Make a map of your garden as it is now including the house, boundaries, shrubs, services, (e.g water, gas, sewerage, electricity and telephone cables) and other features.
Make a note of where the midday sun is.
Where is your clothes line? Has it been planted in the middle of your lawn in full view of the lounge? It needs to be in a convenient place, but out of sight.

make a garden design wish list

1. What do you and your family enjoy doing and seeing in your garden ?
2. Do you need more privacy ?
3. Which garden jobs do you least enjoy ? (e.g. mowing lawns)
4. What are your gardens main problems ? (e.g. strong winds, ugly views, too much shade)
5. If you have young children, do they have room to play ?
6. Do you intend to do a lot of outdoor entertaining ?
7. What sort of plants do you like ?
8. Is there a particular group of plants you have always wanted to grow ? (e.g. Roses)
9. What other structure and features do you want in your garden ? (e.g. gazebo, archway, seating, birdbath)
10. What about a quit garden retreat which is far removed from the activity of the house ?
11. What don't you want ? Is there anything about your garden that annoys you ?
12. Which rooms of the house do you use most? What sort of garden would give them the best outlook?
13. What do you want to remove from your garden? (e.g. trees pass their prime, ugly structures.)

decide on a theme

Before you even begin with your garden design, you may be thinking that all this is way beyond your capabilities and you are considering using an "expert" garden planner or garden landscaper

Well, either way, you will be need to decide for yourself, perhaps after some research or prompting, what theme you are going to follow.

Before you can design, you must plan. Before you can plan you must decide what you are trying to achieve.

Please consider the following possible objectives for your garden. Are you trying to create one of the following ?

Traditional garden, Modern garden, Wildlife garden, International garden or Water garden.

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the value of proportion in garden design

Many people make the mistake of making garden walks too narrow. Three feet is wide enough for a hallway in a house, so they are surprised by how narrow a three foot wide walkway seems in a garden. This is partially because we are experiencing the walk in relation to trees which tower over us, but it is also because walks are often encroached upon by plantings and because we expect to have more room to move about when outdoors. The principle walks in a garden should be wide enough for two adults to walk side by side. This means that the minimum width for a walk crossing a lawn is 4 1/2 feet. garden design continued. If you are going to have flowers spilling over the edges of a walkway, 6 or even 8 feet is better. If a garden’s walks feel comfortable in relation to your body, you are likely to feel comfortable with the gardens proportions. Plants can tower over you or cause you to kneel down for a closer inspection, but you will be experiencing both of them from the walkway. My advice is to focus on the proportions of your walks and only fuss about the proportions of your plantings when you see obvious design problems. A plant that is too small today may be overgrown in 10 years. Just try to see your garden with fresh eyes every day.

The Elements of garden design are: light, space, line, form, size, pattern, texture and colour.

The Principles of design are: balance, proportion, rhythm, contrast, dominance and scale.

Is it getting too complicated ?

then buy some Computer design software for your garden and get started with the ready made gardens by the BBC experts and many others

another design website

an excellent garden design resource site

end of information page about garden design

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