If your outdoor space is looking tired or you’ve inherited a garden that needs a lot of work, it might be time to give it a makeover. Re-designing a garden might sound daunting, but it’s a much more manageable task when you break it down into smaller chunks. This beginner’s guide covers the essentials of garden design.
How do you want to use your garden?
Before you put pen to paper on your garden design, consider what you want from your outdoor space. Is it a place to relax and unwind or a space for entertaining – or both? Is there a part of the garden you’d like to detract from or a stunning view you’d like to incorporate?
If you have children or pets think about how they will use the garden. Do you need a safe space for your children to play or perhaps you need to make room for a trampoline or a swing set?
There’s nothing wrong with dreaming big when you’re thinking about your ideal garden but consider how much time you want to spend maintaining it. If you’re not green-fingered or you don’t have the time to spare then factor this into your design.
And lastly, think about how long you plan to stay in your property. If this is not your forever home, it doesn’t make sense to invest in significant structural changes that you won’t be able to enjoy long-term.
If you’re renting or planning to move in the next few years, plant perennials that you can take a cutting from before you leave or use containers or steel planters that move with you.
Make a wish list for your ideal garden
When you know what you want out of your garden, you can start looking for design inspiration and ideas.
Make a mood board (online or by hand) and fill it with things that you like. There are lots of places you can find inspiration, from other people’s gardens to Pinterest boards online, and garden magazines. Gardener’s World and the Royal Horticultural Society are full of inspirational ideas.
You can collect ideas for furniture, plants, garden rooms, or different layouts and structures.
Consider what style of garden would suit your home and the space you have available. A cottage garden would look out of place next to a brand new detached house – and an urban garden in a minimalist style wouldn’t suit a cottage in the Cotswolds.
Draw your garden design to scale
Whether you’re re-designing the whole garden or just a small part of it, we recommend measuring the area first and then drawing it to scale. This will help you visaluse the size and shape of the space you have available.
It’s easy to do this using graph paper, but you might prefer to use a gardening app for your phone or tablet (there are lots of great apps available online but be prepared to pay).
Start by plotting the things that can’t be moved or that you want to keep, for example, your shed or a garden building. By starting with the biggest items and working your way down, you can see what space you have left.
If a garden room was on your wish list then make a space for this on your drawing. You’ll need a floor (a patio, for example) and a ceiling (typically, a pergola or a sail).
While your plan might be two-dimensional, your finished garden won’t be, so when you’re assessing how much space you’ve got think about the height of your garden structures.~
Being able to move around your garden is a priority so plan your pathways and walkways next. The path through your garden is a great way to bring together different areas or ‘zones’ as you pass through them.
Consider using lawn and driveway edging to create a neat boundary where one part of your garden meets another.
How to use plants in your garden design
For green-fingered gardeners, this is the fun bit of designing your new garden.
Before you run off to buy everything on your wish list, check to make sure that your garden has the right soil and climate for the plants you’ve chosen. You can make a note of how the sun travels across your garden or use a compass to see which direction it faces.
Try to pick plants that only need the amount of sunlight you can give them. So, if your garden is north-facing and spends most of the day in the shade, don’t opt for plants that need a lot of sunlight.
Think about colour and scale when you’re grouping your plants into beds. For a naturally cohesive look, stick to a palette of three or four different colours and avoid anything that clashes.
Make sure your biggest plants are at the back, getting smaller as your move towards the front. Not only does this look great but it ensures that there is an even distribution of sunlight and your smaller plants aren’t wilting away at the back in the shade.
Joe Swift from Gardeners World recommends using plants as a way to create visual interest. In this top tips for garden design, he suggests breaking up the space with plants rather than just planting them around the edges of the garden.
Final thoughts on garden design for beginners
Designing your perfect garden is the first step toward creating an outdoor space where you can enjoy spending time. Of course, there are occasions when you’ll need to draft in the expertise of a landscape architect or gardener.
But whether you’re doing the work, or someone else is, the starting point is understanding what you want to achieve from your garden. Once you know what you want, the rest will fall into place.
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