GARDEN DESIGN-BACK TO BASICS

As I mentioned last week, I thought it would be a good idea to get back to basics with garden designing. It doesn’t matter if your garden only needs a bit of work or major surgery, the principles of the design will be similar. Over the next few weeks we will cover the initial site plan, putting your ideas down on paper, coming up with a workable plan, including any hard landscaping such as patios and soft landscaping with ideas for beds and borders. I’m afraid the cost of anything you do is down to yourselves though, which is something to keep in mind when it comes to putting the plan into action!



SITE PLAN

Here would be an excellent place to start. When the weather is fit, take a pencil and paper into the garden. Draw a plan of the garden; include buildings and features that are to remain in the garden, such as sheds and greenhouses. Include the house as well, as any structure can put your garden in shade Look at the neighbours house and trees to see if that puts you in the shade (In my garden the whole area is in total shade because of the house).

Existing trees, paths and beds can be roughly drawn in too. You don’t need to add features that you are sure will be removed. If you have a tree that is to go or an old shed that is firewood, leave it out of the plan it will only complicate things. The plan doesn’t have to be exactly to scale at this point but we can get more accurate measurements if there are to be hard landscaping features such as walls or ponds. One thing I would recommend is to get a compass and find out which way the garden faces, this will be important when deciding on where to put the patio and plant selection.

PUTTING DOWN THE IDEAS FOR YOUR NEW GARDEN

If you did your homework last week and came up with a list of wants for your new garden, you can start to draw in your ideas. (If not then go to the back of the class and come up with a list now!) Don’t worry if there is too much in it at this stage, features can be taken out and changed around later. Here are some hard landscaping ideas to take into consideration when you are putting in the ideas.

· If you are including paths, what will they be made out of and where will they start and finish? Sometimes it’s a good idea to end them at a specific place such as a building or feature. They can look a bit odd if they just end in the middle of the lawn.

· If you are putting in a pond and rockery, place it in a sunny spot and not too near trees, these will mess the pond up in autumn.

· Place the patio carefully to get the sun; you might like one at the house for morning sun at breakfast and a patio at the bottom of the garden to catch the evening rays.

· Will you need a shed, where is the best place?

· Allow an area for compost.

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· If you have children, do you want an area set aside for them to play in? Sandpits, swings can be included.

FORMAL OR INFORMAL

Look around at other people’s gardens; they are a great source of inspiration. Glossy magazines and books are great for ideas as well. Think whether you would like your garden formal in design, which would include lots of straight lines and neatness. Or whether you would go for something informal with lots of sweeps and curves.
It is usually a good idea to try to stick to either formal or informal, as things get a bit messy if they are combined. Looking at the style of the house will give you a bit of direction.
If you have the space though you could have one section of the garden one style and have the rest of the garden another, but separate them with a hedge or fence. That way you will have the best of both worlds!

Keep playing around with your ideas and rub out anything that looks out of place and put it somewhere else. Play around with the paths and patios until the plan look balanced. Don’t make path edges wiggle too much either as you will find it very difficult to mow in summer. Keep it in pencil for now, don’t worry if it doesn’t come together straight away as we will no doubt be changing things as we go along.

Next week we will look at soft landscaping such as choosing plants and putting in the beds and borders. I will also explain the following important words in more detail. These are the key words for successful garden design and will help you come up with a winning plan over the next few weeks.

STYLE, FLOW, SCALE, RHYTHM, SYMMETRY, TEXTURE, COLOUR.

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