How to get garden therapy for you and your garden

Jan 25, 2024 | 0 comments

A Client called it ‘Garden Therapy’ but I call it a Garden Hoedown because ‘Garden Consultation’ sounds so boring!

If you don’t know where to start, or can’t see the wood for the trees an expert* objective pair of eyes can often help to make decisions, see the good and bad and suggest changes and ideas.

* “expert” here means someone who has sat in gardens her whole life, grown veggies (not always successfully), is embracing ‘easy gardening’ and who has a creative flair for designing practical spaces

It may be that you can relate to one of these scenarios:

  • perhaps you’ve recently moved in, are overwhelmed by the garden you’ve inherited, don’t know what plant is what and you and your partner are arguing over whether the palm tree in the middle of the lawn stays or goes

  • you’re about to put your house on the market and you want it to make a good impression

  • you’ve built a gorgeous extension and put bi-fold doors on the back of the house, but now you can see the garden 24/7 all year round and it doesn’t quite look like you had hoped it would

  • you feel that the garden is about to move into a new phase of life with you … the kids haven’t quite outgrown the trampoline but you have a niggly feeling it could be working better for all the family

  • you work hard and want to relax outside at the weekend rather than work through a list of garden chores

  • you don’t want a full on garden design but you feel like there might be some ways to make little changes that have a big impact

These are examples of the challenges my clients face.  This last few years have changed everything.  I’ve seen a lot of re-thinking and re-prioritising as the unsettling climate has an impact on our families, our homes and our gardens.

My clients are looking for ways they can get the most out of their gardens and are looking for ideas to make it easy to look after, easy to use whilst looking good all year round. If that’s you I can help you in 2 ways:

Face to Face Hoedown

  • In your garden WITH a cuppa for up to an hour and a half!
  • Solving problems, teaching techniques and offering ideas and solutions
  • Summary report sent afterwards so you don’t have to take any notes – including any sketch ideas and links to inspiration, suppliers, contractors, or plants
  • My Favourite Plants – I’ll send you my list of good plants for gardens
  • COST: £200 within a 5-mile radius of Redhill (I’m more than happy to travel further afield but will need to factor in travel time and costs) Payment up front will secure our appointment.

Virtual Hoedown

  • Questionnaire completed and photos and video sent of the space before our meeting with guidance from me of best angles etc
  • Virtual meeting(up to an hour and a half) held at an agreed time from your home WITH a cuppa over Zoom
  • Solving problems, teaching techniques and offering ideas and solutions
  • Summary report sent afterwards so you don’t have to take any notes – including any sketch ideas and links to inspiration, suppliers, contractors, or plants
  • My Favourite Plants – I’ll send you my list of good plants for gardens
  • COST: £200

Email me to get the ball rolling!

Renée sat amongst Dahlais

Photo by Abigail Evans

Here’s what Claire had to say following our Hoedown:

“I spent a lovely hour in my back garden with Renée having a Hoedown.  She is so enthusiastic and knowledgeable.  I feel very inspired now and, most importantly, confident that I can change my garden to suit my family.  Renée listened to what I hoped to achieve and asked all the right questions.  I can’t wait to get started and thanks to Renée’s follow-up email with links and reminders of what we talked about it didn’t matter that I forgot most of the plant names we talked about! Thank you.”

What would you want us to spend our hour discussing?  Let me know in the comments below!   Renée

Book a Hoedown HERE!

 

How I can help you get on top of your Garden in 2023

Nov 18, 2022 | 0 comments

A Garden Hoedown is what I called my Garden Consultation Service, purely because ‘Garden Consultation’ sounds so boring!  Someone once called it Garden Therapy as they were feeling so stressed and overwhelmed by their garden and not enjoying it all!  Others have found it really helpful at different times:

– perhaps you’ve recently moved in and are overwhelmed by the garden you’ve inherited

– you’re about to put your house on the market and want it to make a good impression

– you’ve just built an extension and can now see your garden more

– or perhaps you’ve spent the last 18 months using it more and you have a niggly feeling it could be working better for all the family!

The Covid Lockdowns have made us look at our outdoor spaces in a different way.  Being in our gardens has made us re-think and re-prioritise all sorts of things as our gardens have given different meanings for all members of the family.  You might have gained a puppy, or be working from home more.  You might want to entertain outside more often and for a longer part of the year, or you might want to continue to the quiet and solace your garden brought you.

A Hoedown might be for you if you don’t need a full garden design but want input from a professional garden designer, gardener and prolific garden user!  Here’s how it works:

Here’s what Claire had to say following our Hoedown: 

“I spent a lovely hour in my back garden with Renée having a Hoedown.  She is so enthusiastic and knowledgeable.  I feel very inspired now and, most importantly, confident that I can change my garden to suit my family.  Renée listened to what I hoped to achieve and asked all the right questions.  I can’t wait to get started and thanks to Renée’s follow-up email with links and reminders of what we talked about it didn’t matter that I forgot most of the plant names we talked about! Thank you”

 

Garden Hoedown
  • In your garden for an hour!  I bring my secateurs, a blank pad of paper, pens and my trowel
  • I send you a Summary report afterwards  – including any sketch ideas and links to inspiration, suppliers, contractors, or plants
  • COST: £150 within a 5-mile radius of Redhill paid upfront to secure the meeting (I’m more than happy to travel further afield but will need to factor in travel time and costs)

Email me to get the ball rolling!

Garden Hoedown
  • You send me photos, video and some key information before our meeting
  • 1-hour virtual meeting held at an agreed time from your home over Zoom
  • I send you a Summary report afterwards  – including any sketch ideas and links to suppliers, contractors, or plants
  • COST: £150 paid upfront to secure the meeting

Email me to get the ball rolling!

Voucher

You can also buy a Hoedown Voucher for a loved one who is not enjoying their garden.  So if you know someone who you think could do with some Garden Therapy.

Buy your Voucher here and I will be in touch for the wording and contact details.

What would you want us to spend our hour discussing?  Let me know in the comments below!

Renée

Book a Hoedown HERE!

Need some Garden Therapy? Here’s how a Hoedown can help!

May 14, 2020 | 0 comments

A Hoedown is what I called my Garden Consultation Service, purely because ‘Garden Consultation’ sounds so boring!

Someone called it Garden Therapy as they were feeling so stressed and overwhelmed by their garden and not enjoying it all!  Others have found it really helpful at different times:

  • perhaps you’ve recently moved in and are overwhelmed by the garden you’ve inherited

  • you’re about to put your house on the market and want it to make a good impression

  • you’ve just built an extension and can now see your garden more

  • or perhaps you’ve spent the last 18 months using it more and you have a niggly feeling it could be working better for all the family!

This last few years have changed everything.  With the onset of Covid and the various lockdowns we’ve found ourselves in since March 2020, being outdoors and in our gardens has made us re-think and re-prioritise all sorts of things as our gardens have become safe havens for all the family.  Working throughout lockdown has meant I’ve had to be creative so I now have 2 offerings if you’re looking for some input into your garden:

Face to Face Hoedown

  • In your garden WITH a cuppa for an hour!
  • In your garden with payment upfront by BACS
  • Summary report sent afterwards so you don’t have to take any notes – including any sketch ideas and links to inspiration, suppliers, contractors, or plants
  • COST: £125 within a 5-mile radius of Redhill (I’m more than happy to travel further afield but will need to factor in travel time and costs)

Virtual Hoedown

  • Phone conversation to confirm priority areas (I’d suggest that design, layout, planting ideas work best this way)
  • Photos and video sent of the space before our meeting with guidance from me of best angles etc
  • Payment upfront by BACS
  • 1-hour virtual meeting held at an agreed time from your home WITH a cuppa for an hour over Zoom
  • Summary report sent afterwards so you don’t have to take any notes – including any sketch ideas and links to inspiration, suppliers, contractors, or plants
  • COST: £125

Email me to get the ball rolling!

Here’s what Claire had to say following our Hoedown:

“I spent a lovely hour in my back garden with Renée having a Hoedown.  She is so enthusiastic and knowledgeable.  I feel very inspired now and, most importantly, confident that I can change my garden to suit my family.  Renée listened to what I hoped to achieve and asked all the right questions.  I can’t wait to get started and thanks to Renée’s follow-up email with links and reminders of what we talked about it didn’t matter that I forgot most of the plant names we talked about! Thank you.”

Renee

Renee’s head and shoulders

What would you want us to spend our hour discussing?  Let me know in the comments below!

Renée

Book a Hoedown HERE!

 

My Wreath Environmental Manifesto

Aug 21, 2019 | 2 comments

Christmas WreathIts August and I’m going to mention the C word!  Christmas! … I’m already planning for this Christmas and the Wreath Workshops that I run.  In fact, I took my first booking  back in February! 

I love running my Wreath Workshops but since I started holding them 3 years ago the world has woken up to the startling impact our use of plastic has on the environment. Remember this iconic episode from Blue Planet?  I have become increasingly aware that the materials I use in my wreaths and in my workshops are part of this debate.

So, I decided to do some research to better understand the materials involved in making a wreath to make sure that they support the values I hold.  Here’s a summary of the issues as I see them:

FLORAL FOAM

I’ve been running Christmas and Autumn Wreath Workshops for 3 years and have helped approximately 400 people to make their own wreaths. I’ve always used floral foam (or Oasis) bases for the wreaths I make and, in my workshops, for 2 main reasons:

~ It allows anyone to make a wreath. Even those that say “I‘m really not creative” can easily make a beautiful Christmas Wreath under my guidance

~ The wreath (if watered) will last a long time, way beyond Christmas anyhow!

But I have come to realise that floral foam is made of plastic and chemicals and cannot be recycled.  I always suggest that the floral foam base can be used again, and in my experience can be used up to 6-8 times but I’m not sure this always happens.  There is work afoot in the floristry industry to make floral foam bio-degradable but at the moment there is not an option for the foam rings I use.

Alternatives include a pre-made moss and straw ring which foliage can simply be added to or a DIY moss and wire ring which is made by binding moss to a wire ring with string or wire. It appears that the moss and wire ring can be watered and could last for a similar amount of time to the foam wreaths, and the moss and straw wreath would be harder to water and would therefore not last as long.

Wreath Materials

Christmas wreath making table

 FOLIAGE

I forage for foliage to decorate my wreaths and for use in my workshops in a responsible manner, taking prunings and cuttings from gardens and hedgerows (both rural and urban) in a considerate manner, never without asking or with undue care.  In fact, I believe my cutting and pruning helps keep hedgerows in check and stimulates healthy growth.  I never cut all the Holly berries from a tree and always leave a fair amount for wildlife to feed on.  Likewise, whilst collecting cones I always leave some behind for others.

I do have to buy some foliage (e.g. Spruce) to make up the wreaths as I could never forage enough for all the wreaths I make; let alone for the workshops I deliver.

MY MANIFESTO

I will ensure that any foliage or moss that I buy comes from a sustainable source and is ethically harvested and where possible I will buy trimmings that would have been thrown away.

 I will forage in a respectful and responsible manner to ensure my pruning has as little impact on the local environment as possible.

I intend that the materials I use to make my Wreaths for sale contain all reusable or recyclable materials – so that means I will be moving to a moss and wire framework for my wreaths instead of using a floral foam base.

 

In my workshops this year I will expand my offering so that some workshop attendees use moss and wire and I will discuss options with those already booked to see what would work best. My aim is to move to Floral Foam Free Workshops in 2020.

 

I will make sure that all waste from my workshops is disposed of in the right way with green waste being composted and any other waste recycled as much as possible.

I wanted to share this as it feels like being environmentally conscious is an important part of both my personal and working life and it would be remiss of me to not review what I’m doing and to not make changes to how I work if I can.  Let me know what you think below by leaving me a comment or ask any questions.

Renée

x

P.S.  If you want to book a Wreath Workshop this Autumn or Christmas please get in touch.  I deliver Workshops for Groups with a minimum number of 5 people either in your home or at a venue you’ve organised.  I’ve delivered to Book Clubs, groups of friends and WI Groups, and been appointed by School PTA’s, Charities and Church Groups to run Wreath Workshops as fundraisers.  I will also be running some ticketed events in the Redhill area so sign up to my newsletter if you want to know when these are announced.  

What’s a Hoedown?

May 18, 2018 | 0 comments

Clue: it’s not a gathering involving shouting catchy phrases like “yee-haw”!  A Hoedown is what I called my Garden Consultation Service, purely because ‘Garden Consultation’ sounds so boring! If you want to yell “yee-haw” at the end I’ll be more than pleased!

It’s usually an hour (but can be more) spent standing in your garden with you talking through anything garden related!  Someone called it Garden Therapy as they were feeling so stressed and overwhelmed by their garden and not enjoying it all!  Others have found it really helpful at different times:  perhaps you’ve recently moved in, about to put your house on the market or have just built an extension and now can see your garden more.  In the past I’ve covered:

  • Identifying what plants are what
  • What to prune and when
  • How to prune
  • What to do after an extension has been built or after a garage has been pulled down
  • How to make fences and walls look better
  • What shape borders or beds to make
  • Ideas on what plants to use in different places
  • Lawn care
  • What materials would work in a small courtyard
  • What plants wouldn’t mind living in pots
  • Making decisions about taking out shrubs or moving them
  • Where it’s best to put waterbutts and raised beds for veggies
  • Pests and diseases
  • What’s a weed
  • Where to put the trampoline!

My objective pair of eyes and ears can be really helpful to solve problems, be a sounding board or come up with ideas.  After our hour I write up our discussion including any links I’ve promised and email it to you so you have a record of our discussion and signposted places to go to to take action (or delegate the actions!).

Here’s what Claire had to say following our Hoedown:

“I spent a lovely hour in my back garden with Renée having a Hoedown.  She is so enthusiastic and knowledgeable. I feel very inspired now and, most importantly, confident that I can change my garden to suit my family.  Renée listened to what I hoped to achieve and asked all the right questions.  I can’t wait to get started and thanks to Renée’s follow-up email with links and reminders of what we talked about it didn’t matter that I forgot most of the plant names we talked about! Thank you.”

The cost of a Hoedown is 1 hour of your time, 1 cup of tea for me and £75 (Monday to Friday) or £95 (weekends and evenings) within 5 miles radius of Redhill.  I’m more than happy to travel further afield but will need to agree additional expenses to cover mileage.

If you need that objective pair of eyes, please do just get in touch at renee@thegirlwhogardens.co.uk

What would you want us to spend our hour discussing?  Let me know in the comments below!

Renée

x

Seeds to Sow in May for easy Summer Colour

Apr 9, 2018 | 0 comments

The seeds of Annuals can be bought in the supermarket, garden centre or high street homeware store for a couple of pounds a packet and they literally can provide hundreds of colourful flowers in just 1 packet!  Buy in May to sow outside straight away.  You’ll need to read the back of the packet to make sure you have the right ones but they include:

  • Love-In-A-Mist
  • Pot Marigold
  • Nasturtium
  • Poppy
  • Zinnia

Annuals are plants that complete their life cycle in 1 year.  Summer annuals grown from seed will produce flowers within 6-8 weeks of sowing, flower all summer and then the plant will usually die with the first frosts in the Autumn.  They are a great gap filler between shrubs and perennials; working really hard for you during the Summer putting on a great display.  They then do you a great favour!  Once the flowers fade they set seed which drops to the soil creating plants and flowers for you again next year!

It’s all in the preparation . . .

  1. Weed the area that you are going to sow to taking out anything you don’t want however big or small (it might not be that easy to weed for a few weeks as all seedling tend to lo the same!)
  2. If your soil is quite dry water it now so you don’t wash away the seeds when watering after sowing.
  3. Then rake over the area to break up the soil particles and give you a level area
  4. If you’re sowing several different types of seed, consider mixing them up to sow a random selection. Look at the expected heights to help you gauge.  I tend to mix two blends according to height and sow the taller plants at the back of the border and the smaller plants towards the front.

There are 2 different sowing techniques:

  • 1 is very random: you liberally sprinkle the seeds over your area with your fingers. Once sown gently rake the soil again to cover up the seeds.  It will be hard to distinguish your seedlings from weeds when they grow so this may not suit everyone!
  • 2 is more controlled: draw a line in the soil with your finger or a bamboo cane and sprinkle the seed along the groove you have made. This could be a straight line or a curved one.  Rake the soil back over the groove when sown.  When the seedlings appear you will see the line and know they are plants as opposed to weeds!

If it doesn’t rain you will need to water your seedlings in the coming weeks.  They should poke their heads out of the ground within a couple of weeks – if they are bunched up together in places thin them out by snipping the emerging stems off with scissors.  This gives the others more room to grow and doesn’t disturb their root growth.

You should see plants and flowers in 6- 8 weeks after sowing.  Deadhead the flowers with scissors or by pinching them off with your fingers throughout the summer to encourage the plant to flower some more.  Leave the flowers in place as we get to September though so you get your free seeds for next year!

Just have a go – it’s dead easy and kids love sowing seeds too and they also love seeing all the different sizes and shapes of seeds.  You can see a video of me showing the 2 sowing techniques here: