Yes, Garden Soon offers garden consulting in South Heights — $85–$130 for the initial consultation, which includes walking the yard together, mapping the light, and producing a plan specific to your conditions. The borough sits on elevated ground above the Ohio River corridor, giving it a different topographic character than the flat river terrace boroughs. We build every garden plan in South Heights around what we actually find on site, not a generic template.
When we show up for a consultation, the first thing we do is walk the whole yard with you. We're looking at sun — specifically how many hours of direct light each potential garden spot actually gets, because that single factor determines almost everything. Six hours or more is what tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers need to produce well; leafy greens and herbs can manage on four to five. We ask what you want to grow, what your family actually eats, how much time you realistically want to put in, and whether you're thinking in-ground or raised beds. From there we sketch a layout on paper right there on site — bed dimensions, orientation, what goes where, spacing. We put together a plant list that fits both your conditions and your goals. We talk through timing: when to direct-sow, when to transplant, what goes in the ground in March versus what has to wait until after last frost. You walk away from a session with a sketch, a list, and a plan you can actually follow.
For South Heights specifically: clay loam on the elevated sections above the river, with the characteristic compaction issues of Beaver County inland properties. The elevated position means drainage is generally better than in the flat river terrace boroughs, but heavy clay still compacts readily without annual aeration.
A standard consultation includes the full site visit — sun assessment, drainage review, soil evaluation — plus a hand-drawn layout sketch, a plant list matched to your specific conditions and goals, a timing guide for your last frost zone, and soil amendment recommendations. If you're building raised beds, we walk through what to fill them with. The session runs about an hour and a half to two hours on site, and we cover everything you need to actually put a garden in the ground with confidence.
Before: you want to grow your own food. Maybe you've thought about it for years, or tried it once and it didn't go well. You have a yard, some ambition, and a lot of unanswered questions — where exactly to put beds, what soil to use, what will realistically grow in your conditions, and when to plant what. During: we come out, walk the site with you, map the sun, talk through what you want to grow and what your yard can support. We sketch a layout on paper, put together a plant list with varieties suited to this region, and work through the timing so you know what to start in late winter, what goes in the ground in early spring, and what has to wait until after last frost. We talk soil mix if you're doing raised beds — roughly equal parts compost, topsoil, and perlite or vermiculite for drainage and air. After: you have a paper sketch of your garden, a written plant list, timing notes, and soil recommendations. You have a plan you can hand to someone at the garden center and actually execute. And if questions come up six weeks in, a follow-up visit is available.
An initial garden consultation — site visit, sun assessment, layout sketch, plant list, and timing guide — runs $85 to $130. If you want a full garden plan with a follow-up visit included, that package is $225 to $375 depending on site complexity and plan scope. Remote consultations by phone or video are available at $50 to $75 per hour.
Yes — Garden Soon provides in-person garden consulting in South Heights. 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. The borough sits on elevated ground above the Ohio River corridor, giving it a different topographic character than the flat river terrace boroughs. 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 South Heights.
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 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 South Heights 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 South Heights, PA and surrounding areas.