​Our Work » ​Landscaping a Large Garden in Crowborough

Landscaping a Large Garden in Crowborough

This was a boring, empty garden and the owners wanted to transform it into a lovely space they could enjoy and nurture for years to come.  Their main priorities were to make the garden more private, and to have a patio for socialising with friends and family. They also wanted raised vegetable beds, a good-sized lawn and a new shed. The tricky part was to get these to work altogether which is where we came in.



“The transformation is incredible!  Rob has incorporated all the quirky features that an old property has and made the 'new' garden fit around them.  And he took into account that we are not totally dedicated gardeners by choosing plants and trees that even we can maintain properly!  Everyone who visits is amazed - it is as though we have a new home.  I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending The Sussex Gardener.”

The Story

As always our aim was to give our clients what they wanted; but we also felt it was crucial to bring the garden and the house together. The furthest most corner was a sunny position and so we decided to build the patio here to do just that.  The position of the other features and the beds all followed on from there giving a lovely flow from the house up to the patio.

Our clients had started clearing the garden ready for us to start work in April.

There goes the old shed!  Work gets underway to bring in tons and tons of topsoil to replenish the poor soil already there.

The patio is underway with the curved wall to run along the back of it to give instant privacy. 

This area was designed to be the functional part of the garden with raised beds for vegetables, compost bins and a base for a new shed.  We built gravel paths in between for access. 

The planting was a major part of this project and took up a large part of the budget, especially as we needed a lot of mature shrubs to create instant privacy. The shrubs are all laid out in their positions before being planted.  

Not only was the soil quality poor we also hit sandstone only 12 inches down, which was fine for the lawn, but not the beds. We therefore dug down deep (literally and figuratively!) and removed the sandstone from the new beds and then replaced the soil with a compost mix.  It was an arduous but essential task, as it made the difference between healthy and dying plants.

To balance out the garden we also created a large bed along the other side of the garden.  The scheme we designed used plants that give year round cover, colour and interest.

With the lawn laid and the beds planted up and mulched the garden is coming together.  The gravel edging along the path is a neat finishing touch.

The vegetable beds are filled and ready for planting, and the shed is built and fully wired up with lights and sockets.  There’s plenty of room for a fridge and a comfy chair in there too… just saying!

The beds either side create a grassed walkway that leads you up to the new private patio.

Looking back to the house - it’s quite a long way, so a fridge in the shed may come in handy!