Now is the time to start planning your garden design for next year

Believe it or not now is the time to start being creative and start to plan your garden next year. You may decide that you would like a garden design, in which case how do you choose a good garden designer? In Oxfordshire there are a group of garden designers who meet regularly as part of the larger umbrella organisation of the Society of Garden Designers. If you chose a registered member of this society you can be sure that the designer has passed a rigorous entrance procedure and so will be fully qualified to give you a truly professional service. However you may have to pay more for their services. The best route to this is to go via the society's own website and look for a designer near you.

Alternatively there are many garden designers who have chosen not to be in the Society of Garden Designers and the best way of making a judgement is to look at their website and see the sort of work they have done in the past. Most garden designers will come and look at your garden in the first instance for free and should be able to show you a portfolio of their work and a judgement can be made from that. Most garden designers should be able to give you references from satisfied clients. However, probably the most important criteria when choosing a garden designer is to ask yourself if you trust and like the designer and if they offer you a fair price for the work that they are offering.