Major garden project ahead…is everyone on board?

If you’re making big changes in your garden then you need to start early as all the trades book their work in months ahead.

“It’s spring, the sun is out… I know let’s get the garden sorted.” If it’s more than just a planting upgrade forget it. If you need landscapers, fencing people, turf laid, buildings constructed, they will already be booked out months ahead.

You will have to join the back of the queue and just wait. If we get lots of rain you will be waiting even longer.

The best time to talk to landscapers and people who build things is the turn of the year when they are planning their work schedule for the year ahead. You won’t magically find one firm, you will need to talk to a few and compare prices. They might not be interested. You might not rate them.

One client recently got 3 quotes for a lot of slabbing work. The first charged 20% VAT on top, the second didn’t, and the third was double the price of the first two. This soaks up your time.

Before you do anything you may need a design from a garden designer or at the very least a clear plan or idea of what you are looking to achieve. Images are best. At a recent job the landscaper built an entire structure from a Pinterest image and working to my dimensions.

Ideally you want your amazing new garden built in time for spring planting. If you work that backwards your build team need to start before winter officially ends and the weather is workable.

It doesn’t matter if your timing is later in the year but it won’t be until the following growing season that you will see the power and glory of what’s been planted.

Gardening rule number one: nothing happens in an instance, you need patience.