Landscape Gardening and garden designer

A few things to consider when planning DIY landscape gardening.


Have a plan in mind
Landscape gardening sometimes just evolve . A plant is planted somewhere in the garden because there is room for it and the rest just follow. If you are starting from scratch have a garden design and plan for the whole garden and stick to it.

What does a garden designer do?

A well-designed garden can improve property value, add extra space, increase privacy and complement your home. But probably the most important factor will be improving the usability of your garden and quality of life. be it  converting unworkable slopes into accessible terraces. Turning an overgrown jungle into a low maintenance garden. Turning a waterlogged area into a garden to grow fruit ,vegetable and flowers or breaking up cracking 60s concrete and creating paved areas and borders.   Asking a landscape gardening designer to improve your garden is a big investment so I have listed some of the things you might want to consider when planning landscape gardening.

What do you need to do?

Think about the landscape gardening changes you would like to make and why. Do you want a large paved area or keep some lawn, and maybe flower borders, a barbecue area, space for children to play?  You are paying and will be living with the new landscape for a long time.  

What's the  budget,  How much does garden landscaping cost?

Have a realistic figure in mind, I have just finished a job and needed another ton of landscaping gravel to complete a extra bit of work for the client.  He thought chard gravel cost £5 per ton.
Its worth spending a little time visiting local builders merchants and landscape gardening supply companies, to see the sort of natural stone or concrete slabs and other gardening materials available and to check out the cost of landscaping materials. There really are to many to bring out as samples and they never look the quite same in a catalogue. Other factors affecting the price for landscape gardening are clearance, surface, leveling, garden drainage and groundwork.

Questions to ask

Has the garden designer and  landscape gardening team had experience of the landscaping work  you want done?   Will the person who calls to discuss the quote, also work on the job ? Can the designer and landscape gardening company give an estimated time scale for the work?  The answer to all these questions  should be yes. If they haven't had experience of the type of work you want carried out, can they recommend a garden designer and landscape gardening company who has.

Garden drainage.

Often forgotten until it rains, garden drainage is so important unless you want your expensive investment to disappear every time it rains. I have forgotten how many times I have been called out to sort out drainage problems, landscape gardening designers had not recognised and taken into account. Checkout my garden drainage page.

Practicalities.

A multi level patio or decking platform might look good in the back garden but is useless if the surface area is to small for family or guests to pull back there chairs, spread out a little without falling of the edge. Its not the wine its the design. A practicle landscape gardening design is even more important if the garden is being designed for a person who because of disabilty finds it difficult to get around or uses a wheelchair. Check out my disabled gardening page.

Who do I choose?

The landscape gardening and garden design team you choose will depend on how he or she has answered your questions, quotes are important but if you go for the cheapest, it may cost a lot more in the long run.  If the designer and gardening contractor both share your idea of what makes a beautiful garden, come in with a sensible price, are people you can trust  working around your home for a few days or weeks. You are half way to your dream garden.