Autumn planning - the perfect time
Its been a while - a month to be exact.
Things have been pretty busy. The come down after my Gold medal winning show garden at GWlive, that included visits form Carol and Monty and chats with Adam Frost and selling trees to the Garden Design legend that is David Stevens (It now feels like it all happened to someone else...), has been much, much, much work to catch up on...and also, luckily for me, lots of new work to schedule in too.
As Autumn approaches, most people assume us Garden Designers go into hibernation or set out on a very long hot exotic holidayAutumn should actually be our busiest time. Why? Autumn is the perfect time to plan a new garden redesign.
If you are after a redesign, that is going to need hard landscaping, then most (good) landscapers work on a 5/6 month lead time. Not a bad thing as it does give you time to plan - but if you want your new space up and running for summer, springing into action at Easter or when you see the first daffodils flowering, will almost certainly mean that it will be an Autumn build and the summer will have passed. Another year lost...
Conversely, Autumn is also the best time to plant up borders and beds. Why? The soil is still warm (remember the bum test?? if not, go back a few blogs...) so your new plants will settle in, grow away and be happy before winter hits. Spring is still OK, but you really need to wait for the soil to warm up and keep a very keen eye on the watering.
So, again luckily for me, many potential clients have cottoned on to this timing trick too. So here a few jobs that are on my work board at the moment and will either start building in the New Year or be planted in a few weeks. There is also a small matter of my own neglected garden to fit in too...…..
A beautiful family entertainment garden, with Swimming pool, hot tub, outdoor lounge and kitchen area
Two planting design jobs. One for a shady courtyard in Hale, and one to smarten up a new driveway in Didsbury. Both equally beautiful, but I am quite in love with the Topical foliage look for Didsbury. It will be an evergreen standout in a fairly trendy area.
A Wonderful country garden in Tattenhall, Cheshire, that will be developed in 4 stages over 3 years as the space is so big.
And just for good measure - just in case I haven't mentioned it enough, or you haven't seen them all over my social media, here are a few pics of my Show garden and visitors.
