Designing Your Garden

Before preparing your garden plan you need to have some ideas of what you want  the area do for you and your family. The type of garden you choose is usually decided by your lifestyle.

There are many different approaches to designing gardens. You may like wide areas of lawn and formal flower beds, prefer perennial borders, rose gardens, growing vegetables or woodland areas, old fashioned styles or super modern variations.
You may feel excited by the idea of using the principal of creating ‘rooms’, which divides your gardening space into sections such as an entertainment area, a utility space where the clothes line, storage shed and compost heap are kept, a play area with lawn for the children, a pool or spa garden, a glass house or hobby section and so on.

For many people gardens are seen as a place to relax and entertain as well as providing a safe haven for children to play. Some want a safe area where their pets can play happily without the destruction of well manicured lawns or flower beds, and some only want to attract birds or butterflies.
You may dream of walled terraces, paved patio, pools and fountains, but before you start your plan the reality of costs, available space and time need to be considered. Your completed plan doesn’t need to be an artistic masterpiece, but it does need to have accurate measurements so that you can calculate the quantities and costs of your required materials.

Whether you have the time or can afford to construct all of your garden or not is unimportant, but it is important to have a plan of the finished project and work towards it’s completion as you are able to.
Marking out the new areas and starting to use your site according to your plan, such as walking on your planned new pathways, will provide an opportunity to decide if changes need to be made before you start any costly construction.