That’s harder to do if your garden’s wild and unruly, overgrown with weeds, or just a bit dull. Whatever the current state, you can transform your garden through careful planning and a dab of inspiration.
To help you out, let’s take a walk through everything you’ll need to consider. We’ll cover everything from settling on the look you want to finding inspiration and making a plan. Here’s where your garden makeover begins.
What sort of garden design do you want?
What’s driving your thinking? Do you want a space for outdoor entertaining, for kids to play, or are you a budding gardener longing to get dirt under your nails, spending your weekends tending flowers, fruits and vegetables?
Deciding what you want your garden layout design to deliver is step one. For one, it will tell you how the available space should be divided up. Do you need to leave room for children to run about and play, or is the area better used for garden furniture and amenities? Of course, your garden can be multi-purpose; you just need to think about how to divvy it up appropriately.
Look for ideas to spark your creativity
Once you decide what your garden’s for, it’s time to see what’s out there and get the creative juices flowing.
Look on social media, especially Instagram and Pinterest, for garden enthusiast accounts. You’ll find a host of real-life garden images alongside professional photography of inspirational gardens around the globe.
Check out gardening magazines and even garden centre store catalogues. The Sunday papers often have gardening supplements or special features in their weekend edition magazines.
Visit parks and stately homes like Kent’s Sissinghurst Castle Garden to find ideas and understand what inspired the owners to shape their gardens the way they did.
The next step is to bring together all your ideas and images into a mood board – either an online collection of photos; or cut-outs from magazines.
Decide how you want your garden to look
Amongst the images you’ve collected there should be at least a handful that contain common elements you like. Perhaps you have a few that feature a favourite colour, or others that reflect a particular gardening approach.
Identifying the patterns in what you’ve saved will help you capture what you’re looking for, and also show you what you don’t want. It could also be that your garden is big enough to accommodate lots of different styles and elements – maybe with sections for different styles.
Try picturing the garden as having well defined, geometric lines; or being more loosely designed and flexible. The clean lines of a formal garden are often easier for the eye to take in, while less structured gardens are more challenging for the mind to analyse. Geometric consistently can also make the boundaries of the space more visible. If your garden is on the small side, that might not be the effect you want.
Creating Your Garden Design Plan
Garden design is a complex task, and your plan often has to consider numerous factors, including:
- How large your garden is
- The materials you require
- Which plant elements you want to incorporate
- Any hardscaping plans
- The exact measurements between elements
While most people have a general idea of what they want their garden to look like, they struggle to create a comprehensive plan. But asking for the support of a specialist garden design company means you can bring your vision to life.
A good designer will add creative flair to your project and look at the practical elements, such as where to place plants. If your garden is spacious enough to incorporate water features, ponds, cooking areas and other things, you want to add to your garden.
You have complete control to decide which features to include, and using a garden design plan company can make a big difference when it comes to the finished result.
Look at your garden’s orientation
Which way is your garden facing? North, south, east or west? The direction can help you select where things should be placed. You won’t need a decked area for sitting in the sun in the darkest corner of the garden. Consider how the sun’s arc affects sunlight and shade when you make your plan, and know for sure where shadows will fall at different times of the day.
Micro-climates can pop up in unexpected places, so be on the lookout. These are small areas where it’s warmer or more humid than in other parts of the garden. The sun-facing angle and compass direction will influence this, and affect how plants in these areas grow (or not grow).
Assess the soil type
Good soil is vital for a thriving garden, so most committed gardeners know the different types. The main categories are – clay, chalk, peat, sand, and loam – where loam is the best of the bunch for gardening. Knowing which type of soil you have will help you decide which plants you can grow, as well as how well they’ll grow once planted. Soil type can also affect how you approach landscaping projects, as some types are easier to work with than others.
Consider the local climate
The healthiest and most manageable gardens blend harmoniously with their local environment. That means selecting plants that will thrive naturally where you live. And even if you live in a place that’s windy or dry, there are loads of things you can do to make your garden more habitable to a diverse range of plants.
Understanding the impact of local weather and climate conditions can be hard to do if you’re new to an area. Speak with your neighbours or local gardening groups to understand more about gardening where you live.
Understand planning regulations
Planning regulations vary from town to town, but there are usually very tight restrictions on what may be done to listed buildings or properties in conservation areas, and that includes their gardens. Even new housing is subject to some regulations, so it’s always worth checking with the council to ensure that what you want to do is permitted by law.
And even if you’re not doing any major work, it’s worth speaking with neighbours about plans and see if there are any complications that could lead to friction later. In most cases, talking through about any possible knock-on effects for them will help prevent any complaints or issues further down the line.
Create the new garden design
With your research complete, you should be ready to sketch your new garden layout. You might try using tracing paper and laying on top of the original plan, then drawing in the new features, manipulating their shapes and sizes to see what works best, and where.
Start with any fixed structures or big items like water features. This will help you see what space you have left and how they will affect the rest of the space you have left.
Then it’s on to the landscaping. This could involve hard elements like paving or decking, or soft features like grass. If you have room for a combination of options, that’s great. It’s also OK to pick just one.
Try to achieve a balance in look and feel. Give equal emphasis to all areas and select elements that suit the available space. A huge built structure or large tree will dominate a small garden, meaning all your hard work elsewhere could get lost.
Make a schedule and prepare a budget
If the garden design plan is quite involved, consider breaking it down into sections or phases, and completing it over a period of time. Have a budget in mind for the full project as well. That will make the costs more manageable. Prioritise the jobs that need to be done to make the garden a usable space over the ones that are just nice to have.
Of course, you need a budget to calculate your garden design cost. Don’t be tempted to scrimp on soil preparation, especially when new flower beds are being created or if you’re landscaping for a newly-built home and topsoil is limited. Buy wisely and don’t cut corners when it comes to essentials like soil, grit, mulch, and topsoil.
Even if you prefer to DIY it, some jobs need to be done by professionals. Installing or moving utility infrastructure like water, gas, or electricity, for example, will need to be handled by a registered engineer.
With the exception of minor repairs and replacements, you have to notify your council Building Control Department. They have responsibility for ensuring that any utility-related work is tested and inspected.
That’s how to design your garden. Now get outside — and make your garden makeover a reality.
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