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Have you ever considered fruiting hedging plants for your garden? Strangely not a common choice but one that is highly decorative, wildlife friendly and produces luscious fruit.

Plants that form effective hedges with the added bonus of ornamental fruits are well worth considering when planting a hedge. Fruiting hedges are often both colourful and popular with wildlife, especially birds. Evergreen Berberis, Pyracanthas, Cotoneasters and Hollies all have persistent foliage and highly ornamental fruits whereas raspberries and loganberries have the added benefit of edible fruits.

Mixed Native hedges provide a bounty of seeds, fruits and rose hips for wildlife, with a wide ranging mix of native hedge species these fruits are borne in succession through the seasons maximising the conservation value of the hedge. A number of native hedging plants produce edible fruits including Elder, Hazel, Quickthorn (Hawthorn) and Blackthorn. The most ‘wildlife friendly’ hedges are those with the widest possible mix of native hedging shrubs. Ideally the hedge should be quite wide and the vegetation at the hedge base should be left ‘rough’ to widen the corridor. This corridor is used by wildlife to get from one destination to another safely and protected. The fruits and flowers on the hedging are then the perfect food sources for the small animals. Couple the corridor layout with a wealth of food sources and your garden will be a haven for a some of the 350 different wildlife species that inhabit and use hedging.

Most fruit trees can be grown as hedges provided the site is sunny. These dual purpose hedges can be particularly useful in small gardens. Conventional hedging can often overwhelm a smaller garden or provide too much in the way of foliage. If a suitable framework is constructed fruit trees can be grown as Cordon or Espalier ‘hedges’ taking up very little space and giving colour to a garden. By carefully selecting varieties the hedge will yield fruit from early July until late autumn.

Fruit trees can also be planted at intervals in conventional hedges should a budget not accommodate full fruit tree hedges or simply if a hedge mixture is desired.

A number of soft fruit plants have hedging potential, a neatly kept row of Raspberries can make a good dividing screen. Loganberries, Grapevines and Blackberries may be trained on a wire framework, Redcurrants can also be grown as a Cordon hedge. Soft fruit hedges may need netting against birds unless you are prepared to share the crop but soft, fine netting can be sourced now that doesn’t detract or obscure the fruiting hedge.

Obviously you don’t need to spend as much time on the upkeep of an artificial lawn. With fake grass you can simply enjoy sitting out in the sun and enjoying the little sun we get rather than spending that valuable time mowing and trimming your garden. Perfect for busy professionals and families and a life line for the elderly who find the upkeep of a lawn too much. Why should you forgo the look and versatility of a lawn all because the maintenance is too much to cope with?

From an environmental point of view, artificial grass has a number of benefits. The biggest being the need not to water. Although most people are very aware of water conservation, the temptation to water a brown, scorched lawn is all too big. It is predicted that hose pipe bans will become more and more frequent as the need for water increases and we have warmer summers. Then there is the fact that artificial lawn products require no trimming so the need for petrol or electric lawnmowers is eradicated saving fuel, emissions and electricity.
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Contributors to the popular Channel 4s Help My House is Falling Down with Sarah Beeny chose EverLawn artificial grass to transform their garden.

During the improvements to Paul and Clare;s home in Essex Sarah Beeny mentioned how good the artificial lawns are and that they should consider having one installed. Until it was mentioned to them Paul and Clare had never even considered artificial grass, but this gave them the opportunity to improve the overall look of their home while having a maintenance free lawn area that looks good for years.
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How food looks is extremely important. The look of the food is the first impression and as is regularly said, you eat with your eyes. How food is presented on a plate is so crucial these days.  The food itself needs to look appealing but what it is presented on can also greatly affect the way the dish looks. Top chefs know the importance of this and they will be the ones that choose the dinnerware range for the restaurant. Only a few years ago, a standard plate would be used to serve all the dishes. Now there are curved, square, rectangle, oval and shallow bowls. Different dishes are presented on each plate depending on the look required. Some chefs are even using slates, pieces of wood and other such materials. A beautiful piece of dinnerware can give the dish that wow factor when arriving at the table Wedgewood or Versace china.
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