By Janina Baker, Baker Landscape Design
When people hear their garden can be designed entirely from photos and measurements — without me ever setting foot on the lawn — the first question is almost always the same: does that actually work? After more than twenty years designing gardens, I can tell you honestly that it does, and often better than you’d expect. Our online garden design process is built to give you the same considered, made-to-measure plan whether you’re two miles away or two hundred. Here’s exactly how it works, from your first call to the finished plan.
Why designing remotely works as well as a site visit
A good garden design doesn’t come from standing in the space for an hour — it comes from understanding it properly: the light, the levels, the soil, and how you actually want to live in it. All of that can be captured just as well through photographs, measurements and a proper conversation as it can in person, and sometimes better. You have time to think about your answers rather than being put on the spot in your own garden. Remote garden design UK-wide has grown enormously for exactly this reason: it removes the travel, the scheduling and the cost of a site visit, without removing any of the care that goes into the design itself.
It starts with a conversation
Everything begins with a free discovery call — around twenty minutes, no pressure and no obligation. We talk through your garden, what isn’t working, what you’re hoping for, and roughly what you’d like to invest. It’s our chance to understand your vision, and yours to get a feel for how we work. You can see the whole journey laid out on our How It Works page, but the call is always where it begins.
What I’ll need from you
Once you’re booked in, I’ll ask you to send a few simple things over in your own time — there’s no rush, and we guide you through all of it. First, measurements: the free Magicplan app lets you walk around the space with your phone and build an accurate plan in minutes, though a hand sketch with rough dimensions works perfectly well too. Second, photos from every angle — stand in each corner and shoot back across the garden, plus a few from the house looking out, so I can read the levels and the light. Third, a handful of inspiration images: a Pinterest board or just saved photos of gardens you love, whether or not they seem to “go together.” And finally, a few words on the feel you’re after — formal or relaxed, lush or low-maintenance, full of colour or calm and green. Before I begin, we always confirm we have everything we need. You should feel helped, never burdened.
Then I design your garden
From that brief, I design your garden by hand, drawn from scratch around your exact space, aspect and soil — never a template. Your complete, buildable design pack is ready in as little as five working days for smaller gardens, and typically 7 to 14 working days for medium and large projects — far quicker than the four to six weeks many studios take. When you see it, we refine it together: within your agreed brief, revisions are unlimited across up to three rounds, so we keep adjusting until it genuinely feels right.
What you get back — and building it
At the end you receive a full design pack you can hand to anyone with complete confidence: a 2D layout plan drawn to scale, a planting scheme with every plant chosen for your conditions, and clear notes and timescales to guide the build. If you’d like to see it in three dimensions first, I can add a SketchUp visualisation. From there, building is entirely flexible. If you’re in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire or nearby, my own landscaping team can build it — the same people who designed it, so nothing is lost in translation. And if you’re elsewhere in the UK, or you’d rather use your own trusted landscaper, your plan is made to be handed straight to any builder in the country, and I’m always happy to talk it through with them directly.
Ready to start?
If you’re curious whether remote garden design could work for your space, I’d love to talk it through. Book a free 20-minute discovery call and tell me about your garden — no pressure, no obligation, just honest advice on where to begin.
Janina Baker — Baker Landscape Design