Online garden design: how it works, and what you get

If your garden has been sitting there doing nothing, it is usually not for lack of caring. It is that sorting it out feels like a big, expensive faff, the sort of thing you picture involving someone turning up, wandering round for half an hour, and handing you a quote that makes your eyes water. So it stays on the ‘one day’ pile, and another summer slips by. Here is the good news though. It really does not have to be like that. I design gardens start to finish online, without ever setting foot in yours, and it is simpler, and a lot kinder on your wallet, than you would think.

So how does it actually work?

You send me a few photos of your garden, or a little video if you would rather walk me round it. Some rough measurements, and a note about how you would love to use the space. That is genuinely it. No appointment, no stranger in your garden, no clipboard.

From there I get to work. And here is the thing most people do not realise: a garden really comes down to two things, how much light it gets and what the soil is like. I can read both of those from your photos and a couple of questions. Which way does it face? Does it turn into a swamp when it rains? Where would you actually sit, if there was somewhere nice to sit?

What you get back

Not a bill for a day’s digging. A proper plan you can follow at your own pace.

You get a planting list picked for your light and your soil, so things actually thrive instead of sulking and dying off. A layout that shows you where everything goes, so you are not left guessing. And a clickable shopping list, peat-free and UK-grown wherever I can, so you know exactly what to buy and roughly what it will cost. Then three rounds of changes, because you always spot something once you have lived with the plan for a few days.

And it is one fixed price, £395 for the whole garden, courtyard or balcony, agreed before we start. No nasty surprises at the end.

Why it works so well online

I know it sounds too good to be true, designing a garden without ever standing in it. But the two things that make or break a garden, the light and the soil, are the two things that show up clearly in a photo and a quick chat. A visit would not really tell me much more than you already can. So why pay for one?

Balconies and roof terraces count too

Got a tiny balcony you have written off as a lost cause? Those are my favourite. They are the trickiest gardens there are, all wind and weight limits and either blazing sun or none at all, which is exactly why they are worth planning properly. Get it right and the smallest space ends up being the one you never want to leave.

Good for you, and good for nature

I always start with what you have already got. Most gardens need tidying and editing far more than ripping out and starting again. And when we do add planting, I lean towards things that earn their keep, peat-free, UK-grown, and chosen to bring the garden to life, bees and birds included. A garden should feel alive, not just look nice in a photo.

Just so you know what it is not

I am designing it, not building it. Nobody turns up with a spade, and I will not lay your patio or put up a fence, that needs someone on site with a level. I do not post you the plants either. You order those yourself, whenever suits, spread over a whole season if you like. What you get from me is the plan, and the confidence to actually crack on with it.

Is it for you?

Probably, if you have got a garden that has never quite worked, a courtyard doing nothing, a new-build square of turf and fence panels, or a balcony holding a drying rack and one sad little plant. It is less for you if what you really need is a builder, or someone making calls on site as they go. That is completely fine, that is a job for someone local, and better you know now.

Fancy it?

Send me a few photos of your garden, your courtyard, your balcony, or whatever corner has been bugging you since you moved in. I read every message myself and I will get back to you within a working day. It is really just a chat to see if we are a good fit to work together. It costs you nothing, and you are not committing to a single thing.