How we work
Visit, sketch, scale, build.
A garden built without a plan is a patio in the wrong place with a lawn that floods. Ours go in this order, every time, and you can stop after any step.
The five steps
From a cup of tea to the fifth summer.
Visit and listen
Cerys comes to the garden, measures it, photographs it from the house and asks how you want to live in it. Free, about an hour.
Sketch, then scale
A hand sketch first, then a scaled plan with levels, materials, drainage and a planting list. You own the drawing.
One price, staged
Everything in one figure, paid as the stages land: groundworks, hard landscaping, planting. Changes priced before they happen.
Build and plant
Huw builds, Cerys plants. Typical garden three to five weeks. Tidy site, neighbours spoken to, skip gone on the last day.
First-year care
Optional maintenance for the first season so the planting establishes to the plan. Then fortnightly or monthly if you want us.
Garden calendar
What a Vale garden needs, month by month.
Written for clay soil, a wet winter and wind off the Channel. This month is outlined. If you would rather we did it, the maintenance round follows the same calendar.
January
- Lawn
- Keep off when frozen
- Borders
- Cut back grasses, plan changes
- Hedges and trees
- Bare-root planting, prune apples and pears
February
- Lawn
- First edge if dry
- Borders
- Mulch borders, prune roses late month
- Hedges and trees
- Prune wisteria, plant hedges
March
- Lawn
- First cut on a high setting, feed
- Borders
- Divide perennials, plant
- Hedges and trees
- Last chance for bare-root, prune shrubs that flower on new wood
April
- Lawn
- Weekly mowing begins, overseed bare patches
- Borders
- Stake tall perennials, weed
- Hedges and trees
- Plant evergreens, trim box and yew lightly
May
- Lawn
- Weekly, lower the blades
- Borders
- Chelsea chop sedum and phlox, plant tender things late month
- Hedges and trees
- Prune spring-flowering shrubs after flowering
June
- Lawn
- Weekly, water new lawns
- Borders
- Deadhead, tie in climbers, water new planting
- Hedges and trees
- Trim hedges once birds have fledged
July
- Lawn
- Raise blades in drought, no feed
- Borders
- Deadhead, cut back early geraniums for a second flush
- Hedges and trees
- Summer-prune trained fruit
August
- Lawn
- Leave it long and brown; it will recover
- Borders
- Collect seed, water pots
- Hedges and trees
- Hedges second trim, prune rambling roses
September
- Lawn
- Scarify, aerate, top-dress, overseed, feed
- Borders
- Plant bulbs and perennials, divide irises
- Hedges and trees
- Plant new hedges and trees as soil cools
October (this month)
- Lawn
- Last regular cuts, clear leaves
- Borders
- Cut back what has collapsed, leave seedheads for birds
- Hedges and trees
- Plant bare-root from late month
November
- Lawn
- Keep leaves off, no walking when wet
- Borders
- Mulch tender crowns, plant tulips
- Hedges and trees
- Prune deciduous trees once bare
December
- Lawn
- Rest
- Borders
- Leave the structure standing for frost and birds
- Hedges and trees
- Winter wash fruit trees, check stakes and ties
What the visit costs
Nothing. The first visit is free and takes about an hour. The concept design that follows is from £450, deducted from the build if we build it. If you would like the visit without any intention of a design, for advice on a tired garden or a second opinion on someone else's quote, that is fine too; say so when you book.
How the build is paid
Nothing up front. A third when the groundworks start, a third when the hard landscaping is finished, the balance after planting, with a snagging walk-round first. Maintenance is invoiced monthly.
Start with a visit.
Cerys comes to the garden, measures it and listens, for free. A sketch follows, then a plan, then one price. No pressure at any stage; some people build it three summers later.