pest and weed control tips 

Probably the main reason for hiring a landscaper will be to improve the usability of your garden. 

• Converting unworkable slopes into accessible terraces.
• Turning an overgrown jungle into something attractive and low maintenance.
• Creating outdoor space with patios or safe play areas for children to play.
• Draining a waterlogged area, to enjoy the lawn, grow fruit, vegetable and flowers. 
• Fixing badly laid or loose paving slaps to get rid of trip hazards and weedy gaps.
• Or simply breaking up cracking 60s concrete and creating new paved areas and borders. 

Well thought out garden makeovers that are both attractive, sustainable and practical can add value to your home as well as creating space and privacy. 

What's your budget for materials,  

It's worth spending a little time visiting your local landscape supply company, to see the many different natural stone and concrete slabs and other materials available and to check out the cost. 

An experienced landscaper will cost around £200 per day or, if you are doing your own garden makeover, good labourers are worth at least £100 for a day's work. 

Other factors affecting the price. 

Access to your garden, clearance, levelling, drainage and groundwork. 

You are going to have to live with the result for a long while after the garden designer has gone so have your own plan in mind and stick to it,  Be prepared to change stuff that just isn't practicable, but stick to the main points.

You shouldn't need to compromise because of budget restrictions, instead break the work down into affordable stages. An experienced landscape gardener will be prepared to work out a staged plan with you. 

Do you need to pay for a formal garden design?

Designs can cost between £300 and £3000. If you have your own design in mind, ask your landscaper  to run through your Ideas and point out any that might not be practicable. 

Landscapes that work. 

What are the practicalities to consider when changing your garden?  A multilevel patio or decking platform might look good, but is useless if the surface area is too small for family or guests to pull back their chairs, spread out a little without falling of the edge. It's not the wine it's the design. Especially important consideration with small gardens. 

Working out the space you will need for the dining area on your patio is easy.

1 Position your patio table in the area to be landscaped.

2 Place chairs all around the table to calculate the minimum space you will need for dining.

3 Pull the chairs back about 18" from the edge of the table, this is the space you will need to relax with a coffee or glass of red after dinner without you or your dinner guests disappearing over the edge.

Mobility.

 A practical design is even more important if the makeover is  for a person who, because of disability, finds it difficult to get around or uses a wheelchair. Check out my disabled gardening page. 

Drainage.

Often forgotten until it rains, but it's so important unless you want your expensive patio to disappear under water every time it rains. I have forgotten how many times I have been called out to sort out problems garden designers and landscape companies had not recognised and taken into account. Details here, Lawn drainage.  

Have you got a soggy waterlogged lawn or garden that holds surface water making it muddy?   

And what you really really want is a lawn the kids can play out on, without bringing saturated mud into the house. 

We Install time tested solutions that will drain your garden solving waterlogged lawn and soggy muddy garden drainage problems even on clay soil. garden drainage page