Winter is gradually rolling away and there is a definite whif of spring in the air, now is the time when thoughts turn to our gardens and what can be done with them for the spring. A lot of people choose this time of year to start a major overhaul on their garden, which is why this month is the month our phones start ringing with people needing help to sort out their gardens. I wanted to share with you a meeting I had with a client yesterday, it was a lovely meeting which I really enjoyed but I came away feeling very uncomfortable, not because of the client who was great, but because of another meeting the client (we will call her Claire) had had, a meeting where she had received extremely poor advice, and if she had gone ahead with the contractor would have proved disastrous for Claire.
Lets start at the beginning…………….Claire phoned me and asked me to come and have look at her garden. Her No 1 problem was lack of time to spend in the garden, and her lovely dog ‘Charlie’ who kept bringing in mud by the bucket load. Claires initial brief to me was ‘ I just want it all paved over’. Now you can imagine I’m sure how I feel, as a garden designer, about completely paving over gardens. Firstly I advised Claire that by doing so she would without doubt be devaluing the value of her home, most people are looking for a garden, not a concrete jungle. Secondly I tried to understand why she didn’t want any plants at all. Claire felt that she didn’t have time to garden, and therefore couldn’t have any plants, and she needed to get rid of the planting beds, so that there was no mud for Charlie to scamper in with on his paws. Excellent. I then advised Claire that we could investigate raised beds, which Charlie would be less keen to scamper across, and that the beds could be mulched with stone chippings, so no mud would be on show at all, and lastly I could provide Claire with plants that only needed 1 thing doing to them each year. Could she handle this? Yes this provided Claire with a solution she could live with, a beautiful garden she could enjoy, no mud, and a sound investment when she came to sell her property.
We also advised that her current patio height was too high, it needed to be at least 2 brick courses below the DPC (damp proof course), and that the current patio fell in the direction of the house, which meant that all the water run off would pool at the base of her walls, potentially causing a longer term damp problem, especially considering the incorrect height of the patio. So our design would incorporate lowering the patio and falling the water away from the house. All of this and far more was discussed during the course of our 1 hour design consultation, for which we charge a nominal £50, so even if Claire decides not to use us, she has got some invaluable advise which she can use in planning her own garden.
Now the interesting bit………………….Prior to our visit Claire had seen a builder/contractor and given him the same brief. He was very happy to pave over the whole garden, and in fact had even suggested that they paved right up to the house, at the current level, this would have been disastrous. At present there was at least a small shingle strip next to the house, where at least the water could pool and eventually evaporate, By removing this strip the water would have pooled down next to the house walls, and yes you’ve guessed it only 1 brick below DPC which would undoubtedly have led to damp problems within the house. The value of Claire’s home would very likely have dropped, even though she would have spent a significant amount on paving over the whole garden. Probably more in fact than she would spend with us, because hardscape is more expensive than soft scape (I.e paving costs more than plants) and we would combine paving and gravel areas, with planting. Yes Claire would incur our design fees, and the contractor would happily have provided their ‘design’ for free, but which garden do you think you would prefer to have?
So my Spring time gardening message is if you are seriously looking at overhauling your garden, please consider involving a Garden Designer, we don’t bite and we can give you some really good sensible advice. And, we are happy just doing consultations if advice is all you want, then most designers are happy to provide this on an hourly fee basis. Best place to find a garden designer is the SGD website, this is the website of the Society of Garden Designers, you can enter your town or post code and it will come up with a list of designers near you. All of these designers have been through a stringent ajudication process and have proved their professional ability. Alternatively you can find a garden designer via a google search, but, if you go this route please remember anyone can call themselves a Garden Designer, even someone who has attended just a 1 week course! You may actually know more than them…………
Alternatively if you’re not convinced and you know what you want, and feel you know enough to avoid major pitfalls then okay contact a Landscape Contractor direct. Again, my best advise (and I speak from the heart and from learning the hard way) is choose a contractor who is a member of an accredited body. BALI (British Association of Landscape Industries) is perhaps the best known body, and all of its Registered Contractors have again been stringently tested & approved. If you select a contractor from here, they know their stuff and they will look after you well - no rogue traders here! Another very good reason for using a Garden Designer is that they usually work with 1 or 2 extremely good contractors, so they will manage all of this for you should you wish, and will even oversee the work for you.
So back to Claire, I don’t know as yet if Claire will be using our services or not, I hope so, I know that we would deisgn & build a garden that she will love from day 1, and which will only get better with time, and that eventually when she does put her house on the market at some point in the future, she will get a great return on her investment on her garden - AND it will help her sell her house faster than similar properties. So we will wait and see……………what I do know is that Claire is now fully aware of the pitfalls with her project and I know that she will now make sensible decisions, I know that we have helped her and that whatever her decision, we have armed her with sufficient knowledge to be wary of rogue traders and their advice - and that for us is a job well done whatever the outcome!
Patricia Fox MSGD
Aralia Garden Design
www.aralia.org.uk
t.01279 730 040
e. info@aralia.org.uk
Contract Details
SGD (Society of Garden Designers)
www.sgd.org.uk
BALI (British Association of Landscape Industries)
www.bali.co.uk
