A typical advisory project will begin with a short email, WhatsApp or telephone call in which you let us know the situation and the type of advice you are looking for. At this point, we would let you know if we think we can offer you good advice. If we think you would be better consulting someone else, we won’t hesitate to tell you this, and wherever possible, we will suggest someone.

We will then make a suggestion as to how we might best assess your situation and structure our advice to you. This would typically be either an in person visit to your garden or an online consultation, where we would ask you to show us the situation using your phone’s camera. For particularly complex projects, we may suggest more than one session.

Before the consultation itself, we will do any research we think necessary, and may send you some questions to think about before we start.

The visit itself will most likely start with you showing us around your outdoor space and discussing what’s already there, what you want to achieve, how you want to use your space, your likes and dislikes, how much time you have available and similar questions.

At the same time, we will point out some things to be aware of, such as how your soil may impact the plants you can grow, the possible impact of microclimates, challenges you might face, how to reduce the time you spend on maintenance, or how you could find new ways to use your space.

The agenda of the visit or consultation is entirely up to you (though we are happy to make suggestions if that would help), and it can last as long as you want it to (though we are happy to indicate how long we think it will take).

After the visit or consultation we will provide you with a written report setting out key points from our discussion, and any recommendations or advice we would suggest. If we think follow up work is likely to be needed, we will discuss this during the visit or consultation, and will include our recommendation in our report. The scope and cost of such work will always be agreed in advance.