• We design extraordinary outdoor experiences and offer consulting services to our clients to help them discover the unseen potential of their outdoor spaces. As a design firm, we work closely with our construction team and our inhouse maintenance teams to provide you a seamless experience throughout the entire project.  We have found that establishing a strong relationship upfront ensures greater client satisfaction. We achieve this by listening and building trust through extensive due diligence that results in accurate cost estimates that saves you time and money. Clients choose to work with us because of our deep industry knowledge and our passion for innovative design solutions.

• We begin with a meeting on the project site to discuss the vision, key objectives, stylistic preferences, and lifestyle. This is also where we will review budget and timelines expectations. Following the meeting we send out a detailed Scope Summary specific to the  project.

• Once we are hired for the project, we then request a topographic survey that locates key elements and features, and we will outline the next steps in our contract.

HARVEST TO TABLE VEGETABLE GARDENS

•  Peter Atkins and Associates provides the joy without the toil. We offer full-service maintenance & harvesting services and garden coaching – essentially whatever it takes to create a beautiful, edible garden for you.

• Peter Atkins and Associates Harvest to Home is all about relationships. Our staff meets weekly and collaborates to not only meet your expectations but also to exceed them.

• We also use cutting edge software to keep updated on the needs of our clients and their gardens, provide efficient service, and regular communication. All of this helps to keep our team dynamic and passionate about  providing the absolute best garden experiences for you.

WHAT IS A POLLINATOR PATHWAY?

• This Pollinator Pathway project is organized by volunteers from town conservation organizations (listed on each town's page) working together to establish pollinator-friendly habitat and food sources for bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and other pollinating insects and wildlife along a series of continuous corridors.  Most native bees have a range of about 750 meters, so the goal is to connect properties that are no farther apart than that. 

• This project began in 2017 in Wilton, CT. Since then, pathways have been established in over 85 towns in CT and NY and the list keeps growing. Because the Pollinator Pathway “de-fragments” the environment, it benefits our ecosystem. Our landscape has been chopped up, or fragmented, through urban- and suburbanization. The problem is, we can no longer support sustainable populations of wildlife in our isolated parks and preserves alone, as Dr. Doug Tallamy, University of Delaware entomologist, argues so eloquently in his book Bringing Nature Home. 

• Luckily, there is a solution. If we begin to manage our own yards organically and with native plantings, we can use them to connect parks and preserves, creating crucial corridors for wildlife. That is the idea behind the Pollinator Pathway.

• Native plants are a vital component of the ecosystems of the northeast. These ecosystems include plants, animals, insects, fungi, and microbes. When one component of an ecosystem is in decline, the entire ecosystem is threatened. Our native plants provide shelter, food, and breeding sites for our native mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and insects. Once abundant throughout the northeast, many native species are now increasingly hard to find in the wild. Loss of habitat due to development, and the explosion in deer population since the 1930s are both major factors in the decline of our native plant species. To some degree, birds and animals have had to turn to alternate sources of food and many populations have declined - some drastically.

• Another consequence of decreased diversity and abundance of our native plants is that the door is left open to opportunistic invasive plants, now transported around the world more easily than ever. Invading plants often take over precious habitat and our compete native species due to lack of native predators. Disturbed sites are especially prone to colonization by invasive weeds.

• One of the best things we can do for the health of our entire local environment is to increase the population of native plants, while trying to eliminate invasive species. Each native plant is associated with a particular group of animals which make use of it for food, shelter, or breeding. The best approach is to attempt to establish a diversity of plants which will attract a diversity of wildlife.

• Defined as non-native species that are likely to cause harm to wildlife or an environment, invasive plants sometimes have an appealing look, thanks to flowers or colorful leaves. But according to the U.S. Forest Service, they can get ugly when it comes to their impact on a landscape. Invasive species can degrade wildlife habitat, negatively affect water quality, increase soil erosion, block out other plants and compete with native species for soil nutrients and sunlight. That is a big price to pay for a few flowers.

• Sometimes you can spot invasive plants easily because, well, they tend to invade — taking over a garden quickly and becoming challenging to control. Others are more subtle in their attack.

• Invasive plant species are more than just weeds. They can be any living organism, according to the National Wildlife Federation, that is non-native and causes harm to the environment, human health, and the economy. In the landscape, invasive plants can be alleopathic, meaning they release biochemicals as a defense mechanism, which inhibit seed germination and seedling growth of other plants.

• Invasive have few natural predators. They often crowd out natives with their prolific  growth. They also disrupt ecosystem food chains; native animals and other organisms evolved along with their plant food sources. 

• Invasive plants tend to be fast growing species found throughout abandoned  landscapes along stream banks, and neglected gardens. These plants are effective in occupying areas otherwise controlled by our native species. As the range of non-native, invasive species expands they displace our native species and can have a profound effect on insect populations which have evolved and adapted to our native plant communities. Removing invasive species from our landscape is a very important effort.

SOLUTIONS:

The process that Peter Atkins and Associates uses to eradicate invasive species includes: 

• Invasive species management is site-specific, and treatments vary depending on the species, area size, and surrounding ecosystem.
• Pulling the Plant from the Root by Hand. There are special tools that allow us to do this without disturbing the soil and the plant communities. This easiest is done after it rains.        
• Organic weed wicking with (OMRI approved) herbicides. These products do not persist in the environment like synthetic equivalents or chemical imputes. ·        
• Mechanical removal. ·        
• Replanting with a site- and soil-appropriate native planting post-removal. We do not leave exposed bare soil since it can lead to erosion and new colonies of invasive plants.      
• Mulching to suppress weed growth.

• We are pleased to offer a forty five minute face to face no-obligation landscape consultation appointment at your home at absolutely no cost to you. This allows us to understand what you are looking to achieve in your garden, together with the ideas behind your landscaping project and how we can help transform your garden. We then follow this up with a detailed quotation that sets out our methods and the processes we will use, alongside a full breakdown of costs. Additionally, we may highlight these thoughts and ideas with a mood board to show glimpses and inspiration of how your landscape garden could develop.

• Why not get in touch today so we can talk to you about transforming your garden in  2021.

We would be delighted to help.