Can You Design Your Own Garden?

As a permaculture garden designer, I have created designs for many gardens. But I am also happy to help others to design their own gardens. I believe that when it comes down to the question of whether or not professional help is required, it is important to take a case-by-case approach.

I often get the impression that some people feel that paying for a garden design is unnecessary. And in certain specific cases, this can be perfectly correct. I am not here to sell my own services when I do not believe it is required.

Can you design your own garden? I believe it all boils down to how willing you are to pay for experience, how confident you are in your own abilities, and how you think – your personality type and inclinations.

I certainly feel that I can add value in many instances. But whether or not it is best to pay me, or someone else, to design your garden depends on the answers to a number of questions:

• How much do you already know about permaculture and sustainable garden design?
• How experienced are you as a gardener?
• How complex is the project you will be taking on. (Some gardens are much smaller and simpler than others, of course.)
• Are you confident that you understand the terrain, sectors and conditions?
• Do you know plants sufficiently well to choose the right ones for the right places?
• How much time do you have? (Consider time vs budget and determine, in your case, which one is in shorter supply. The easy answer would be to think that you can save money by designing your own garden – but that is not necessarily the case.)
• What is your personality type? Are you creative and able to think around problems, or is this something that does not come naturally to you? Are you methodical and organised, or a little more chaotic? (I believe creativity and organisation are both important to successful garden design.) Are you a take-charge person who likes to control everything, or are you happy for others to take the reins? How ambitious are you? And how easy is it for you to learn new things?

These are just a few things to consider when deciding whether or not you can work on your own garden design.

Whether you would like a full garden design, or just a little help or a friendly eye to look over your own plans, please do get in touch. I can offer design or consultancy at an hourly rate, and am flexible about exactly how much help and time I provide.