Climbers for a north- or east-facing wall

Summer-houses
A summer-house is simply a solid gazebo — a good-looking garden building with a proper roof, walls, doors and glass windows. It will form part of the view when you are looking at it from a distance, and gives you somewhere to sit and enjoy the garden when the weather is a touch iffy for taking tea on the lawn. It's also a safe, dry place to store your garden seats and croquet set.

When it comes to growing climbers over it, the effect needs to be slightly restrained, so you need to choose non-rampant types or your glamorous building will be swamped in foliage. And if you grow the self-clinging climbers, the woodwork may be wrecked, so I'd go for a discreet clematis or some annual morning glories growing on some netting or trellis on one side. If you want an economy summer-house, you can always decorate the shed with window-boxes and trellis, and glamorize the inside. If you do prefer a more natural look and want to grow plants over it, choose small, slow climbers so that your summe-house won't be swamped. The 'climbing blueberry' (Billardiera longiflora) is an evergreen with light airy foliage reaching 2-3m (6-10ft), with green bell- shaped summer flowers followed by purple grape-sized fruit. Team it with Ampelopsis glandulosa var. brevipedunculata Tlegans', which has mini grape leaves in pink, cream and white with pink tendrils. Neither needs any proper pruning; just cut out any bits that die back at the end of winter.

Tamp the concrete into place with a wooden rammer. Make the finished level a few inches below the soil surface so that it can be dressed with soil or gravel once construction is complete. Allow a day or two before the rafters are fixed in position so that the concrete has time to harden.

Bolt the two lung timbers down the sides of the pergola at the top of the posts, and then position the rafters_ Exclude dine an a small pergola, as here, as the rafters can be placed directly on the posts in a aiss-a-oss fashion. Cut a square notch into the top and bottom timbers so that the two marry together as a simple joint. Secure with screws and apply timber preservative.

Get a helper to hold the post and maintain its level while stiff concrete is shovelled around the base. Pressure- treated timber will last much longer than untreated timber, even if it is treated with preservative after construction.

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