Whether adding to an already established garden or creating a new area, working out what to plant and when can be a challenge. You may want your garden to be interesting and lively throughout the year even when looking out from the kitchen window in the dead of winter, or to liven up an area that seems to have something ‘missing’ about it, or to create an striking garden that doesn’t require too much specialist knowledge and time to maintain.

With my planting experience and contacts with wholesale plant nurseries, this is an area in which I am able to help. With my RHS design training, I can offer advice on the best way to plant your garden, and for a full garden design I can carry out a survey and provide you with hand-drawn plans based on what you need.

Whether in a greenhouse, among other plants, or in a dedicated patch, fruit and vegetables are sometimes the most delightful and rewarding parts of gardening. It can be surprising just how many ways there are to integrate them into the garden - the humble apple tree, for example, can be trained along a sunny wall as well as growing wide and tall in the middle of a lawn, and provides beautiful spring blossoms as well as apples so can hold its own as an ornamental tree. I would be happy to help with anything that needs doing to grow fruit and vegetables in your garden, from preparing planters and support structures to pruning fruit trees for the next year’s crop.

I pride myself on working with an eye to the wellbeing of the local wildlife. A flourishing garden by its nature makes a home for many varied species, and many gardening methods that promote plant and soil health are also good for wildlife - for instance, covering the bare soil of a border with leaf-mulch through the winter and into the spring will not only protect seedlings and roots and give them nourishment as the leaf-mulch breaks down, it will also shelter ladybirds and pollinating insects which will emerge in spring, ready to do their work in the garden.

This extends to the way in which I work. I bring a wide selection of tools with me and use whichever is most suited to the job in a way which is considerate to wildlife. For example, if a heavy-duty strimmer is required for long grass, I will strim in a pattern that gives wildlife an escape route as I approach.


 

A garden is nothing without the soil in which the plants grow, and the health of the earth around the roots is an often overlooked factor in the success and appeal of the garden. If plants are struggling to grow or the soil doesn’t seem to hold together, I can suggest ways to improve the soil as well as carry out careful management to keep the soil healthy without damaging the structure or biome. Composting is also a great way to make use of the grass clippings, weeds, and stems that accumulate from gardening, and put the energy in them back into your garden where it belongs.

 

Just because the grass is no longer growing doesn’t mean there is nothing to do in the garden! Winter can be the most important time to get the garden ready for the coming year. Many plants, such as roses and apples, are at their best when they have been pruned the previous winter, and this can be the best time of year to plant shrubs and trees. Winter can also be the ideal time to catch up on all kinds of gardening jobs that there was no time to complete when the weather was warmer and everything was growing at a rate of knots. I work throughout the year, based on the needs of the individual garden.