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Community Kitchen Garden

Our Story

A Growing Passion...

Welcome to VM Gardening — where gardens bloom, landscapes thrive, and a friendly team is always ready to lend a green thumb. Discover what we’re all about.

VM Gardening Services was founded by Dan, whose lifelong connection to the land began on a working cider farm and vineyard in Portloe. Immersed in horticulture from a young age, Dan has dedicated both his personal and professional life to understanding and working with plants. Over the years, he’s collected and planted many plants, as a way to deepen his plant knowledge and grow an extensive personal collection.

VM Gardening has grown from Dan’s passion into a trusted team of skilled gardeners who share his commitment to quality, care, and respect for nature. Together, they offer a wide range of services — from garden maintenance and planting to landscaping and estate care — always with a tailored, hands-on approach.

Beyond the day-to-day, Dan’s enthusiasm for the natural world extends into his personal projects. He’s built a rammed earth amphitheatre in the Cornish countryside to host occasions, and spends his spare time propagating plants and tracking down rare species like Pyrus cordata. He’s also a keen vehicle mechanic, with a deep appreciation for both the engineered and the organic.

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At the heart of VM Gardening is a simple mission: to nurture gardens and landscapes with care, creativity, and lasting impact. With honesty, hard work, and a personal touch, Dan and the team are proud to help gardens of all sizes flourish. With VM Gardening, your outdoor space is in experienced, thoughtful hands — and we can’t wait to help it grow.

About Us

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Gardens & Estate Services

Garden Maintenance & Groundskeeping. - Lawn care, mowing, edging, scarifying, and strimming. - Hedge trimming, formative pruning, rose pruning, and topiary. - Seasonal planting schemes and flower bed design. - Pathway and drainage upkeep - Leaf clearing and general garden tidying - Regular maintenance plans for private homes, estates, or retirement villages

Specialist Pruning & Tree Care Pruning of fruit trees: cordons, espaliers, fans, standards, step-overs, rods and spurs. - Heritage orchard restoration and pruning plan development - Tree checks, limb removal, and reduction work using pole pruners - Woodland management, coppicing, and windblown tree clearance - Chainsaw felling and cross-cutting, with chipping and clearance

Drombrow abandoned water Gardens (volunteer in Eire): (Nov 2016 to Feb 2017) - full time volunteer for a courtyard restoration project, tree felling and maintenance, research, mapping and identification of specific ancient Egyptian, British military & masonic design features, researching the history of the garden, I undertook plant identification of the century old plants of this garden, some of witch are catalogued with the Irish tree society as the largest of there species in Europe, and many hybrid’s of Nymphaeaceae that had survived in the lake and pools. I also worked for a local gardening company in co. cork caring for an extensive Galanthus collection among other gardens.

Kew Gardens (work placement): Working in Kew gardens I spent 3 weeks in tropical glass houses learning about the general maintenance & care of many of the plants in the Vietnamese collection, an endangered Napenthes collection, and the potting on and care of tropical orchids. for my self study, I collected information from the mycological department on British truffles, to create a presentation on the feasibility of growing them in Cornwall.

Vegetable & Productive Garden Management - Planning and management of kitchen gardens and glasshouses - Triple digging, crop rotation, compost production and soil reconditioning - Sowing, propagation, and harvesting of heritage and seasonal crops - Pest and disease control (including biological solutions) - Herbicide, pesticide, insecticide, and fungicide application (COSHH trained) - Vineyard pruning and specialist care for fruiting plants - Collaboration with chefs and estate kitchens for tailored produce plans

Propagation & Nursery Services - Propagation of annuals, perennials, specimen plants, herbs, and trees - Seed saving, plant division, and growing on from plug plants - Tropical and subtropical plant care, including citrus restoration - Nursery work including plant profiling and stock duplication

Landscaping & Garden Design - Soft landscaping: turfing, fencing, decking, raised beds, irrigation - Hard landscaping support: stone wall repair, pathways, glasshouse construction - Wildflower meadow and orchard design - Restoration of Victorian planting schemes and period-accurate layouts - Custom design and installation of new borders, beds, and planting features - Water feature, pond, and waterfall maintenance and creation

Estate & Property Services - Chauffeuring, waiting, and light security duties - Labouring for building projects (e.g. roofing, timber installations) - Use of large plant machinery including diggers, dumpers, and trailers - Removals, site clearances, and sweeping - Tennis court cleaning and outdoor facility upkeep - Ongoing support for event preparation, guest areas, and private estate presentation

    • Lawn care, mowing, edging, scarifying, and strimming.

    ​

    • Hedge trimming, formative pruning, rose pruning, and topiary.

    ​

    • Seasonal planting schemes and flower bed design.

    ​

    • Pathway and drainage upkeep - Leaf clearing and general garden tidying

    ​

    • Regular maintenance plans for private homes, estates, or retirement villages

    • Pruning of fruit trees: cordons, espaliers, fans, standards, step-overs, rods and spurs.

    ​

    • Heritage orchard restoration and pruning plan development

    ​

    • Tree checks, limb removal, and reduction work using pole pruners

    ​

    • Woodland management, coppicing, and windblown tree clearance

    ​

    • Chainsaw felling and cross-cutting, with chipping and clearance

    • Planning and management of kitchen gardens and glasshouses

    ​

    • Triple digging, crop rotation, compost production and soil reconditioning

    ​

    • Sowing, propagation, and harvesting of heritage and seasonal crops

    ​

    • Pest and disease control (including biological solutions)

    ​

    • Herbicide, pesticide, insecticide, and fungicide application (COSHH trained)

    ​

    • Vineyard pruning and specialist care for fruiting plants

    ​

    • Collaboration with chefs and estate kitchens for tailored produce plans

    • Propagation of annuals, perennials, specimen plants, herbs, and trees

    ​

    • Seed saving, plant division, and growing on from plug plants

    ​

    • Tropical and subtropical plant care, including citrus restoration

    ​

    • Nursery work including plant profiling and stock duplication

    • Soft landscaping: turfing, fencing, decking, raised beds, irrigation

    ​

    • Hard landscaping support: stone wall repair, pathways, glasshouse construction

    ​

    • Wildflower meadow and orchard design

    ​

    • Restoration of Victorian planting schemes and period-accurate layouts

    ​

    • Custom design and installation of new borders, beds, and planting features

    ​

    • Water feature, pond, and waterfall maintenance and creation

    • Chauffeuring, waiting, and light security duties

    ​

    • Labouring for building projects (e.g. roofing, timber installations)

    ​

    • Use of large plant machinery including diggers, dumpers, and trailers

    ​

    • Removals, site clearances, and sweeping

    ​

    • Tennis court cleaning and outdoor facility upkeep

    ​

    • Ongoing support for event preparation, guest areas, and private estate presentation

What We Offer

With over a decade of hands-on experience across private estates, renowned public gardens, and heritage sites, we offer a comprehensive range of professional horticultural and estate maintenance services. Whether you're looking to restore a period garden, manage an ornamental space, or create a productive vegetable patch, we deliver tailored, high-quality results.

Gardening Services & Expert Care

Providing expert solutions for all types of green spaces in and around Cornwall. Get in touch today to discuss your needs and see how we can help you!

Probus, Cornwall, UK

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