There is a good supply of left-over charcoal coloured ‘Tegula’ decorative blocks here so they may be able to use some of those to give the gaps a purposeful meaning. I think 3 or 4 gaps would clinch it.
Will ask the guys tomorrow.
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Super, that does look superb. Is that a Dicksonia Antarctica tree fern I can see? On your side of the boundary? I’d be interested to know how you protect it in the winter? Do you leave the fronds and tie them up over straw etc. in the crown? Or do you cut the fronds down then protect the crown?
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Thank you John. Yes, it is a Dicksonia Antarctica - I have several. I’ve never protected them over winter in the 10 years since I first planted them, not even during the Beast from the East. These particular tree ferns are pretty hardy and it never gets too cold here in Devon, certainly not for any sustained period of time. They brush off hard frosts easily.
I’ve watched Monty on Gardeners’ World protect his with fleece. I guess rural Herefordshire gets cold at times. Every early April I chop off all the fronds - a month later the new ones emerge.
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I strongly suspect that adding grit alone will not solve your Acer issues John,
Acers like (need) acid soils. Most clay soils are alkali, so you’ll also need to add ericaceous compost and dig it well into the clay (along with the grit).
Amended post: mistakenly suggested adding Lime (which would of course make the soil even more alkali). Dohhh!
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-10c is your limit without protection. With tall specimens like yours, it’s worth thinking about the risk. You only need a combination of a collection of leaves in the crown, very wet few weeks, then a cold snap approaching -10c and you can lose the crown. They’re not as cheap or easy to get hold of and I suspect in the future they’re going to become harder to buy, like xanthorrhoea (grass tree). For the past few mild winters, I’ve just pushed white horticultural fleece into the crown.
P.S. I know aesthetically they look tidier, but removing the fronds a bit too early in the season stops them taking back the food reserves. Just keep your eye on the length of the fronds each year. They can slowly decline each year.
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What you’ve done does work, it looks excellent 
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Had a chat with the guys and they’re okay with cutting and fitting in close to the house side but also leaving a couple out for a bit of planting out ground. The same goes for the gabion wall side except this will have a decorative stone gully along the length. The plan is also to keep these gaps away from the gate posts that will obviously benefit from the weight of the paving.
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Good point. I do have some fleece in the shed - just haven’t had to use it yet. I recall the winters of 2008 and 2009 had particularly cold snaps, so I have something to hand just in case.
Those two winters apparently killed off many (I would have thought most) of the tree ferns in the UK. Obviously I don’t know about the centre of London or South coast areas. I lost all mine in those two winters and so have learnt an expensive lesson and and a lot of effort replacing them.
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Thanks, after 3 months of building & external groundworks, we have virtually finished phase 1…
(phase 2 follows next spring when hopefully we re-shape/re-design the garden).
Yours is looking real good and progressing well…
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Thanks. I’ve been following the Monty approach but I don’t think Wiltshire is all that much colder than Devon so I might back off a bit and see how things go. I’d like a couple more as well.
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That sounds like a good compromise - thanks
Day 5 of the patio construction:
The two ground worker lads excelled today, managing to finish laying all the flags, just a few Tegula cobbles left to lay which can be tidied up tomorrow along with a bit of finishing off work, and the grouting in.
The negotiations on the gabion wall edging came to the simply solution of leaving a couple of gaps which may allow a dig down to soil for plants, and offer some soak away relief in heavy rain.
What these guys have done is an amazing transformation, i’m very pleased 
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Yes that does look good Deb, you are giving me lots of good ideas
Tim
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Another day forward and greenhouse base is finished and house patio started. 10 days more building, then planting starts. Exciting!
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Steve, how are your guys coping in this damp November weather?
About time you gave us an updated photo of the progress
I was a bit concerned about having the slabs laid this time of year but it worked out okay here. The grout is taking time to dry, still soft after 48 hours… the surface is very grout gritty but i’m going to leave it 'til the weekend before giving it a wash and sweep. 
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Perhaps the photo is a bit misleading, but isn’t your shed going to end up sitting in a pond?!
No idea what you mean, i don’t have a pond.
I know the jasmine may take a couple of years before it gets established on those gabion wires, but at least it’s planted already. The decorative stone can come later.
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It’s been a challenging start to the week due to weather conditions and nearly 2 days work was lost.
Attention has now switched to the top patio, which will be a light shade porcelain. The base block work is almost completed. The triangular section on the left is the beginning of a pond to be built into the top patio. The leftside wall will be bricked above ground and form the back wall to the pond.
The greenhouse base is now completed and the glass will be fitted next week. The gardening team will start next weekend by spreading a lorry load of topsoil to get garden levels back up before planting.
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