How to Design a Garden Layout

How to Design a Garden Layout

The cold and damp days of winter are some of the best days to sit down and design your new garden. You can spend the time planning how you will use your garden and where you will put all of the features you have dreamed up. The perfect garden is waiting for you.

Plan the seasons

A successful garden is one which gives you pleasure all year around. You can make the most of it during the summer months, then when winter comes around you can still enjoy looking at and it is still a haven for the wildlife. Key to the success is planning for plants and flowers to bloom at different times of the year. Therefore it is crucial to know which plants will look their best at which time of the year and to plan where you want to see them.

A great garden is beautiful all year around, don’t just plan for the summer.

How will you use it

Before you start to imagine your dream garden of the future, you will need to decide on what you want your garden for. Do you need a large grassy area for the kids to play in or would you rather have a nice rockery in the corner. If you have a patio or a decking area, you should focus on the view you will have when sat looking out onto your garden.

To deck or not to deck

With wet winters and even wet summers, adding a section of decking to your garden will ensure that you can make the most of it during all seasons. Decking is a relatively cheap method of making a huge impact within a small area of the garden. You should plan to make use of a corner or a pathway of decking to allow for either access to the whole garden or as a raised seating area.

Utilise the walls

Most people will have walled gardens, at the very least a fenced garden. The walls can often be overlooked and completely forgotten about when planning the look of a garden. However, utilising these and turning them into a feature could give your garden a whole new feel. Many plants will climb and grow up a wall or a fence and this is the simplest way to incorporate the walls into your garden. Attaching bedding pots at the top of the walls would allow for the plants to grow down the wall and almost completely obscure it from view.

Plan both high and low

When you have brought the walls into plan for your garden, you will have started to think about different levels within the garden. The majority of gardens are all on the floor, but this is not the only way to play your garden. Multiple layers can easily be built into any planting bed and any garden. Flowerbeds can be built up to a wall to make a raising slope which will never fail to instantly grab everyone’s attention.

An evening spent sitting in the garden, with a glass of wine and looking out on your perfect garden will be the reward for the hours spent planning and designing.

Leslie writes for Recycled Glass Ulster and various other business websites in the UK.