Design
Low maintenance garden design
A layout that matches the hours you actually have, with lawn only where it will be used.
The first question on a design visit is how the garden is used on a Tuesday, not how it might look in a magazine. If the only free hour is Sunday morning, the drawing has to survive that.
Family plots keep a piece of grass where children run. Courtyards and side returns put stone, gravel and pots where a lawn would never establish. Formal lines and looser ones are both available; the difference is the geometry, and the upkeep stays similar.
Jake draws it and the same crew can build it, including the clear-up. Paving, walls, decking and a pergola are specified with the planting, so the hard surfaces are not an afterthought.
On the specification
- Layouts for family gardens, with turf limited to the play area
- Courtyards and side returns
- Formal lines or a looser arrangement
- Paving, gravel, decking and planting chosen for the time you will give them
- A build by the same crew, finished with a sweep
Jobs already photographed
Further reading: Laying turf on Hertfordshire clay, What to have ready before the first visit.