We have a shallow stream running along the edge of the garden and it has a rather muddy little island in the middle of part of it. It’s fundamentally too small to be really useful. We tried ducks on it but the stream is too shallow and the fox got the lot within a few days. We thought about grassing it over and turning it into a seating area but grass needs cutting and we have quite enough of that to be getting on with!
Then, on a trip to the Chelsea Flower Show, we saw a small garden on the theme of an ancient dock. Suddenly, we saw the potential of edging the island with wood and squaring it off. From this thought we saw the possibilities of old railway sleepers as an edging material. The question still remained though about what to put on the island itself. We realised that it had to be hard landscaping of some sort and not without reservations, we chose decking. The best feature of decking is that it could be suspended over our dome-shaped island and thereby create a flat surface. It’s also low maintenance and cheap.
Finally, inspired by various garden visits, we thought that the edges of the decking had to be softened, with marginal planting. Hence, we decided to leave a soggy border between the railway sleepers and the decking. If this plan comes off, we hope that the decking will look as if it is ‘floating’ on the planting.
Wharf House Gardener 