Snap the yard
Three phone photos — morning, noon, late afternoon — plus one wide shot and one of that sad corner. That’s how we read your light.
You · 10 minutes
Native-plant design · Soil-health planning · Brooklyn, NY
Seven a.m., coffee in one hand, a jar of Brooklyn backyard dirt in the other — and finally, a plan.
Mail us your soil test and a few phone photos. We’ll send back a native planting plan, a soil-amendment spec, and a plant list that fits your light, your drainage, and your actual Saturday. All remote, billed per plan, from $168.
- No site visit, ever
- Plans land in 3–7 business days
- Invoiced per plan, nothing recurring
O horizon · Where we work
Brooklyn yards, stoop boxes, and fire-escape planters — all planned from the desk.
You hold the shovel, we hold the spreadsheet. Most of Brooklyn sits in zone 7b, so every plant list is built for our salty winters, baking July pavement, and the one tree that shades half your block.
- Sheepshead Bay
- Midwood
- Flatbush
- Gravesend
- Park Slope
- Windsor Terrace
- Bed-Stuy
- Crown Heights
- Bushwick
- Greenpoint
- Bay Ridge
- Red Hook
Don’t see your block? Doesn’t matter. If it’s in Brooklyn and it has dirt, we’ve got you.
A horizon · The week in between
From a jar of dirt to a plan on your phone
Scroll sideways. It’s about two Saturdays of light lifting on your end, and a few quiet days of nerding out on ours.
Dig a little
Six inches down, five spots, one bucket. Mix, dry it for a couple days, then send it to a lab. Never ordered a test? We’ll tell you which one.
You · one Saturday morningSend it over
Email the lab report, photos and rough measurements to contact@ravenloam.com and pick a plan. Napkin sketches are totally fine.
You · 5 minutesWe read the dirt
pH, organic matter, texture, drainage and — because it’s Brooklyn — the lead screen. We flag what needs fixing before anything goes in the ground.
Us · day oneWe draw the plan
A to-scale planting layout, plant counts with spacing in inches, a bloom calendar, and the order to install it all in.
Us · days two to sixPlan lands, invoice follows
A tidy PDF hits your inbox with the amendment spec on page one. Invoice comes by email. Questions? Text-style replies welcome.
Us · 3–7 business daysB horizon · How we think
Dirt is the client. You’re a very close second.
Pretty plant lists are easy. Plants that live through a Brooklyn August are a soil problem first — so that’s where we start.
A plant list without a soil test is just a wish list.
— Raven Loam, soil desk
Soil first, plants second
We read your lab numbers before we touch a plant catalog. Compacted clay, builder’s fill and sandy Sheepshead Bay loam each get a different plan.
Natives that actually belong here
Plants that evolved on this coastal plain — fewer waterings, more bees, better winter bones.
- Schizachyrium scoparium
- Symphyotrichum novae-angliae
- Asclepias incarnata
- Geranium maculatum
- Carex pensylvanica
Amend less. Measure more.
We spec compost in inches and sulfur or lime per 100 square feet — not “a few bags.” Often we tell you to skip the fertilizer. Natives like it lean.
Sun math, not sun guessing
Three photos across the day tell us more than “full sun” ever will. The building next door counts.
A plan you can build on a Saturday
Counts, spacing, install order, and what to do first when it rains Friday night. If your plan needs a degree to read, we did it wrong.
C horizon · Two plans, real prices
Just need the diagnosis? Or the whole yard drawn up?
Pick a side. Both are billed by invoice, per plan, and both start with your soil test.
Flat fee$168
Plan A
The Soil Read
Your lawn sulks, your bed won’t hold anything, and you want to know why before you buy a single plant.
- Your lab report decoded, in plain English
- Amendment spec: compost depth, sulfur or lime rates
- A 12-plant starter list matched to your light and moisture
- One 20-minute phone call to walk through it
- PDF in your inbox within 3 business days
Flat fee$612
Plan B
The Whole-Yard Plan
Everything in the Soil Read, plus the drawing: where every plant goes, how many, and what to do first.
- Full Soil Read, amendment spec included
- To-scale planting plan drawn from your photos and measurements
- Native plant list with counts, spacing in inches and sizes
- Month-by-month bloom calendar and install order
- One revision round, delivered in 7 business days
Little extras, priced like a ledger
- Balcony & container planPots, stoop boxes, fire-escape planters$96
- Pollinator-strip add-onA bloom-sequenced border along any plan$74
- Extra revision roundMoved the fence? New tree? We’ll redraw.$38
- Rush deliveryYour Soil Read in 24 hours, weekday submissions+$85
Billed by invoice per plan. Nothing recurring, nothing auto-renewing.
Questions people text us
The honest answers, before you ask
Do I really need a lab soil test?
Yep — it’s the whole foundation. A basic lab test usually runs $25–$60 on its own. If you haven’t ordered one, we’ll tell you exactly which to get. In Brooklyn we always ask for a lead screen, especially for veggie beds.
Can you plan from photos alone?
Photos tell us your light and layout, but not what’s in the dirt. We can sketch a rough direction from photos, but we won’t put a plant list on paper without soil numbers.
You never visit the yard?
Nope, and that’s why the plans cost hundreds less than a site-visit design. You send photos, measurements and soil; we send back a plan detailed enough to build from.
Tiny space — is this worth it?
Totally. Our balcony and container plan is $96 and covers pot size, potting mix recipe and plants that can handle a windy fire escape.
What if the plan doesn’t quite fit?
The Whole-Yard Plan includes one revision round. Need another? That’s $38. Tell us what’s off and we’ll redraw it.
When and how do I pay?
We email an invoice per plan when you pick one. No subscriptions, no upsell calls, and no surprise line items later.
Quote math
The numbers you need before you write to us
6 in
How deep you dig each soil sample.
5
Spots across the yard, mixed in one clean bucket.
3–7
Business days from your files to your finished plan.
0
Site visits. We work from your test, photos and measurements.
Odd-shaped lot, shared courtyard, a whole block of tree pits? Tell us about it and we’ll quote it by email, usually within one business day.
Get a quote for my yardReady to start?
Grab a trowel — then say hi.
A Soil Read starts at $168, the Whole-Yard Plan is $612. Tell us about your yard and we’ll point you to the right one.
Call or text(934) 210-3421
The desk2546 E 13Th St Apt F12, Brooklyn, NY 11235
HoursMon–Fri 8:30am–4:30pm · evenings by appointment
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