Garden Soon's garden consulting service is available in Sewickley, Allegheny County at $85–$130 for an initial site visit. Rolling hills with steep pitches toward the Ohio River. That's exactly the kind of site-specific detail that shapes what we recommend for bed placement, crop selection, and planting timing in Sewickley.
YouTube can teach you how raised beds work in general. What it cannot tell you is that the spot on the south side of your house actually only gets four hours of direct sun because the neighbor's oak canopy cuts it off by early afternoon — which we'll catch in twenty minutes of watching the light move. Generic gardening advice is usually written for zone 7 or 8, or averaged across the whole country, which means the timing information is wrong for western Pennsylvania, wrong for the WV panhandle, wrong for central Ohio. When we come to your site, we're looking at your specific drainage situation, your soil texture, whether you have a frost pocket at the base of that slope, how your water access affects where it makes sense to put beds. We're asking questions no algorithm asks: what's your water source, how far are you willing to carry a hose, do you have dogs? We've also seen the mistakes that get made repeatedly in this region — the biggest one being planting warm-season crops too early, which one late frost can wipe out entirely. Site-specific, in-person assessment gets you answers tuned to your actual conditions.
For Sewickley specifically: heavy clay throughout the borough; compaction is the most common issue, especially on properties without a history of aeration. Low spots near the river bottom hold water after heavy rain.
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 Sewickley. 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. Rolling hills with steep pitches toward the Ohio River. 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 Sewickley.
We can, and a site assessment is especially useful in shady yards because 'shady' covers a lot of ground — there's a real difference between four hours of morning sun and four hours of afternoon sun, and between consistent shade and dappled light. Leafy greens, herbs like parsley and cilantro, and crops like kale and chard can manage on four to five hours. Tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers need six or more and won't perform well in true shade, and we'll tell you that honestly rather than set you up for disappointment.
Absolutely — existing beds are a great starting point, and a lot of what we do is working with what's already there rather than starting from scratch. We'd look at what soil is in the beds, how they're draining, whether they're placed in the best sun for what you want to grow, and how to set up a planting plan that actually uses the space well. Sometimes minor adjustments to placement, soil mix, or crop selection make a big difference in what those beds produce.
Yes, soil is a core part of what we cover in a consultation. For raised beds, we recommend a mix of roughly one-third compost, one-third topsoil, and one-third coarse perlite or vermiculite — that combination drains well, holds moisture without getting waterlogged, and gives roots the air they need. For in-ground gardens, we look at what's there, test the texture, and talk through what amendments make sense for your specific soil before you plant.
Customers who invest in getting their garden right tend to look up at some point and notice the lawn around it. It's a natural progression — once you've thought carefully about soil health, sun exposure, and what's actually growing versus what should be, the surrounding turf starts to look like the same conversation. Weed pressure from the lawn migrates into beds. Compacted soil in the yard affects drainage near the garden. The same attention to soil pH and fertility that helps a vegetable garden also applies to the twenty feet of grass around it.
Customers who do a garden consultation in Sewickley often connect with these other services:
Year-round turf health — fertilization, weed control, grub prevention, and winterizer timed to the growing season.
Weekly or biweekly mowing with edge trimming and blowdown. We cut at the right height for cool-season turf and adjust for growth rate.
One-time reclamation for neglected or jungle properties. We bring equipment rated for heavy material and haul everything out.
Spring and fall cleanup — leaf removal, debris, bed edging, ornamental cutbacks, and disposal.
Family- and pet-safe perimeter spray applied around the home exterior — foundation band, entry points, and window frames.
Garden Soon
Licensed & insured in PA · Rated 4.8★ on Google
Providing Vegetable Garden Design in Sewickley, PA and surrounding areas.