I am feeling a little smug at the moment, I have to be honest, this is because this time last year I was sitting in my kitchen looking out over my garden and the mess that it had become, the sun was shining and I couldn’t even sit out in it. I began making plans for landscaping the garden space but quickly realized that by the time I had completed it, summer would be gone and I wouldn’t be able to enjoy until the following year. Another reason why I chose not to go ahead with the redesign was because prices of equipment, plants and contractor fees and risen sharply because of the fact that this is the most common time of year to landscape gardens. I made the decision to undertake the work in the winter months instead and here I sit at the beginning of summer with a perfect garden to enjoy whilst everyone else is where I was last year, in a stat of flux. Here is why I opted for winter.

Prices

As I mentioned before almost everyone, with the exception of my friends down at David Montoya Stonemakers had significantly upped their prices for materials and labor during the summer months. I cannot blame them for this, it makes sense from a business point of view but on a personal note, I couldn’t justify the additional spend. I took a risk and opted for winter instead and easily saved around 15% on the job in total.

Low Maintenance

Another reason why I was able to complete my garden plan in the winter is because the design which I was after did not feature many plants and I was aiming for a very low maintenance garden space. Because of the lack of necessity for plants, such things would instantly die throughout the cold winter, I was able to go full steam ahead with the plan, with the weather not causing any problems at all.

Upheaval

The job which was undertaken was quite a big job and although my garden wasn’t exactly a pleasure to sit in during the summer months, the last thing that I wanted was for a team of contractors to be rooting around my garden whilst I was trying to enjoy a beer in the sunshine on my broken patio. In the winter months, it didn’t bother me a jot that there were people working around the house and I faced minimal upheaval.

Starting Fresh

Because of my decision to have the work done in the winter, I can now enjoy the very first days of summer in my smartly designed garden without having to spend the first weeks or months dedicated to fixing it up in order to enjoy it. I never realized the impact that this would have and after watching my neighbors making dashes to the garden store, I genuinely feel a little bit smug and happy with my decision to landscape in the winter.