& HOME Gardening LIVING Tips for laying stepping stones

Stepping stones are ideal for providing access across your lawn to your clothesline, along a less-used side of your home, or to give access across your vege garden. They look great whether they’re surrounded by lawn, mulch or groundcovers, but they do need to be well laid.

It’s important to excavate before laying stepping stones, allowing for compacted basecourse (50-75mm), screeded sand (20-30mm) and the thickness of your pavers (40-50mm) so they sit 10-20mm above the surrounding surface.

Placing filter cloth under the basecourse helps prevent soil and weeds coming up and the pavers sinking when it’s wet. The ideal size for the pavers is 400500mm. Spacing depends on use, but usually 600-700mm between the centres of the pavers works well. Be sure to level the layers as you work, including the final placement of your pavers. Where the ground is stable year-round, it may not be necessary to lay basecourse.

Fruit, nuts and berries – grow your own!

When setting the pavers in a mulch allow 40mm of mulch, either bark or 20mm grey river pebbles look good. A timber edging might be needed to contain the mulch.

If you need help Groundplanz provides professional landscape design and construction services. The right design for your landscaping can really add something special to your outdoor living. www.groundplanz.co.nz

Madsen & Green contractors–from concrete to electrical

With over 30 years’ experience across a broad range of industries, Madsen and Green are the team you can rely on.

They offer a wide variety of services such as concrete driveways, house slabs, garage slabs, footpaths and many more.

At Madsen and Green they take pride in excelling in their knowledge and skills, and because of that they have vast experience in civil works and residential works.

They have a variety of equipment such as diggers, trucks and the necessary equipment required.

Their experts can do all the ground work for new homes including drainage, driveways, paths, planting, roofing and electrical – or calling on any of their other expertise.

Eco Doors & Windows extends into new projects

The people who have brought quality joinery to doors and windows around Wellington have now extended their reputation and expertise to those other important aspects of a home. They have competent installers of cladding, gibbing, decking and fencing, and can get a job done quickly with lasting results.

Eco Doors & Windows longstanding business though is in specialising in uPVC just the advice and look you’re after at their new showroom at 29 Hutt Road, Thorndon. Their windows are ideal for helping keep your house warmer in winter and cooler in summer.

Combining uPVC’s natural insulating properties with double-glazing means their windows achieve thermal insulation levels that far exceed even thermally broken aluminium – and at a very competitive price. Their uPVC doors also offer these same

Eco Doors and Windows have over 16 years’ experience in fabricating uPVC doors uPVC windows are perfect for heat and coolness insulation. uPVC is not a thermal conductor and by combining it with double glazing, windows can achieve first-rate insulation values.

Aluplast in Germany.

As the uPVC joinery uses a double rubber gasket engaged by a multi-point locking system, windows and doors seal tightly and evenly against their frames, unlike legacy products like timber and aluminium joinery. Enjoy lower heating costs this winter with uPVC joinery.

Eveyone knows the price of food has gone through the roof – which is where specialist nursery Edible Garden comes in! They are a specialist mail order nursery. specialing in ‘Edibles’ of fruit and nut trees and a range of berries. Their aim is to supply you with old-fashioned wholesome heirloom varieties that can be grown in that will sustain and nourish you, with your own home-grown harvests. taste, disease resistance, reliability and usefulness in the home garden. Edible as keeping part of history alive with their many Heirloom and Heritage varieties. Edible Garden’s main aim is to supply quality trees and provide friendly, help support you in growing your future harvests.

A large selection of Heirloom Fruit Trees, Vines, Olives, Citrus, Figs and

Inquire about our dispatch service

889 Ashhurst-Bunnythorpe Rd RD10 Palmerston North Call Sarah Ph: 06 326 7313 sarah@ediblegarden.co.nz www.ediblegarden.co.nz