Once you have a good idea of the size and shape of your existing garden, you can get down to the actual design. There is more detail in the next section, but here we give you a brief overview of the methods available to you.

 

Technophobic Method: Paper, Pencils and Rulers

In the initial stages, it is easier to start your design on a sheet of paper. Draw out as accurately as you can your garden and boundaries, showing the location of paths, the house and so on. Try to use a scale so you know how big designed elements will be. A useful guide is to work to, say, one inch to the foot, or one centimetre to the metre. You may need to experiment, of course, to get a scale that fits your available paper!

Once you have your garden drawn out, get photocopies made. You can then sketch and plan on the copies until you think your ideas are correct. As mentioned before, ensure you know where utility services run, which direction is north, and which plants and trees to intend to keep.

You need to be fairly methodical when you come to finalise your designs. If you can, use tracing paper overlays. The bottom layer - the main drawing which shows your current garden - should show

• the existing boundaries, buildings, utilities and any other non-changeable hard landscape features,
• which internal/external views are good (so need the eye leading to them) or a problem and so need screening (it helps to look at the garden from different rooms in the house),
• note with arrows the prevailing wind direction with possible requirement for wind barriers, and
• note using the north point where permanent shade is cast by buildings and trees to allow for either shade tolerant plants or hard landscaping.

Another layer can show trees and shrubs, which are to be retained, to use as main structural plants and possible focal points, and a final layer can show the new design features.

 

The Non-Technophobic Method: Using a PC

The alternative is to do it all on your PC. These days it is easy to find relatively cheap software that allows you to design and landscape your garden. Whilst these packages can be good, sometimes the investment in time to learn to use them to their fullest outweighs the cost advantage. The main advantage is that you can change your mind as many times as you like. The best software lets you calculate amounts of materials required for lawns and patios, and can produce scale printouts. If you already have a graphics package on your computer, like Adobe Illustrator, CorelDRAW! or Serif DrawPlus, you should be able to do the design work with it, but it won’t produce the calculations for you.

Good computer design packages will let you work in layers, as we described just now for the pencil and paper version, and you can then print out individual layers for reference when you start work.

Whichever method you choose to design your garden, the most important thing to get right is the measurements of the existing garden. If you make an error in the beginning, no amount of redrawing is going to solve the problem when you come to build for real.

Remember that strong curves take your eye round the garden, rather than straight lines which lead your eye straight down to the end without seeing and dwelling on what is in between.