Don’t let the title put you off. Planning and design are nothing mysterious. It’s simply a matter of making the most of your garden potential, whether you are starting from scratch, taking over an existing yard, or just want to revamp the one you’ve had for years.
It’s a bit like planning to furnish and decorate a room – though in this case the room will actually improve over the years. And as long as you apply a few common-sense rules. You’ll end up with a garden that’s exactly right for you.
Starting from scratch
Starting with a blank canvas (a yard attached to a new house or a totally neglected, weed-infested plot) is the most exciting challenge of all – your chance to transform one small piece of Mother Earth.
Initial Planning
First sit down and think what you want from your garden. If you have a young family, it’s important to allow for a safe play area such as a lawn, to use tough plants that will survive footballs and games of hide-and-seek and to avoid potentially dangerous features like a pond or pool. If you also want to use it for entertaining family and friends, you’ll need a flat paved area that will comfortably accommodate garden furniture and a barbecue.
How much time do you want to spend working in your yard? Is it for pure relaxation or will you enjoy spending a few hours or more a week working in it? The reason for thinking about this so early in the planning stage is that it helps decide how much space to allocate to different types of plants. Trees, shrubs, and perennial plants, for example, need relatively little care, while a large vegetable plot can be extremely time consuming.
Finally, consider how much money you want to spend. Generally, hard landscaping features (like paths and patios) cost much more than plants and lawns, so you may want to add “hardscape” over time.
Next make a rough plan, marking in the boundary fences or walls, along with the outline of the house and any other fixed features. Then sketch in general areas for borders, patio, paths, lawn, and any other main features. Be practical: a meandering path through the lawn may look pretty, but no one will use it; sheds and compost heaps should, ideally, be placed where they’ll be hidden from the house; a greenhouse must be in a sunny spot.
And that’s really the first stage; it’s not worth doing any more planning until you’ve done some cleaning up outside. This will give you the opportunity of getting to know your garden a bit better and to mull over your initial thoughts.
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