Two Hour Site Consult (Book Online)


Site Visits & Garden Advice

Imagine how much you could learn when a gardening expert visits your garden?

Get advice about any gardening related topics with your on site consult.

"We wanted some advice reworking the existing garden to incorporate more fruit trees and vegies. Duncan's advice was invaluable. He was prompt, friendly, knowledgeable and professional. The site visit was great value for money. "
Donna & Peter McDowell
Croydon
"Duncan's thorough inspection and diagnosis, clearly identified our problems with the declining yield of our once-productive large vegetable garden. "​
Sue & Angus Martin
Camberwell

TAILORED ADVICE IN YOUR OWN GARDEN

PICK AND MIX FROM THE FOLLOWING TOPICS OR suggest your own topics.

Site Analysis of Your Garden

Observe and assess the characteristics of your site. Look at how sun, wind, rain and the slope affect your gardening success. Discuss your ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ from the site to help determine the best garden layout and solutions for you.

Edible Garden Design

Want to get a professional to design your edible garden? Your site consult is the perfect opportunity to discuss design options and costs for your design. If you already have your own design ideas, we can review them during the consult and provide you with plenty of feedback.

Compost Systems and Worm Farm Advice

After discussing your household needs we can make recommendations on the best composting solutions for your situation. Save time, effort and money by getting the right solution.

Raised Garden Beds and Wicking Bed Advice

Learn about the features of different gardening systems. Wicking beds are great, but often their performance doesn’t justify their expense. Find out what is going to be useful in your particular situation and potentially save hundreds of dollars! Understand the best place to put your garden bed and determine what size you need.

Backyard Orchards and Edible Forest Garden Advice

Got an existing backyard orchard or planning a new one? Find out which tree you need and where to buy them. Understand that fruit trees have different requirements and how to lay out your orchard to maximise productivity. Learn about edible forest gardens and how they can produce masses of food with minimal effort.

backyard chicken coops

Plant Pests and Disease Consultation

Get advice on living with or managing garden pests such as possums, birds, bats and rats. Understand your garden ecology and how it can help reduce the impact of aphids and other plant pests. Get that plant disease identified and recommendations for control.

"Our advice enables you live in a more sustainable manner through increasing productivity and reducing maintenance requirements."
Duncan Cocking Leaf Root Fruit Edible Garden Specilaist Hawthorn Melbourne Urban Farmer
Duncan Cocking
Director
"You can grow tasty, nutritious food with very little effort. Let me help you to save time and money by avoiding common gardening mistakes "
Duncan Cocking Leaf Root Fruit Edible Garden Specilaist Hawthorn Melbourne Urban Farmer
Duncan Cocking
Director

INCREASE YOUR GARDENING SUCCESS

Frequently Asked Questions

Will you provide me with a written report?

To keep the costs of this service as low as possible, we do not provide written reports or follow up notes. Instead, we encourage you to take your own notes during the visit.

What happens if it rains?

We conduct our site visits regardless of the weather. Heavy rain or windy days provide great opportunities for us to analyse how the site performs under these conditions!

Can I book you in for a two hour consult to help me prune my fruit trees?

Certainly. However, please book in for our Fruit Tree Pruning Masterclass instead of the Gardening Advice Session. This ensures that we bring the correct equipment and provide you with our comprehensive booklet on fruit tree pruning.

If I decide to go ahead with having some garden beds installed after getting your advice, will my $200 get refunded?

The profit margins on our garden beds and other gardening services are quite slim, so we are unable to discount the site consult fee from the cost of the garden bed. However, we will subtract the $200 cost for the visit from the cost of a full permaculture design as this can be the first step in the design process.

Which Areas Do We Visit?

Duncan divides his time between Melbourne and Kyneton. He limits his consults to the following Local Shire Councils:

Update October 2023

I am focusing on writing a new book and adding a huge amount of new content to my Substack Page. In order to do this, I am strictly limiting my time spent on other services offered by LRF. This includes Consults, Permaculture Design and Landscaping. For now, I am ONLY conducting consults in three Local Sire Councils (Macedon Ranges, Hepburn Shire and Mt Alexander Shire). It is anticipated that Melbourne residents will be able to book consults again in early 2024. Stay tuned to my monthly newsletter, for when Melbourne residents can again book consults.

Banyule

Bayside

Boorondara

Brimbank

Darebin

Glen Eira

Hepburn

Hobsons Bay

Hume

Macedon Ranges

Manningham (Bulleen, Templestowe, Doncaster & Donvale only)

Maribyrnong

Melbourne

Monash

Moonee Valley

Moreland

Mount Alexander

Port Phillip

Stonnington

Whitehorse

Yarra (but NOT Yarra Ranges)

Is your local council not listed? Please do not book a consult with Duncan if you live outside of these areas. Feel free to get in touch with us via email if you really, really, really want to book a consult. We may be able to arrange something for an additional travel fee.

Book your Gardening advice Session below

We ask you to select three possible appointments for us to meet with you.

This enables us to select one of those three options based on your geography and those of other scheduled appointments. Optimising our schedule and travel routes to different parts of Melbourne reduces our carbon footprint and enables us to keep the cost of this service as low as possible for you.