Hints on Designing Your Garden

Designing your garden involves many different considerations, including:

    *     choosing a practical layout for patios and paths
    *     balancing areas of lawn, paving and planting
    *     positioning features for best effect
    *     taking account of the house and surroundings
    *     disguising eyesores and providing privacy
    *     selecting plants that will flourish in different sites
    *     artistically combining colours, textures, shapes and seasons
    *     taking into account how much time you can afford for maintenance
    *     taking into account how much money you can afford for construction
    *     utilising sun and shade both practically and artistically
    *     creating the atmosphere you want -
                             calm, exotic, domestic, luxurious, relaxing, exciting, mysterious ...

If you want to design your garden yourself, these steps will help you:

Survey your garden

Draw up a Site Plan

Decide what you want

Choose your style

Design a Master Plan

Build your garden

Do spend plenty of time on the first stages before starting to the design. As in many other areas of life, trying to save time (or money) on the all-important basics often leads to waste - even disaster - in the end.