Landscaping and garden design

Starting with how the garden is used

A good garden plan comes from ordinary questions rather than from a style. Where does the sun fall at the time of day you are outside. Which route do you walk most often, and is it currently across the grass. Where do the bins, the bikes and the washing line go. How much time do you genuinely want to spend maintaining it.

The answers usually sort out the layout on their own. A patio placed where the afternoon sun lands gets used, and one placed neatly against the back wall out of habit often does not. Our approach is to walk the garden with you, look at the levels, the light and the soil, then set out a plan that suits the plot rather than a template.

Patios, paths and hard landscaping

Paving stands or falls on what is underneath it. A patio is dug out to a consistent depth, laid over a compacted hardcore sub base, and bedded on a full mortar bed rather than five dabs under each corner, which is what causes slabs to rock and crack later. Natural stone in particular needs full support and, for most types, a slurry primer on the back so the mortar bonds.

Levels and falls matter as much as the laying. A terrace is set to run water away from the house, not towards it, and kept the required distance below the damp proof course. Where a patio or drive sheds water onto a hard surface, drainage has to be planned in, since surfacing a front garden over a few square metres without permeable construction or somewhere for the water to go needs planning permission.

• Riven and sawn sandstone, limestone, porcelain and concrete paving
• Paths, steps and level changes between parts of a garden
• Edgings, kerbs and mowing strips that keep a lawn off the beds
• Low retaining walls and raised beds in sleeper, block or stone
• Gravel, bark and permeable surfacing where drainage is a concern

Lawns, soil and planting

Turf fails far more often from poor preparation than from poor turf. The ground wants clearing of roots and debris, levelling, breaking up if it has been compacted by machinery, and topping with enough decent soil for roots to get into. Laid on compacted builder’s subsoil, even the best turf sulks and thins out within a year.

For planting, the honest starting point is the soil you have. Much of the ground around Ash and the Surrey and Hampshire border is free draining and on the acidic side, which suits some plants very well and makes others a constant struggle. Choosing species that want those conditions, and grouping them by how much water and sun they need, saves a great deal of work later.

Trees and structure in a garden

A garden with no height is a garden with no shelter and nothing to look at in February. Trees, hedging and larger shrubs give a plot its structure, frame a view or block one, and soften the edges of hard landscaping. The common mistake is choosing on how a tree looks in the pot rather than on its mature size, which is how a front garden ends up with a cedar in it.

Position matters as much as species. A tree wants room for its eventual crown and root system, a sensible distance from drains, foundations and boundaries, and a planting pit prepared properly rather than a hole just big enough for the root ball. Getting that right at planting is far cheaper than pruning around a mistake for thirty years.

How a project runs

A project normally begins with a site visit and a conversation about what you want the garden to do, followed by a written plan and costing of the work. Larger schemes break into stages, with hard landscaping done first and planting and turf last, which keeps machinery and barrow traffic off finished surfaces.

Access shapes the programme more than anything else on a terraced or narrow plot, since every tonne of spoil out and aggregate in may have to go through the house or along a side passage. We will say plainly at the quoting stage where that is going to add time, so there are no surprises once the work starts.