Why Protect Your Garden Furniture Against Water and Snow?

Yesterday we discussed Alfresia's range of garden furniture covers, which offer protection against the many forms of damage that can occur to your furniture. However, it is very common to underestimate the effects of one form of damage in particular: prolonged exposure to moisture is very dangerous for your furniture.

Damaging water can be present in either a liquid form or a vapour form - this is known as moisture - and the dangers of both, despite being common problems, are often overlooked by homeowners and gardeners. 

 

To combat these issues, many people move their furniture into an outdoor shed, but this can provide a false sense of security - if the shed has a leak, or the damage has already been done, then the roof won't help! Pay close attention to any swelling or shrinking of your furniture - if this occurs, then you are probably leaving your garden furniture vulnerable to the probelms associated with moisture exposure.

 There are three categories of 'dryness':

1. Totally Dry.
2. Exposed to moisture, or water, but not yet reached the "fiber" saturation point.
3. Fiber Saturation and beyond

If the supply of water vapours fluctuates, then the garden furniture will tend to stay in category 2. When timber goes below the fiber saturation point, the cell walls of the wood expand and contract. This is due to the rising and falling levels of moisture in the timber, and this is what causes shrinking and swelling of the garden furniture. This shrinking and swelling results in cracking, peeling, and paint defects. This all means that, whilst putting your furniture under a roof can help, you shouldn't hesitate to put a fitted garden cover over your bench/table/chair too!

How to protect against Water

Whilst moisture will slowly saturate the wood, liquid water damage will cause the wood to reach the point of total fiber saturation very rapidly. The result of this is the breakdown of the wood's internal structure. The furniture swiftly loses its strength and this means that your chair or bench may no longer be safe to sit on!

When wood is near the fiber saturation point, rot/decay occurs. Decay is degradation caused by various forms of fungi which of break down the structural components of the timber for food. The strength of wood comes from the polymers which form the wood cells. Thus, if the wood is brought rapidly to fiber saturation point and beyond, via rain or other liquid water, considerable loss of strength occurs before visible damage is even apparent. The suggestion to use waterproof covers bears repeating here.




Alfresia is a supplier of garden furniture.

Protective Covers

The christmas months can be a happy time of year, however the weather often means that, whilst you're cuddled up inside the house, your garden furniture is suffering. Rot and damp can set into wood, rust into BBQs and the wind can pull parts off your things.

If you were going out, you'd wrap yourself up with a coat before you left home. Similarly, if you want to protect your investment, there really is no need for you to expose your barbecues, patio heaters, braziers, wooden furniture or chimeneas to the elements at all.

The most common material in our garden covers range is 260gsm woven polyester which is breathable, weather resistant and UV stable. This means that not only will our all-weather covers protect your garden furniture and BBQs and heaters from birds and falling leaves, but also from pollution, sun damage (which can bleach the timber), snow, frost and rain.

Investing in one of our protective, all-weather durable covers is a smart way to ensure that you get the maximum usage out of your product. Our range is huge and we supply covers for many of our products, particularly for BBQs of all sizes, for chimeneas and for patio tables. Don't think that your furniture is automatically imnmune from any of these types of damage - nothing lasts forever, but with a smart purchase of an all-weather cover then their life expectancy will be dramatically increased.

Alfresia is an online retailer of garden furniture.

How to create a Rockery

With our busy lives today, it is often difficult to find time to take care of our gardens, thus why not consider creating a low-maintenance rockery in your garden!

"This rock garden (left) is a succesful feature. The "outcrops" of rock of which it is made to look natural, resembling strata exposed by the elements. Much of the planting appears to be shaped by its site so that rocks and plants complement one another.

In each of the two alternative designs, a specific weathering process has been simulated. In the first example, the rocks are part of a composition that includes water - the 'worn' rock face looks towards the water. A still sheet of water will reflect a rocky landscape and provide an area of calm that will balance the drama of the rock and plants. In this design, the fastigate conifer, placed centrally, echoes the vertical line of the waterfall. The pool is made to look completely natural with no visible surround. Planting follows the plan for the original rockery, except for a horizontal-growing juniper and low, poolside planting of sedums and primulas.

When planting a rockery garden, think carefully about the naturally form you are copying. An alpine bluff has characteristices that the gardener should note. An exposed rock face will produce a crumble of rock particles, or scree, at its base in which only hardy, tufted plants could live. Larger, less hardy plants only survive in the areas sheltered by the rock formation but away from the exposed face. It is in such reas that any fastigate plant must be sited. A well-sited vertically growing plant will relieve the otherwise horizontal forms that go to make a rockery garden. Indeed, most planting will 'ground-hug', try simulating the hardy primary growth of such sites with Saxifraga or Sempervivum.

In this design, the rock faces have been supposedly exposed by weathering from the right of the illustration. The rock group is split up by a gravel path. The rockery feature has been reshaped so that the rocks are revealed down the length of a slope. The vertical line of a fastigate juniper to one side of the group balances the visual weight of the rocks below it. Low-growing plants, including delicate alpines, clad the planting areas."

Alfresia is a UK based retailer and supplier of garden furniture.

Patio Heaters in Winter

Looking out of the office window, winter is definitely upon us! You've probably been questioning how best to prepare yourself and your garden for the colder weather that is now sure to be on its way. We've got a solution that will allow you to stay out enjoying your garden long into the cold nights - Patio Heaters are perfect for winter.

Available in both ‘Table-top’ and ‘Floor standing’ designs, our models are sure to be a useful addition to any garden, especially coming into winter.

The Patio Heaters can be sorted by fuel as well as height. Some are powered by gas, others by halogen. The halogen powered models are more energy efficient than gas powered ones, but tend to be more expensive.

Which ever you type you pick, these heaters  are an investment, so be prepared to care for them. They shouldn’t take too much work, but a regular clean definitely helps. They should also be protected from the seasonal extremeties of snow and heavy rain – a patio heater cover should take care of this for you, or you can move the heater inside. Either way, caring  properly for your patio heater ensures that it will stay in top condition for a good while longer.

Examples of our range include this Floor Standing Living Flame Patio Heater, powered by gas, and this Patio Heater and Light from Fire Mountain, powered by halogen/electric. Both models are stylish with an intrinsically modern design. Their trendy silver colouring should fit well with any patio design and they are sure to warm you on cold nights, allowing you to spend longer outdoors enjoying your garden and patio area before retreating for Christmas.

Alfreisa is a UK based, online retailer of garden furniture.

Garden Glimpses: Claire Hughes' kid

Garden Glimpses: Claire Hughes' kid, a photo by alfresia.co.uk on Flickr.

Linea Coffee Set

Linea Coffee Set, a photo by alfresia.co.uk on Flickr.

How to design a Pergola

In climates sunnier than that of northern Europe, the pergola is traditionally used to shade a path. In the UK it is more usefully employed as a roof transition from inside the house to the garden; alternatively, it can act solely as a support for ramblers or climbing plants. In urban areas, where gardens are overlooked, the pergola gives some measure of privacy to anyone sitting beneath it and, provided that you consider which way to run the horizontals of your structure, it need not inhibit sunlight.

The pergola structure over a terrace area is one of the ways of creating an outside room, a place in which, rather than on which, to be. When a pergola abuts the house, framing a portion of the garden, while at the same time extending the proportion of the room from inside.The detailing of the pergola must match the period of your home, for it will be seen both against your house and from within it.

The proportions of the various parts of a pergola must balance. All too often the verticals that hold the pergola's horizontals are disproportionately large.  The scale of the timber horizontals must depend on the length it has to span between supports, and this too will depend on the length it has to span between supports, and this too will depend on the sort of timber, hard- or softwood, that you propose using. The scale sutiable for most terraces ought not to require a span of much more than 3/3.5 m, for if the timber is too large in section it is oppressive and if too narrow it warps.

Traditional timber horizontals in the UK are massive oak spars, though in the mediterranean areas unsawn softwood was, and is, used. Today you should buy sawn softwood, staining or painting it, or cedar-wood, which turns an attractive grey with age. Hardwood, though far less liable to cracking or warping, is extremely expensive.

The verticals for a pergola of an appropriate period might be columns of stone or of a reconstituted substitute. Alternatively, they can be of timber or metal. Unless the situation demands something different, the detailing of the material should be as simple as possible. The structure has a function to perform, that of supporting plants, so let them be the featured item rather than the clever detail of your structure. When a pergola adjoins masonry, it can either be let into the structure or, more easily, it can sit into an L-shaped metal shoe plugged into the wall.

If timber is too heavy a material for the horizontals of your particular situation, you might consider using a strained wire, either over a roof garden or from wall to wall in a town garden. Trained vines or hops along these wires give shade in summer and let light through in winter.

Although the pergola is a simple and very effective way of linking inside and outside when constructed as an extension to a house wall, it can also be used to establish an enclosed space away from the house. where two walls meet at right angles in the far corner of a larger garden, for example, a pergola can create a secluded seating area of great charm. In this case, the style of the pergola is not so dependent on the style of the house, allowing you more freedom in the choice of materials.

However you choose to design and use you pergola, allow Alfresia to supply the garden furniture, BBQs and heaters that you need to enjoy it.