How to get the most out of your Garden Consultation

^{Fill your tiny outdoor space with jolly bright flowers and feel your spirits soar. Gardening is easier than you might think.}

So you’re thinking about booking a garden consultation? Fantastic! To make sure you get the absolute most out of our Zoom chat, it’s really helpful if you take some time to fill in the questionnaire I’ll send you before we chat.

How to become a successful gardener

^{Juicy strawberries and delicate blue borage—both very easy to grow in your garden, and bee friendly too.}

I firmly believe that anybody can be a successful gardener. And that means you too.

If you’ve struggled with gardening before, it was probably because you had the wrong plants for:

your garden
the amount of time you had
your temperament

Or a combination of all three.

Garden centres are cunningly laid out to make some of the trickiest plants look so enticing, they seem to leap into your trolley by themselves. But they can be little devils to maintain, often only flowering for a couple of weeks after you buy them, then spend the rest of the year sulking. And then die.

Sound familiar? You’re not alone. We’ve all been caught out like that.

Gardens need easy going, hardworking plants which will reward the smallest amount of attention with fabulous foliage and abundant flowers.

Gardens can include:

Windowsills
Balconies
Patios
Doorsteps
Any small other outdoor spaces

Why is temperament important in gardening?

^{Vibrant nasturtiums can easily be grown on a sunny windowsill. You can eat the flowers and the leaves to add a peppery punch to your lunch.}

It’ll be super helpful to know whether you enjoy spending lots of time nurturing your plants, or whether you prefer a more hands-off approach. Both are fine—there are no wrong answers here. But it’s important to be realistic about the time and inclination you have for gardening.

And if you do prefer very low maintenance gardening, I have loads of perfect plants to recommend for you.

A bit of thinking goes a long way when planning a garden

^{Planting bulbs can be a fabulous way to inject a welcome splash of colour into a grey spring day.}

Having spent more than 30 years gardening, I have a lot of information in my head, all ready to chat through with you.

But…if your specific gardening needs are ones that I’ve not got recent experience of, it’ll take me a bit longer to look through all my notebooks to make sure you get the best, most accurate and helpful information from me.

The garden questionnaire is designed to be as easy as possible to complete. And the more thought you put into answering each question, the better I can make recommendations that suit you personally.

I can’t wait to hear more about your ideas for your garden…

Words and images by:

Rowan Ambrose

Freelance copywriter and garden designer.