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
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