Call
Town, access, and whether it is a design, a drive, a tree or a tidy.
Birchall Lane, Hertford
Gardens drawn at the yard, built on the plot.
Patios, drives, grounds rounds and tree work for houses and commercial sites. Jake McGrath runs the practice from The Garden Centre, Birchall Lane.
From the gate
A conversation, a drawing, a crew, a swept site.
Work has included modest ponds and water features, rooftop gardens and corporate landscaping, as well as the domestic plots in the photographs. Size and budget are said out loud at the start.
The standard is specific to the garden in front of the crew. The photographs are a sample, not a catalogue of every job the team has touched.
Services
Five bookings that cover most of the diary.
Design
Low maintenance garden design
A layout that matches the hours you actually have, with lawn only where it will be used.
Hard landscaping
Hard landscaping
The surfaces, walls and edges: drives, patios, fences, decks and ponds.
Grounds
Estate and grounds maintenance
A regular visit for houses, shared gardens, hotels, offices, schools and housing.
Trees
Tree surgery
Felling, reductions, pruning and stumps, done by arborists with current certificates.
Machines
Mini digger and dumper hire
A digger and a dumper, driven by the crew or hired as machines only.
Order of work
Four steps, and then the site is clear.
Draw
A layout matched to how the garden is used, and to the hours it will get.
Build
The same crew, with a digger on site when the spoil is too much for a barrow.
Return
Some plots move onto a monthly visit once the build is finished.
Photographs
Jobs already published, shown in pairs.
Alley way paving
A narrow side passage given a block and slab surface, so the gap reads as a path.
Mrs Antony’s back garden
Rough ground in Hertford turned into sandstone, gravel, lawn, a fence and a working end.
Patio and garden, Potters Bar
Conifers cut back, a feature patio and paths, and new fence panels in Potters Bar.
Sandstone driveway, Borehamwood
Old tarmac in Borehamwood replaced with sandstone, a block edge and pointed joints.
Notes
Written from finished jobs, not from a template.
6 min read
Falls, edges and the base under a new patio
Why a Hertfordshire patio is set out with a fall, a firm base and an edge before anyone talks about the colour of the slab.
6 min read
Laying turf on Hertfordshire clay
What has to happen under new turf when the ground is London clay: levels, topsoil, and why a lawn is kept only where it will be walked on.
5 min read
Whether a digger will fit the side gate
How access, spoil and turning space decide mini digger and dumper hire, before anyone talks about the size of the hole.
Questions
Before the first visit.
How far from Hertford do you travel?
The address is The Garden Centre, Birchall Lane, Hertford, SG14 2NR. Regular work runs through Hertsmere and on towards St Albans, Watford and Hatfield, with published jobs in Hemel Hempstead and Stevenage as well.
Who picks up the phone?
Jake McGrath. The first conversation is with him, at 01992 414 536 or 078 6224 5534, or by email to info@hertslandscapes.com.
Is a short side passage worth booking?
Yes. The portfolio includes a paved alley and the Humpage courtyard as well as whole back gardens and long drives.
Do the machines come with a driver?
Mini digger and dumper hire can include a driver, or the machines can be hired on their own if you already have an operator. Access and where the spoil goes are agreed first.