Last updated: 28 September 2026
How we make money, stated openly, because you deserve to know what is behind a recommendation before you act on it.
The short version
This site carries advertising, which is how the writing is paid for. Some articles may also contain affiliate links, which earn us a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. Neither changes what we recommend. We do not sell products.
Affiliate links
Some articles contain affiliate links. If you click one and buy something, we may receive a small commission from the retailer. The price you pay is exactly the same as it would be otherwise — the commission comes out of the retailer’s margin, not your pocket.
Where an article contains affiliate links, we say so at the top of that article. Not in small grey type at the bottom.
Advertising
Ads on this site are served by Google. We do not choose which ads appear, we are not paid by the advertisers directly, and an advertiser has no say in what we write. Details of the cookies involved are in our privacy policy.
Advertising is what lets these articles stay free to read, with no paywall and no sponsored posts dressed up as editorial.
What we will not do
- We will not recommend something we would not put in our own courtyard.
- We will not recommend a product because it pays better. If a cheaper option is the right one, the article says so.
- We will not let an advertiser or an affiliate program decide what an article says.
- We do not accept payment for a positive review. If a company sends us something to test, we say so in the article, and we say what we actually thought of it.
- We do not publish sponsored articles disguised as editorial.
Why we bother saying all this
A publication that shapes its advice around what pays it is not a publication. It is a catalogue with opinions. Once readers work that out, everything written here becomes worthless — including the parts that were honest.
The trust is the asset. Any individual sale is not worth losing it.
Questions
If you ever want to know whether we have a financial interest in something we have written about, just ask: hello@gdcgardendesign.com. We will tell you.