The Measure of things
How do you measure your enthusiasm? Where does it start? Where does it end? If it excites you, you'll do it lavishly, save less, tell others... And may I ask, how did you know what quantity to buy to build something in your garden? How many pavers? How many plants? How much soil? The list goes on.
Honestly!! As I wrote in a landscape designer's blog a while back -
The planning of a garden is our playground. It is a place where ideas grow - where new ideas get tested and registered to be reused in the future. It is a place where a plan – a design gets put together and ready for use.
But in this day and age of "limitations", "rules and regulations" and other quaint variables, not to mention the proverbial "it always takes longer than you thought" effect; whatever you build, it'll take a while. When I began to design 30 years ago, nothing could be simpler than to ask someone how many pavers or plants you'd need. You'd refer to the supplier. He'd do the take-off and the delivery would take place. No problem.
Now, move forward 30 years -- the satisfaction of the home owner is a must for the business of a landscape contractor. I dare say, even a necessity. When you design a deck for dinner for 6 and a party of 10, you'd better be sure that deck does the trick. And what about that seating wall? And how high that patio cover? And how big that paver patio's supposed to be? And how many plants in that border over there?
For me, my first answer to a question like that is: "Aha, I have an app for that :) ". For Play courts: http://www.sportsknowhow.com/ ; For Deck tables: http://www.blocklayer.com/deckcalculatoreng.aspx ; For Plant spacing: https://calculatorhero.net/home-and-garden/plant-spacing-calculator ; For Time saver standards: http://www.amazon.com/Time-Saver-Standards-Landscape-Architecture-Charles/dp/0070170274 . Neat stuff.
There's a lot of stuff out there on the net for most things, but the eventual process - and the equally difficult part - is building a trust in the tools as well as the people. And that comes from experience. In addition, there are some things I'll always do myself, like measuring rooms; drawing plans; walking a site; and listening to clients... And it'll take as long as it takes. But, hey, that comes with the territory of doing something custom, something crafted vs off the peg.
We live in a world dominated by numbers after all. And if we can't prove it, we can't do it. And to make it better, there is always a balance to be struck and a healthy dose of common sense to be used.
How about you? How do you measure your enthusiasm? This blog is one of my measuring sticks. The words I write here, capture my excitement for what I do even after 30 years. Excitement that I want you to be enthused about too. So, pick a project and get the measure of it ...and enjoy it. The best way to know how big your garden should be, is to decide what you want to do in it. Or even better, come talk to us in the limited space that our blog allows, then tell us what's on your mind. Send us your top 10 garden activities; things that fill you with excitement. Then we'll make you a place to do those things. We'd love to know. Either way, we hope you measure your enthusiasm... and make sure that it measures up! ;)
