Garden Soon provides garden consulting in Beechview, Allegheny County — $85–$130 for an initial site visit that includes sun assessment, a layout sketch, a plant list, and timing guidance for your growing zone. Among Pittsburgh's steeper neighborhoods — significant grade changes are the norm, not the exception. Those site conditions are what we assess first when planning any garden in Beechview.
Most people who call us for garden consulting fall into one of three groups. The first tried a raised bed last year — bought the soil, built the box, planted six tomato plants — and ended up with leggy, yellowed plants that gave them maybe a dozen tomatoes by October. The second is a new homeowner who finally has a yard and wants to grow food but genuinely doesn't know where to start: which direction does the sun move, where should the beds go, what can actually grow here? The third grew up with a huge family garden, helped pick tomatoes every summer as a kid, and now wants to start their own but realizes they were never the one making the decisions. All three situations share the same core problem: a lot of enthusiasm and a real gap in the site-specific, practical knowledge that turns a patch of dirt into something productive. That gap is exactly what we help close — without making anyone feel like they should have already known this.
For Beechview specifically: urban conditions with highly variable topsoil. Steep slopes have eroded soil with limited organic matter. Some lots have fill from past construction or demolition. Compaction common in high-foot-traffic areas near rowhouses.
After the initial consultation, a follow-up visit is available — typically scheduled two to three weeks into the season, when the real questions start showing up. We also stay available for shorter questions through the growing season. For customers who want ongoing support, the full garden plan package includes a revisit built in. Our community plant pickup program is another touchpoint: many consulting customers source their transplants through us, which means we can make sure the plant list we built together is exactly what shows up ready to go in the ground.
When we walk onto a new site, we're reading a lot at once. Where is the sun coming from and what's blocking it — a fence, a roofline, a tree on the neighbor's property that didn't leaf out yet when you checked in April? We look at the ground: does it drain or does it pool after rain? Is the soil clay-heavy, sandy, or somewhere in between? We're also asking a lot of questions, because the physical conditions only tell half the story. We want to know what you actually cook, whether you have deer pressure in the neighborhood, how much time per week you can realistically put into this. Those answers change the plant list and the layout. We've seen too many first gardens fail not because of bad soil or bad luck but because someone planted twelve zucchini plants for two people, or put tomatoes in a spot that looks sunny in the morning but gets shade by noon. The sketch we put together on-site reflects everything we find — not a template, but a plan drawn around what's actually there.
The initial consultation ($85–$130) covers a full site visit of one and a half to two hours, sun and drainage assessment, a hand-drawn layout sketch, a written plant list with region-appropriate varieties, timing guidance for your last frost zone, and soil amendment recommendations. You walk away with documents in hand. The full garden plan with follow-up ($225–$375) includes everything in the initial consultation plus a more detailed written design plan and a second site visit two to three weeks later, when questions have had time to develop. If you've already had a consultation and just need us back for a specific issue or a season check-in, a standalone follow-up visit is $65 to $95 for an hour on site. Remote consultations — phone or video, useful for off-season planning or customers outside our regular service area — are $50 to $75 per hour. All pricing is honest and upfront; we discuss scope on the initial call before anything is scheduled.
Yes — Garden Soon provides in-person garden consulting in Beechview. We come to your property, walk the site together, and produce a plan specific to your conditions. Call (724) 201-9484 or use the contact form to schedule.
We start by walking the yard together and mapping where direct sun actually falls through the day — that determines where beds can go and what will produce well. Among Pittsburgh's steeper neighborhoods — significant grade changes are the norm, not the exception. From there we sketch a layout on paper during the visit and put together a written plant list matched to your conditions and what you want to grow in Beechview.
The most common causes in this region are not enough sun, planting warm-season crops before the last frost date, and inconsistent watering — each of those will tank a garden on its own, and they often show up together. In western Pennsylvania, one late frost after tomatoes go in the ground can wipe the whole planting. Walking the site with us lets us identify which of those factors applied to your specific situation and build a plan around avoiding them this time.
The consulting itself is advice and planning — we don't sell seeds, but we do connect customers with our community plant pickup program, which offers vegetable transplants ready to go in the ground at the right time for this region. If you're getting a consultation in late winter or early spring, we'll often talk through what plant starts make sense for your plan and whether the pickup is a good fit for getting those plants.
Winter is actually a great time to schedule, because planning ahead of the season is more useful than trying to catch up once things are in the ground. We can walk a site in November, December, or January — the sun angle is different but that's actually useful information — and build a full planting plan and soil prep schedule so you're ready to act the moment the ground is workable in March. Remote consultations by phone or video are also available in winter at $50 to $75 per hour for customers who want to plan from wherever they are.
Customers who do a garden consultation in Beechview often connect with these other services:
Garden Soon
Licensed & insured in PA · Rated 4.8★ on Google
Providing Vegetable Garden Design in Beechview, PA and surrounding areas.