Objectives

With a background of over twenty years in habitat gardening, we are now offering consulting and design services to help you plan an environmentally friendly, water conscious, and chemical free native plant garden.

Based on your in-put and objectives, we will help you assess the potential of your site as a habitat garden, outlining with you the characteristics of the proposed garden, and discussing questions of site preparation, design, resources, planting and maintenance.

As one of the fundamental ideas behind habitat gardening is that gardeners become creative, integral inhabitants of the garden through their reflection, commitment and on-going care, one of our objectives is to encourage as many people as possible to get actively involved in hands-on garden work. We therefore do not offer installation and maintenance services.

On-Site Visits

Most often, at least two on-site visits are required to initiate a habitat garden: the first, to clarify objectives and see how they can be applied in practice to the site; the second, to consolidate the findings of the first visit in the form of a design and planting plan. Your in-put is essential during both visits. It is helpful if you spend some time preparing a plan or sketch of what you envision before the first visit as a basis for discussion. An appropriate design and plant list require reflection and rarely can be done during the first visit. You may wish to prepare the design yourself, or have us draw one.

Fee for Visits:$55.00 per hour, plus mileage.

Mileage:A flat fee of $10.00 within a 30 minute drive from the Old Field Garden (this would include Kemptville, Merrickville,North Gower, Kars, Osgoode, Mountain, South Mountain and Prescott). The rate for each additional half-hour of driving time, including return, is $10.00.

Design

If you wish us to prepare the lay-out of your garden, we would be happy to do so. It would not take the form of a "finished" architectural design, but rather a detailed working sketch. We consider the preparation of a suitable plant list a part of the design process. Our design services will be handled by Catherine Everett. As well as participating in the work of the Old Field Garden and creating her own gardens, Catherine holds a Masters Degree in Fine Arts from Concordia University and has taught at the University of Ottawa for the past ten years.

Fee for Design;$55.00 per hour.

Please ask us for further details by clicking the "contact" button below.