Finally, gardens can be taken to the next level by including some different textures in our spaces. Gravel can add a traditional crunch to your garden. However, there are other options which can add a different texture to your space. Bark can be a good alternative to gravel and can help with drainage and pebbles or cobbles as edging strips can also break up the greenery in your garden.
However you decide to take your garden to the next level, now is the perfect time to achieve this!
Unsure how to take your garden to the next level, our landscape design service will put all of your ideas into a virtual walk through. Meaning that you can see your finished garden, before any work has even begun.
If you need a landscape design team, we work with Blue Iris Landscapes, Staffordshire.
Landscape design is the perfect way to reinvigorate your garden.
s Unsafe.
The Environmental Bill for England, which is currently going through Parliament, will introduce a mandatory requirement of increasing biodiversity by a minimum of 10%. This is referred to as biodiversity net gain. Keeping in line with the Government’s aim to leave the environment in a better state than we originally found it.
As well as detailing how the net gain will be achieved. The 
As we all know, the future can be incredibly hard to predict. However, we, as well as others are seeing several trends in the landscape designs, we are producing currently. This is what we believe the future may hold for landscape designs.
Contemporary: While many of our clients do prefer a traditional aesthetic, landscape designs are leaning more and more towards a contemporary feel. This may include curved edges, rather than straight lines, contemporary and bespoke lighting or wooden feature areas. This aesthetic can tie in with creating a low maintenance, natural feeling garden.
Colour can be a really easy way to take our garden to the next level. Have you considered a bed with themed, seasonal planting? These beds could be used to add colour throughout the year. Colour can be adapted – if you have a favourite colour, or a specific aesthetic, then planting can be easily modified. Colour can also be added through updating a patio, decked area or painting a wall – even power washing an existing patio can add some brightness or colour to your garden that has been missing.
Finally, gardens can be taken to the next level by including some different textures in our spaces. Gravel can add a traditional crunch to your garden. However, there are other options which can add a different texture to your space. Bark can be a good alternative to gravel and can help with drainage and pebbles or cobbles as edging strips can also break up the greenery in your garden.