Spring forward

Design and construction

Plan and design

It’s spring. A young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of love, apparently, but most older and more sensible people turn their thoughts to getting their garden done. Interestingly, more men call at this time of the year, and more women call later on in the summer. Chaps obviously have this surge of passion in the spring and want to nest build – if you’re looking for a proposal, this might just be the time to convince him!

It still seems that people find it very difficult to quantify the price of a garden. With most things, you have a good idea or feeling for the cost of something, but the price of a garden seems to be understood by few people. Builders are my favourite clients. They know the price of things. They understand about levels, getting materials on and off site and disposing of waste. They are totally realistic about costs.

There is no general rule of thumb, although you could pace out your garden and work on £150 plus per square metre for a great garden, and £100 a metre for something level that will be laid mainly to just lawn and paths. This is where your garden designer is invaluable, but then I would say that wouldn’t I! Getting your garden designed helps you to understand the costs and materials, as well as exploring different options.

A design for a small garden or courtyard will start at around £450 for a plan. For this we will come out and talk to you about your garden. We can find out exactly what you need from your sensible garden, and then discover all the things you would like in your perfect garden. Once the questions are put to you, it’s amazing how you can start to  see what you really need and cross off all the things you don’t want. There are boring – but important – things to establish. Do you hang out your washing?  Where do the bins go? Do you need to see the children playing from your window? Where’s the master bedroom? Does it overlook the garden? Can you see the neighbours?

Once we have all the information we need and get a feel for your own particular likes and dislikes, we photograph the garden and measure it exactly to scale. Then we produce a design for you incorporating all the things we discussed, but using design principles and with an overview that’s often difficult to have yourself. We can be detached and once something is measured and on the drawing board we can come up with solutions and suggestions you may not have thought about yourself.

Because the drawings are to scale, they can be quoted for by any good landscaping company or even built by your own builders.  However, we will also supply you with a detailed quotation of works and this is broken down into all the different sections of the garden, and we’d love to build it for you.

A plan means you know where you’re going. The plan price includes specifying the samples of the materials we would like to use in the garden. It will show where the planted sections will be, where the hard landscaping will be laid. We will include water features, lighting, fencing, pergolas and all other features. It’s a map, a blueprint of your garden, and will allow you to find out just how much your garden would cost. You may be shocked, or pleasantly surprised, but at least you’ll be able to start thinking about it, instead of looking out of the window and not knowing where to start.


Plants

Crocus

Springtime seems to be about the world in miniature.  This is a time of year to just look really closely at the ground. There are so many wonderful treasures to see.  I sometimes worry about how passionate I feel about the garden and the beauty of plants, but my therapist just increased the dosage so I should be okay. I was weeding the garden at the weekend, and in just one small square metre there were so many amazing things to see. Tiny wild violets had self seeded, primroses had opened underneath the willow tree, crocuses – that I had planted last year and forgotten about – were all poking through the ground and opening with deep violet flowers and brilliant orange stamens. The white autumn cyclamen are still going strong and the new red shoots of the paeonies were pushing up amongst all these little treasures. I say to people “Look at my primroses”, and realise that they’re not ‘mine’ – they’ve just been given to me and my garden to look after. I hope they know they’ve all come to a good home, because I love them!


Things to do

Looking rosy 

The mild weather has made everything grow so quickly. I am dreading a hard snap or snow. I remember snow in March and April. My poor little apple buds would be decimated. Because of the growth spurt, I have been tying in all the climbing things. The roses especially need tying in constantly, and you must have the infrastructure in place. We spent Sunday afternoon wiring up the front of the house. I have planted climbing roses along the front beds, and we used vine eyes and galvanised wires stretched tight. The vine eyes have a round bit on the end, then a metal shaft and a threaded end to screw into the wall.  The galvanised wire is then threaded through in horizontal lengths and secured at each end of the wall.

We also put them around all the windows. I’ve been asking Kev to do it for weeks, as I really want the front of the house covered with roses. I’ve found the best way to get your man to do it. Get the drill out of the shed, plug it into an extension lead and climb up a ladder. Then call out “Darling, what size Rawlplug do I need?” Within minutes, the drill is taken out of your hand and you’re reprimanded for attempting to do anything so manly. I then went indoors, made a cup of tea and directed proceedings from below. Hope he doesn’t read this. My days of emancipation could be numbered!

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