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Are there any hidden landscaping costs?

Most people’s focus with garden landscaping is what the end result is going to look like and so it is easy to overlook some of the other costs like clearance of the site. Most contractors can dispose of some green waste for free but there may be disposal costs associated with hard materials like old greenhouses and sheds. If you have Japanese Knotweed to get rid of then this is classified as contaminated waste and has to go to a designated landfill site at a premium rate. Sometimes it can be cheaper to hire a skip - it really does depend on how much waste you are going to have and what it comprises of. This is definitely a conversation you need to have with your garden design company.

Get creative

The late great garden designer, Rosemary Verey, once said, “True gardening is as much about the bones of the garden as it’s planting” by which she meant that most schemes are not successful without some element of hard landscaping. The different materials used such as paving, aggregates or wood add variety, colour and texture and introduce character and contrast and a hard structure from which the greenery and flowers can achieve form and flow leading the eye through the landscape.

The blank canvas of a new garden is so exciting but many people find this just a little bit daunting as well because literally, anything goes and there is so much choice and so many possibilities, it can be hard to finally settle on a scheme. Here are some pointers to get you thinking and put some flesh on the bones of your new garden design scheme.

Functionality and usability

• Do you want somewhere to sit outside and relax and eat with family and friends?
• Is your house bursting at the seams and does a new outbuilding which can be used as a home office also feature in your plans?
• Are you planning a designated play or sports area for the children?

Imagination and design

• Does colour feature highly when you picture your new garden or do you see something more monochrome with greys and greens?
• What is your taste, are you a stickler for regularity and uniformity or does the wild side appeal with unstructured areas and little pieces of wilderness? Formal gardens tend to be geometric and tidy with lots of straight lines and clipped hedges, informal gardens are more organic and made up of curves with relaxed planting programmes

Practicality and maintenance

• Is this going to be your life’s work in retirement when you will be out there daily tending to your plants or do you have a busy life and want a garden that will largely take care of itself? This is a very important consideration as some of the most beautiful designs require knowledge and more than a little time to keep them looking fabulous and you may not have either of these
• Do you have some gardening skills but lack in other areas? Don’t design a garden that you will struggle to look after because you don’t have the expertise

How to start your planning

• Begin with research, there is endless inspiration online looking at other people’s creations
• Visit large formal gardens and see how the professionals do it – what do you like and dislike? Once Covid has run its course, the National Gardens Scheme will come back to life; this will allow you to visit usually private gardens open to the public for just a couple of days a year to raise money for charity and all local to where you live
• Create a mood board and keep a visual record of all the elements you have liked during your research

Key planning elements

• Boundaries and walls
• Hedges and fences
• Paths and patios
• Lawns
• Water features
• Zoned areas for dining, play and that all-important shade
• Planting – trees, flowers, shrubs and pots
• Outbuildings – sheds, offices, cabins and greenhouses
• External lighting

Look carefully at the size and shape of the plot. Think carefully about which direction the garden faces, the style of your house and the overall balance of the garden in relation to the property. Consider the seasons – your garden will change throughout the year and will look quite different from summer to winter.

What is your favourite style?

There are endless options from rural and rustic to sleek, modern and minimalist. If you are going for a very contemporary look then expect to use lots of different hard materials - concrete, painted walls, metals and mirrors – whereas a more traditional garden will be more about the foliage and blooms. That’s not to say you can’t mix and match but if you do the like the disparate look then make sure it works as one homogenous design when it’s finished. Don’t overcomplicate the style, whilst it is tempting to throw everything into the design, less is often more and the most successful gardens usually have simple, elegant detailing. Cramming too many ideas into a small space can make a garden look hectic, chaotic and fussy.

What are the common landscaping materials you could consider?

These include:-

• Bricks
• Railway sleepers
• Timber and decking
• Paving slabs with infinite varieties of size and colour
• Aggregates – sand and gravel
• Concrete and mortar
• Exterior paints and wood stains

Who should do the work?

This really depends on your available time, expertise and budget and is a personal decision for each project. Some people just pay for a garden design company to create a plan which they then use, particularly helpful if you are not the creative type. You may do the clearance yourself if needed and leave the entire job to a firm of professionals or, they could put in the hard structures and leave you to do the softer work and planting.

Is it possible to do your own DIY garden landscaping project?

It is possible for the average householder to tackle a landscaping project themselves and there are several advantages to doing this:-

• It might take more time but it will be considerably cheaper
• You can still have a design professionally produced for you to work from
• If you change your mind about different elements of the garden as you go along then it doesn’t matter

Start with your garden design and then once you have the plan, organise the work into logical stages allowing for your available time, the weather and the cost of buying materials and storing them. Working like this in bite-sized chunks means that anyone can makeover their garden and achieve a fabulous result and it helps to spread the cost of gardening as well. You could consider a halfway house, where you do some of the work but employ contractors to do the more specialist or heavy jobs like laying patios.

Don’t get caught out on costs

Some things which can add to the bill and which are easy to overlook include:-

• Machinery hire – diggers and cement mixers for laying hard surfaces
• The wastage from more ornate or curved designs – off the peg materials such as bricks, blocks, slabs and timber are rectilinear so if your design is full of straight lines then this will save you a lot of time and money. If you really can’t do without the curves and swirls then opt for more flexible materials such as poured concrete, gravel or dry stone techniques
• Don’t forget the new garden furniture, this can be pricey and no-one wants a brand new patio or decking area with a load of tired and worm furniture

It's important to be clear on pricing. The cost of tree stump removal, while not as expensive as some gardening jobs, could nonetheless be an unplanned expense if you are not crystal clear what is and isn't included as part of your garden landscaping work.

How to choose a professional design installation company?

If you have a plan in mind then approach two or three landscape companies to produce the drawings and cost out your project. Ask to see previous gardens they have created and check them out online for bad reviews or complaints. A personal recommendation is always best but do bear in mind that your garden project may be quite different to that of your friend or neighbour who recommended that company to you. There are trader platforms that will take your details and contact landscaping firms on your behalf but some of these are no more than glorified advertising directories so research them thoroughly before you decide which one to use.

Budgetary constraints

Here are some suggestions for small budgets, it’s surprising what you can do with not very much:

No money – clear up, tidy up, prune overgrown shrubs, remove self-seeded trees like sycamores, edge the lawns, clear the weeds and swap plants with friends or via a community gardening group

£100 – re-gravel or mulch the flower beds to suppress weeds, wander around a local reclaim or salvage yard and see what you can pick up in the way of bargains, old Belfast sinks as planters or pieces of timber to create raised flower beds

£500 – this budget will allow you to consider hard building materials as well as plants so fence panels or concrete slabs, you could also re-turf your lawn or invest in some new garden furniture

How long does garden landscaping take?

Time taken depends on two factors; who is doing the work and how much they have to do. If you are doing the work yourselves and fitting it in around work and family commitments then you should treat it as a labour of love as it will probably take weeks or months, compare this with a professional landscaping company who could be in and out in two weeks or even less. If you following a halfway house plan and doing the work in stages then this can be the best of all worlds. You can see progress happening but it is kinder on the finances and means you also don’t have to live with continuous disruption and noise plus, you can cherry-pick to a degree around the weather and the seasons.

Top Tips for a successful design

• Base your scheme around the plants rather than vice versa – a good selection of flowers, trees and shrubs will create year-round interest
• Get to know your soil in terms of type and sun, shade and exposure
• Use trees and hedges for structure
• For colour go for potted flowers or plants which can be easily moved around so you can alter the design whenever the mood takes you