Gardeners in Benalmádena
Almost every garden here is on a slope. That’s nothing new to us
Maintenance, pruning and irrigation in Arroyo de la Miel, the village and all along the coast. Written quote within 24 hours.
- Work on slopes, with the method each bank needs
- Written quote within 24 hours
- Green waste removal always included
Your garden in Benalmádena
Tell us what you need and we’ll give you a price within 24 hours.
What you need to know
The slope decides almost everything
From the seafront to Benalmádena Pueblo there’s a climb of nearly three hundred metres in a very short distance. A garden on a slope isn’t an ordinary garden tilted over: it’s watered differently, held in place differently and worked differently.
The water runs off before it soaks in
It’s the complaint we hear most here: “I water loads and it’s still dry.” On a slope the water runs over the top and heads off downhill before it soaks in, so the top stays dry and the bottom gets waterlogged. The answer is almost never more water: it’s several short cycles instead of one long one, to give it time to sink in. And where that isn’t enough, drip irrigation and basins that hold the water.
Banks have to be held in place
A bare bank doesn’t stay put: with the autumn rains the soil washes away and ends up on the path or in the pool of the neighbour below. What holds it is the roots, so the planting on it isn’t decoration, it’s structure. Topping up the soil every year costs more than planting it properly once.
Before you plant
Two hundred and eighty metres is enough for two climates
It sounds like an exaggeration for a municipality you can drive across in ten minutes, but the village and the coast don’t share a calendar. Up there the winter nights are a good deal colder and there’s more wind; down below it never frosts, but the air carries salt.
That turns into very specific decisions. A subtropical plant that does perfectly in Torremuelle struggles in the village, and pruning up there runs a little behind the coast. It’s the kind of detail you don’t see at the garden centre and pay for two winters later.
If you tell us which part you’re in, we’ll tell you what will cope there and what won’t, before you buy anything.
Where we work
Areas of Benalmádena
Three different heights, three ways of working.
Arroyo de la Miel
The flat part, and the most populated. Communities with medium-sized green areas, the odd private garden and lots of street trees. It’s where the work is most like any town’s: regular maintenance, hedge trimming and lawns.
Benalmádena Pueblo
Up top, at around 280 metres. Terraced gardens, stone walls and narrow access where materials go up by hand. Winter nights are a good deal colder than down below, and that changes what can be planted and when to prune.
Benalmádena Costa and Torremuelle
Frontline, with everything that brings: salt spray on the leaves and irrigation fittings eaten away in a couple of seasons. You plant what tolerates salt and expect to replace sprinklers more often than usual.
The slopes in between
Everything between the village and the coast: urbanisations clinging to the hillside, with banks, steps and steep drops. This is where you most notice the difference between a gardener who has worked on slopes and one who hasn’t.
If your urbanisation isn’t on the list, ask us: we cover the whole municipality.
Common questions
Questions about Benalmádena
Can you work on a garden on a slope?
It’s the norm here, so yes. What changes is the method: on a steep slope wheeled machinery can’t get in, so we work with a hand-held brush cutter, and a harness when it’s needed. We look at it on the visit before giving a price, because the gradient is what moves a quote most in Benalmádena, and promising without seeing it is how you end up with quotes that go up later.
I water a lot and the soil is still dry. Why?
It’s almost always the slope. The water runs over the surface and off downhill before it soaks in, so the garden at the top stays dry and the one at the bottom gets waterlogged. The fix is to water in several short cycles instead of one long one, and in serious cases drip irrigation and basins that hold the water. It can usually be sorted without any building work.
Is there a difference between the village and the coast?
Quite a big one. Benalmádena Pueblo is at around 280 metres, and winter nights there are noticeably colder than on the coast: a subtropical plant that does well in Torremuelle struggles up top. It also gets more wind. Arroyo de la Miel, which is in the middle and flat, is where it’s most like an ordinary town garden.
Do you work with communities in hillside urbanisations?
Yes, and they’re the ones that get the most out of a proper annual plan. In an urbanisation on a slope the big cost isn’t the cutting, it’s the banks: if they aren’t held in place, every autumn washes soil away and in the end it has to be replaced. We quote it item by item, with a monthly invoice and a report from every visit for the owners’ meeting.
Advice from your local gardener
October in Benalmádena
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 Benalmádena, 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 garden in Benalmádena?
If it’s on a slope, we’d rather see it before giving you a figure. Call us or send us a few photos.