“A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust”
GERTRUDE JEKYLL
The difference garden coaching can make
No doubt about it, gardening’s good for us – body, mind and soul. But it doesn’t always come as easily as you might hope. Don’t you find yourself wishing there was always someone on hand you could turn to for a little expert advice and encouragement, or a timely suggestion when you find yourself in bit of a rut? Maybe even the occasional nudge – just to remind you what you were intending to do, and to cheer you along as you get stuck in.
This is where garden coaching can come in. But there’s so much more to it than that…
I knew my landscaping could be better. I hoped Andrew could point me in a more interesting direction. He did. I had a vague dream of a cutting garden, which evolved into a real-life raised bed garden with vegetables inside the fence and deer-resistant perennials outside. Under his coaching, we’ve planted fruit trees, taken hundreds of cuttings, ordered bees, grown flowers and food from seed. Thank you Andrew!
ASHLEY IN RICHMOND, VA
your accountability partner
It’s one thing to haul you out of a hole when you’re feeling a bit stuck for ideas, unsure of what to do next, or even just where to begin. And yes, you can get much of that from books, blogs and podcasts (not forgetting my own, which you can find here). But while inspiration and horticultural know-how are critical in turning your garden dreams into reality, experience teaches us that life still has a habit of derailing our progress from one week to another. Bespoke garden coaching couples the flexibility to adapt to your changing priorities as they arise, with the structure to keep your plans on track. Keeping you accountable to your original vision whatever else is going on beyond the garden gate.
helping you discover your gardening style
Some of us have been gardening since we were very young, others are just getting started. All of us, it turns out, can benefit from regular conversations with a knowledgable guide whose only interest lies in seeing us make the most of our gardening journey. Someone who can help us to see the preconceptions that we bring to the garden; a weighty load of other people’s tastes and opinions which we often don’t even realise we’ve absorbed. A friendly, external perspective can free us from things like
the guilt of removing inherited, established plants
the irrational clinging to an idea of the garden that, when we think about it, isn’t really even our own, and whose maintenance sucks all the joy out of gardening.
It can be liberating to let a lot of this stuff go, to discover our own, unique gardening style, and be handed a permission slip to garden for ourselves and ourselves alone. So, yes, you can get rid of that shrub you can’t abide, take out that tree that’s creating too much shade, or choose to let your lawn grow longer. It’s your garden, and what you say, goes. Now, let’s make that work for you, by articulating that unique style, and helping you to make good gardening decisions in the future based on your own values and beliefs, and not those of anyone else.
I’ve never been able to enjoy the garden more than this week, I’ve finally got to a point where I can look out on it and just see beauty, rather than things I’d like to improve. I have so appreciated your patience and kindness and permission-granting over the past year, and I shall miss it!
ALICE IN LONDON
coaching options
Three options for you to choose from, according to the level of garden coaching you feel you’d benefit from right now.
For small, self-contained projects, to put you in touch with your creative energies and set the course for gardening success
When you have serious plans for the garden – or the gardener. Time enough to sow an intention and watch it grow
Where the big changes happen. We work to transform your gardening experience through one full round of the seasons
clarity
a full month of garden coaching
For smaller, self-contained projects. To help you gain clarity, put you in touch with your creative energies and set the course for gardening success
A month’s one-to-one online garden coaching will help you to overcome the overwhelm and decision paralysis that get in the way of our gardening intentions. It includes:
a pre-consult questionnaire
the coaching consultation call via Zoom
weekly check-ins via email
30 days of unlimited email support
and includes a discount code that can be used against further garden coaching arrangements
The price of clarity – a full month of garden coaching – is £160
purpose
a full season of garden coaching
When you have serious plans for the garden – or the gardener. Time enough to develop your gardening purpose, sow an intention and watch it grow
A season’s one-to-one online garden coaching is intended to bring both focus and momentum to your gardening, and includes:
a pre-consult questionnaire
the coaching consultation call via Zoom
weekly check-ins via email
monthly progress reviews
Voxer voice note messaging for guidance and encouragement
a full three month’s unlimited email support
and includes a discount code that can be used against further garden coaching arrangements
The price of purpose – a full season of garden coaching – is £350
transformation
a full year of garden coaching
Where the big changes happen. We work together to transform your gardening experience through one full round of the seasons
This 12-month programme, with minor amendments and additions, has been the foundation to my garden coaching since January 2020. A year’s one-to-one online garden coaching provides you with:
a pre-consult questionnaire
an initial online garden consultation to define where you are on your gardening journey and help you to focus on what you want from your garden, with the opportunity to identify one particular project to work on through the year
12 monthly coaching letters with inspirations and actions relating directly to the aims you identified in our initial consultation
the weekly check-in via email
monthly progress reviews
3 further consultation calls throughout the year via Zoom
Voxer voice note messaging for guidance and encouragement
12 full month’s unlimited email support
at the end of the 12-month coaching period, a review of the year’s progress, with goals for the coming season
a signed copy of my book, To Stand and Stare. How to garden while doing next to nothing
a discount code that can be used against further garden coaching arrangements
At the end of the year you’ll have gained a range of essential skills and knowledge, your approach to the garden will be informed by a clear plan backed up by realistic goals, and your outdoor space will be well on the way to its transformation into your dream garden.
The price of transformation – a full year of garden coaching – is £800
The biggest gift of mentoring with Andrew was not his playful monthly letters, chock-full of practical gardening suggestions, nor his infectious curiosity about plants but his generous encouragement to find my personal joy in gardening and to nurture that into a style and practice uniquely my own.
DAVID IN BERKELEY, CA
