Gardeners in Alhaurín and Coín
Here it isn’t measured in metres of hedge. It’s measured in plots
Clearance, olive trees, fruit trees and irrigation in Alhaurín de la Torre, Alhaurín el Grande, Coín and inland Mijas. Written quote within 24 hours.
- Large plots: quoted by the pass, not by the hour
- Olive and fruit tree pruning, for shade or for harvest
- Green waste removal always included
Your plot in the valley
Tell us what you need and we’ll give you a price within 24 hours.
What you need to know
Size doesn’t make the job dearer: it changes it completely
It’s the most expensive mistake people make when they come from the coast. A two-thousand-square-metre plot isn’t ten gardens of two hundred: it isn’t organised the same way, it isn’t watered the same way, and it makes no sense to price it by the same yardstick.
It’s planned in passes
In a small garden you go every week and leave everything perfect. On a plot there’s no such thing: some areas need attention every month and others need two passes a year, and that’s fine. Treating it all at the same frequency means throwing money away in some places and falling short in others. What works is a seasonal plan, with the visits where they’re really needed.
First, where the water comes from
Here, mains water isn’t taken for granted. A well or a turn on the acequia (the shared irrigation channel) dictates the design: it sets how much flow you have, at what pressure and at what hours you can water. A system worked out as if water were unlimited works in April and falls short in August, just when it matters. That’s why we ask before we draw anything.
Before pruning
Shade or olives. An olive tree won’t give you both
It’s the conversation to have before anyone climbs the tree, because they’re two kinds of pruning that pull in opposite directions. For a harvest, the crown is opened up, light gets in and the young wood, which is where the fruit forms, is renewed: the tree ends up airy, lower and with less leaf.
For shade, you do the opposite. A closed crown, density and height, which is what you want in an ornamental olive next to a terrace. Perfectly legitimate, but then the olives stop being the goal, and it’s better to know that in advance than at the next harvest.
The same goes for fruit trees, on a smaller scale. Tell us what you expect from the tree and we’ll tell you which pruning it needs.
Where we work
The valley, town by town
Four places that share one thing: this is where you leave the coast behind.
Alhaurín de la Torre
The most built-up of the three and the closest to Málaga city. A mix of urbanisations with private gardens and traditional plots. You see everything here: from a two-hundred-square-metre lawn to a finca with an olive grove.
Alhaurín el Grande
Steeper ground and country plots with fruit and olive trees. Lots of seasonal work: clearance before the summer and pruning in winter. Access is by track, not by street, and that has to be checked before promising a date.
Coín
Valley, market gardens and fruit trees. It’s where the work looks least like coastal gardening and most like traditional farming: citrus, olives and irrigation water that comes from wherever it comes from, not always the mains.
Inland Mijas
The upper part of the municipality, the side that looks over the valley rather than the sea. It’s in our own municipality and a short hop from our base, so we get there easily. Large plots with a clearance obligation and scattered trees.
If your finca is on a track that doesn’t show up on the map, send us the location and we’ll take a look.
Common questions
Questions about Alhaurín and Coín
I have a large plot, not a garden. Is that your kind of job?
It’s exactly the work in this area. On the coast the norm is two hundred square metres with a hedge and a lawn; here the norm is several thousand, with trees, untouched stretches and the odd fruit tree. The machinery changes, the rhythm of visits changes and the way of quoting changes: it makes no sense to charge for a plot by the gardener’s hour as if it were a patio. It’s planned in passes and by season, so you know what the whole year will cost you.
Are olive trees pruned the same way for shade as for olives?
You have to choose, because it isn’t the same pruning. For olives, the crown is opened up and the young wood, which is where the fruit is, is renewed, and the tree ends up airier and lower than many people expect. For shade you want exactly the opposite: a closed crown, dense foliage and height. An olive pruned for shade will give fewer olives, and one pruned to produce gives less shade. We talk it through before going up, because going back takes years.
My water comes from a well. Does that change anything?
It changes quite a lot, and it’s the first question we ask here. Designing irrigation around mains water isn’t the same as around a well or a turn on the acequia, because the available flow, the pressure and the hours when you can water all change. A system designed for the mains falls short if the well doesn’t deliver what it’s supposed to, and that doesn’t show on the plan: it shows in August. We’d rather check where the water comes from before proposing anything.
It frosts here in winter. Does that affect fruit trees?
It does, and it’s a real difference from the coast: without the sea next door, winter nights get colder. For stone fruit that even helps, because they need cold to flower properly. The ones that suffer are young citrus trees and subtropical plants, which do well on the beachfront and can have a hard time here. It’s solved by choosing the right species and the right spot on the plot, not by protecting them every winter.
Advice from your local gardener
October in Alhaurín and Coín
The best time of year to plant
Here you plant in autumn, not spring. The soil is still warm from the summer but the air no longer punishes, so the plant puts down roots all through the winter and reaches the next summer with its root system in place. Whatever goes in in May spends its first August suffering.
It’s also when the rain does part of the work: after the first storms you can cut the watering back a lot, but don’t switch it off altogether. A dry October is perfectly possible in Alhaurín and Coín, and a newly planted hedge won’t forgive a week without water.
And before the cold sets in, check the drippers one by one. After a summer working flat out there’s always one blocked with lime. You won’t notice it in winter… until June.
Shall we talk about your plot?
Tell us how many square metres it is, what’s planted and where the water comes from. With that, we can already plan the year. You can call or WhatsApp us in English.