Often the most difficult part of designing a garden is knowing where to begin! Whether it’s your first home or a garden transformation project to inject some new life into your outdoor space, our tips on how to design a garden will help you reach those garden goals that you’ve been dreaming of.

Get studying to get started

To avoid meeting problems later down the road, it’s a good idea to study your garden space as carefully as you can and consider its requirements. By analysing the area you have to work with, it’ll enable you to match the right types of products, plants and trees with your space and its requirements. 

Important things to consider are:

• The size of your garden – just because you have a smaller garden doesn’t mean it will hold you back from everything! There are many smaller growing habit trees that suit smaller spaces and things you can factor into your garden design to make it appear that little bit bigger and more open. If you can measure your garden, this will be really helpful when it comes to creating your plan.
• The light that your garden gets at different times of the day – this is key to understanding which plants will grow happily and healthily in the different parts of your outdoor space.
• Your garden’s soil type – the soil type is also very important for understanding what plants will be able to grow and survive in your soil. This won’t limit you in getting containers potted up but if you plan to grow in the ground, you may need to consider your plant choices more carefully.
• The privacy of your garden – if you would like your garden to feel a little more private, then factoring this into your garden design is a good idea. No one likes nosey neighbours!
• Consider materials – you may want to use materials that are already used in your garden to compliment or accentuate them further. For example, if you have a pond in your garden already, you may wish to emphasise it as the centrepiece in your space. 
• Think about you! When it comes to planning a garden, consider your lifestyle. For example, if you have young children, you may want to include elements for them like play equipment and make sure everything is safe for them to be around. If you have a super busy lifestyle, consider creating a low maintenance garden, opting for plants that don’t require too much maintenance or attention in that regard.

Plan your budget

This sounds obvious but if you’ve ever done any kind of renovation, you’ll understand how easy it is to go over budget. The more planning and workings that you put into your garden design before actioning it, the better. If you can accurately work out costs before buying materials, you’ll be much more likely to stick to it compared to if you were to make purchases along the way without thinking about total costs.

 

If you’re likely to find sticking to a budget difficult, the most organised of you will have an emergency ‘back up fund’. Having between 5-15% extra money put aside for essentials that you can’t not have in your garden is a sensible idea when you’re already close to maxing out your budget.

Sketch out your garden design

The ideal way to plan your garden design is to put pen to paper. With the measurements of your garden in mind, sketch out a top level birds-eye view plan of your space. If you have digital software that you can use to do this then that would be preferable as you can erase when you make a mistake or decide to change something. If not, using graph paper will be helpful too.

If you’ve surveyed your site well, you’ll understand what features you need to keep; what space you have to work with; factors to consider when installing big features; and pain points that you may wish to fix during your garden renovation.

Plan planting with mood boards and schedules

Take your planning to the next level with visual mood boards! When it comes to planting schemes, you may want to visualise what it may look like more than just a list or design sketch. By putting images of plants you plan to plant in a slide, you can easily see how they fit together. The best planting schemes follow some sort of colour scheme. You may opt for one or two colours in particular that compliment each other or you could go for a pastel coloured theme which incorporates a few different tones, or a fiery orange, red, and yellow theme to add extra warmth to your flower border.

If you like to be organised, you can develop your own plant calendar in a spreadsheet or diary. By mapping out when each plant will be in flower, you can organise your borders to have constant interest year round. 

Consider statement features and hard landscaping

Hard landscaping typically refers to elements such as paths, fencing, decking, patios, steps and walls. It’s important to factor this into your initial garden design so that you make the most of your existing patios or pathways, and understand where you may need to create new ones. Elements of hard landscaping provide the base for softer landscaping, such as flower beds, grass lawns, or vegetable patches.

By adding in statement features to your garden, you can create a focal point for your outdoor space. For example, this could be an inspiring water feature, a blossoming cherry tree or a luxury family-size garden furniture set. Whatever your statement feature may be, by building the area around it, you’ll ensure that your garden has a focus and a well rounded approach.

Design tips for small gardens

If you have a smaller outdoor garden, you don’t need to restrict yourself too much with your garden design. The key is to adapt your plan to make it work for your space. 

Here are some of our top design tips for small gardens:

• Opt for compact varieties of plants – choose plants and trees with a smaller growing habit to avoid plants taking up too much room in your garden.
• Utilise as much space as possible – think horizontal, vertical and all directions! Installing a vertical living wall will allow you to have more greenery in your garden without the sacrifice of less space. Living walls are a trend rising in popularity and aren’t showing signs of slowing down any time soon.
• Choose statement features and furniture carefully – don’t opt for big heavy pieces that fill your patio unnecessarily. Instead of big family size furniture that will be left empty, perhaps install a relaxing egg chair or a bistro set for two?
• Stick to a simple colour palette – overloading your space with different colours will cause a very busy look and is likely to make your garden feel more cramped.
• Create illusions – open up your space with garden mirrors to create reflections that will make your garden feel bigger.