Soft landscaping

Soft Landscaping in Northamptonshire

Soft landscaping is what brings a garden to life. While hard landscaping provides the structure, it's the planting, lawns, and green spaces that create atmosphere, colour, and seasonal interest. At Hamson's Landscaping, we design and install soft landscaping schemes that look stunning from day one and continue to mature beautifully over the years.

Working across the wider Northamptonshire area, we've planted everything from compact courtyard gardens to sweeping rural estates. Whatever the size of your space, we bring the same level of care, horticultural knowledge, and attention to detail.

Planting Design That Works

Great planting design is about more than choosing pretty flowers. It's about understanding how plants grow, what conditions they need, and how they'll interact with each other over time. We consider sun exposure, soil type, wind patterns, and your maintenance preferences when putting together a planting plan. If you already have plans from a garden designer or architect, we're happy to work from those too — just bring them along and we'll take care of the planting.

Our designs typically layer plants for year-round interest:

• Structural evergreens — Providing backbone and form through winter months
• Flowering perennials — Waves of colour from spring through to autumn
• Ornamental grasses — Adding movement, texture, and soft natural beauty
• Seasonal bulbs — Early colour from snowdrops, crocuses, daffodils, and tulips
• Climbing plants — Softening walls, fences, and pergolas with vertical interest
• Ground cover — Suppressing weeds and filling gaps with low-growing plants

We select species that are well-suited to Northamptonshire's climate and soil conditions, favouring a mix of native plants for wildlife value and carefully chosen ornamentals for visual impact.

Lawns and Turfing

A healthy, well-maintained lawn is the centrepiece of most gardens. We offer professional lawn installation using premium cultivated turf, laid on properly prepared ground for the best possible start. Our lawn preparation process includes:

• Clearing and levelling the existing ground
• Improving soil structure with topsoil and amendments where needed
• Ensuring proper drainage to prevent waterlogging
• Laying fresh turf with tight, staggered joints
• Aftercare guidance to help your new lawn establish

For customers who prefer a low-maintenance alternative, we also install high-quality artificial grass that looks natural and stays green year-round — perfect for families, pet owners, or shaded areas where natural grass struggles.

Soil and Site Preparation

The success of any planting scheme depends on what's happening below the surface. Northamptonshire's soils range from heavy clay in the Nene valley to lighter, stonier ground on the ironstone ridges. We test and assess your soil as part of every project, then amend it as needed with organic matter, compost, and specialist feeds to give your plants the best start.

For new-build properties — which are common across the growing towns of Northampton, Kettering, and Wellingborough — we often find compacted, nutrient-poor subsoil that needs significant improvement before planting. We handle all of this as part of the project, so you don't need to worry about the groundwork.

Wildlife-Friendly Gardens

There's a growing demand for gardens that support local wildlife, and it's something we're passionate about. Simple choices like including native hedging, wildflower areas, log piles, and pollinator-friendly planting can make a real difference to biodiversity in your garden.

We can design dedicated wildlife zones within your garden or weave wildlife-friendly elements throughout the planting scheme — it doesn't have to mean sacrificing style or tidiness. Many of our most beautiful gardens are also the most biodiverse.

Borders, Beds, and Container Planting

Whether you want deep herbaceous borders bursting with colour, neatly structured beds with clipped hedging, or elegant container displays for a patio or entrance, we design and plant to suit your style.

We're equally comfortable with contemporary minimalist schemes — think architectural grasses, cloud-pruned box, and clean lines — as we are with relaxed cottage-garden planting full of roses, lavender, and delphiniums. The key is understanding what you love and making it work in your space.

Ongoing Plant Establishment

New planting needs extra care in its first year as roots establish. We provide clear aftercare guidance with every project and offer ongoing maintenance packages for customers who'd prefer us to look after their garden as it grows. This is particularly valuable for larger planting schemes where seasonal pruning, feeding, and mulching make a real difference to how the garden develops.

Serving Northampton and Surrounding Areas

Our soft landscaping services cover the whole of Northamptonshire, including Northampton, Daventry, Towcester, Brackley, Kettering, Wellingborough, Corby, and the surrounding villages. We know the local soil conditions, climate, and growing challenges well, and we design planting that suits your specific location.

If you'd like to bring your garden to life with planting that's designed to thrive, get in touch for a free consultation.