Practice

Two people, four nurseries, and a promise to come back

There is no office and no third person. If you speak to somebody at Vall & Verd, that person will be holding the spade in February.

Who you will be dealing with

Núria Vall
Design and planting plans
Trained in horticulture, then spent six years at a nursery propagating the plants she now specifies. Does the soil tests, the drawings and the plant lists, and is the one who says no to a species that will not last.
Andreu Verd
Ground works and aftercare
Came to gardens from dry-stone walling and drainage. Handles levels, paths, water and everything that happens below the surface, and runs the three seasons of return visits.

How a garden is made

From the first visit to the end of the third season

About two and a half years from the first conversation to the last aftercare visit, of which the planting itself is one week.

The first visit
An hour on the ground, free and with no obligation. We dig two holes, look at what is already growing and ask what you actually do outdoors. We say at the end of that hour whether we want the job.
Soil and survey
Two weeks later: pH, texture, drainage timed with a bucket of water, and a measured plan. Charged as a fixed fee and yours to keep whoever plants the garden.
The drawing and the plant list
One scheme, not three. A plan, a section where the levels matter, and a plant list with the height each thing will be in year three and in year ten. We revise it twice; after that we are drawing rather than thinking.
Ordering, the winter before
Plants are reserved at the nurseries in autumn for planting in the following months. This is why a garden agreed in May is usually planted in November.
Ground works
Levels, drainage, paths, walls and soil improvement. The noisy part, usually one to three weeks, and the only stage where machines come on site.
Planting
Four to six days, done by the two of us. Everything is watered in by hand so that every plant is touched once more before we leave.
First season
Three visits: at leaf-out, in high summer and at leaf-fall. Watering checked, failures recorded, nothing pruned that does not need it.
Second and third seasons
Three more visits. Formative pruning, the first real cut-back, and anything that died replaced at our cost. At the last visit we hand over a written year of instructions and stop charging you.

Cost

What it costs, in the order you would pay it

We publish these because the first question is always this one and nobody enjoys asking it.

First visit
00
An hour on site, anywhere within about an hour of the workshop. No charge and no obligation on either side.
- An hour on the ground
- Two test holes
- An honest answer about whether we suit you
Arrange one
Soil, survey and report
From 00
A fixed fee, paid whether or not you go on with us, and the drawings are yours to take elsewhere.
- pH, texture and drainage tests
- Measured survey
- A written report on what the ground can carry
Design and plant list
From 00
One scheme, two revisions, and a plant list with sizes at year three and year ten.
- Plan and sections
- Plant list with nursery sources
- Two rounds of revisions
Planting and three seasons
From 00
The planting week itself and the six return visits that follow it, quoted together because we do not think they are separable.
- Planting by the two of us
- Six aftercare visits over three seasons
- Failures replaced at our cost
- A written year of instructions at the end

Figures are indicative and exclude tax, plants and materials, which are invoiced at what the nurseries and suppliers charge us, with their delivery notes attached. Ground works are quoted per garden once the survey is done. We ask for a third at the drawing stage, a third before ground works and a third at the end of planting; the three seasons of aftercare are already in that.

The awkward questions

Months, limits, and what we will not do

Which months do you plant?
November to early March for anything bare-root or deciduous, which is most of what we use. Evergreens and grasses go in during September and October, so the roots move before the cold. We do not plant in July or August, and we will not plant in June to suit a party date. A plant put in at the wrong end of the year spends two years catching up with one planted at the right end.
How long before it looks like anything?
Thin for one year, recognisable in three, and what we drew in about ten. A hedge planted small will be a hedge in five years. If you need it to look finished this season, buy large plants from a garden centre and accept that they will sulk for three years and never quite catch up.
How far do you travel?
About an hour from the workshop. The limit is not the planting, it is the aftercare: we have to be able to drive out for a single afternoon six times over three years without it becoming an expedition.
What will you not do?
We will not install a lawn that needs irrigation through August, or specify a plant that only survives here with weekly watering. We do not plant semi-mature trees for instant effect. We do not lay artificial grass. We will not design a garden we are not also planting, and we will not plant somebody else's drawing. None of this is principle for its own sake: each one is something we did once and regretted.
Where do the plants come from?
Four growers within a few hours of here: a bare-root field nursery, a specialist in grasses and perennials, a small propagator of local shrubs, and one grower of fruit trees. We visit each of them in winter and we tell you on the plant list which plant came from where.
What happens if something dies?
Within the three seasons we replace it and do not charge you, unless it died because it was not watered when we asked. Some losses are expected and written into the planting plan: on poor ground we assume one plant in five will not take, and we plant accordingly rather than pretending otherwise.
Do you take on maintenance after the third season?
No. By then the garden should be legible enough for a local gardener, or for you, to keep. We will spend a morning with whoever takes it on, at no charge, and we answer emails for as long as the garden stands.

About this site

The moving background on the home page

The home page opens with a garden that moves: a three-dimensional scene drawn live in your browser rather than a photograph. It is decoration. We would rather explain what it costs you than let it arrive unannounced.

It is about 1.4 MB of code and assets, written by other people and credited in this site's licence notices. It is not part of the page itself, and it is not fetched when you arrive. It is loaded only once the top of the home page has actually scrolled into view, so anyone who lands and leaves, or who reads on a slow connection, never pays for it.

It is never loaded at all for a visitor whose device asks for reduced motion. If you have set that preference on your phone or computer, for migraine, for vestibular reasons or simply because moving things are tiring, this site does not argue with you: you get a still page, nothing is downloaded, and nothing is hidden from you.

It can also be switched off completely in the site settings, in which case it is sent to nobody. Every word, every photograph, every link, the plant lists and the contact form behave identically with the scene on or off. Nothing on this site is behind it, and nothing is explained by it.

A practice that asks people to wait ten years for a hedge can afford to be straightforward about a heavy piece of decoration.

If the months and the limits suit you

Write in spring for planting the following winter. That is not us being difficult; it is when the nurseries take orders.

Get in touch

Two people, four nurseries, and a promise to come back

Núria Vall

Andreu Verd

The first visit

Soil and survey

The drawing and the plant list

Ordering, the winter before

Ground works

Planting

First season

Second and third seasons

First visit

Soil, survey and report

Design and plant list

Planting and three seasons

If the months and the limits suit you