With summer finally rolling around, it’s a fantastic time to be out in the garden. But what if you’re not quite fortunate enough to have a garden that’s fit for the purpose? If you’re a beginner, it can be difficult to know exactly where to start. But even if you take just a few simple measures, you’ll have an appreciable effect on your outdoor living space. Let’s take a look at the steps you might take to plan and implement a perfect garden.
The basic elements
The walls and boundaries of your garden demark its outer limits. Decide early on whether you’re going to be using solid walls, fences, or hedges. This will have an impact on maintenance, as well as the amount of space those boundaries will consume.
Your paths and patios demark the parts of the garden you’ll actually be walking on. If you’re building a garden from scratch, you’ll have the luxury of being able to match the two to create a seamless, coherent look.
Plants
A garden without any plants in it isn’t much of a garden at all. Almost every garden will come with a lawn, which can be either natural or artificial. The former will require more maintenance, but the look and texture of it might make the effort worthwhile. Flowerbeds and potted plants should also be employed. Ideally, you’ll want to use both, since the addition of a few pot plants will give you the flexibility to make tweaks to the overall look of things after you’re decided on where your flowerbed will be.
Fixtures
When you’re planning the internal layout of your garden, think about it like another room in your house. Where are people going to be walking? Where might they bump into one another? Are there any awkward spots? The locations of certain fixtures, like outdoor dining areas, water features, and fixed barbeques, can play a huge role here. When it comes to furniture, it’s worth investing in a few items from a quality name like Cox & Cox, rather than going for lots of cheap ones.
Planning
Putting together a new garden from scratch can take several months, depending on how much time and energy you’re willing to commit to the project, and how extensive your changes are going to be. Working out a realistic schedule ahead of time, and then adjusting your expectations as you go on, can be an invaluable exercise. It’ll let you know whether things are going to be ready for a certain time of year, and thus it’ll inform your planting schedule.
Materials
Once you’ve got a plan together, it’s time to write down your materials list. This might include bricks, timer, patio tiles, aggregate and sand, damp-proof membrane, and a whole lot more besides. Get slightly more than you need to give yourself a few spares, and factor the cost of a skip into your overall budget. You’ll generate a lot of waste, especially if you have to dispense with an existing garden setup.