It’s one of the first things clients ask a garden designer – how much is my garden going to cost? And my answer always disappoints because it’s very hard to say. Unlike an interior where the individual furnishings and elements are relatively easily ID’d and costed, gardens are a bit murky. There are no fixed costs for walls, or plants or gravel – the answer is always (infuriatingly) ‘it depends’. But on what?
On a lot, actually – size, access, type of plant, maturity of tree, contractor. There are so many variables, it is almost impossible to cost a garden properly until you’re nearing the end of the design process, which is not very helpful if you’re working to a budget. Perhaps what is more important is identifying the essentials and the nice-to-haves, where it is worth spending money, and where you can be economical. For all but the very few, there are compromises to be made – the trick is making the right ones.
Hard landscaping is often the biggest expense in the garden – be it stone, brick or gravel, it’s going to eat up a lot of budget. And it is also an expensive mistake to get wrong and replace. The first thing to check is if there are materials on site that can be repurposed – this is not just for budgetary reasons, but for environmental and aesthetic too.
Re-using lovely old stone or brick, laid in a new way or cut to fit a different space, can be a shortcut to giving your garden a sense of heft and history, and is also kinder to the planet. And with a clever tradesperson, you can transform even humble materials, like concrete pavers, into something beautiful – as Patrick Clarke did in his garden at Chelsea.
If, however, you’re not lucky to be the guardian of a terrace-worth of free York stone, you will have to source your hard materials. I would always choose a higher quality (ideally reclaimed) material, used sparingly in visible places, than a sea of cheap material used liberally. In a recent project we used lovely reclaimed terracotta tiles in a London garden for narrow paths to weave through planting and to edge larger spaces of gravel. You could have a low stone wall to retain the first level in a terraced garden, and then more naturalistic slopes further away from the house. Being judicious and economical with materials often produces more creative results, that is kinder to your pocket too.
I would apply the same rule to other aspects of hard landscaping (e.g. lighting, furniture, planters) – buy one beautiful thing that will last forever and give you joy every time (for example, a pair of Tipsy chairs by Daniel Hayden) over mass-produced clutter that you’ll need to replace in a couple of years.
Planting is, in some ways, easier to cost once you have an idea of how much space you’re planting (as a rule of thumb, we suggest five-to-nine plants per square metre) and how many trees you have. But, again, there are variables. Trees can be expensive, especially if you want instant impact – not just aesthetically, but ecologically, too. A small tree will provide little in terms of canopy cover and shade.
Evergreens and slower-growing trees are more expensive still. Cost savings can be made on perennials by planting small, in P9 pots which establish better and are much cheaper. However, they need to be planted at a friendly time of year (autumn, ideally) so they have time to get established before growing season. Depending on the type of planting, they will need some watering in their first year.
Which brings me on to the one cost that almost everyone underestimates (myself included), maintenance. It’s vital that the cost of looking after the garden – be that in your time or someone else’s – is considered at the start of the process, because it has a huge impact on how the garden should be designed. Whilst there is no such thing as a low-maintenance garden, if there is not much budget for a gardener I would steer clear of deep hungry herbaceous beds or espaliered fruit with complicated pruning regimes.
All gardens need looking after – and deserve it if you’re going to spend money creating them – and they are much more enjoyable if you’re not feeling guilty about the dreaded bindweed. Factor in weekly work in your garden (and space for the tools to allow it) and you will reap the rewards.
Great gardens, like great interiors, cost money. But they deliver much in return: waking up to a wonderful view every morning, having dinner outside among plants and the hum of happy bees, picking a posie for your kitchen table, or finishing your day with a rummage in the veg garden for supper are some of life’s greatest pleasures. But, alas, they don’t come for free.
