Planning Your Garden from Scratch - the Basics

by Michael Russell

Planning a garden is relatively easy if you have a “blank canvas” on which to draw your design, although there are still plenty of things to consider if you don't want to wish later that you'd done more planning and less doing! One of the major considerations is how much time you can or want to spare to look after your garden.

The Boundary

Assuming that you have neighbours and need or want to demark your boundary, what do you want to look at? Trees? A hedge? A fence? Let's consider a few alternatives.

• Wire fence - not pretty but you can grow climbing plants up it and bushes in front and eventually, it will become invisible (and so will your neighbours).
• Wood panel fencing - not too bad to look at but you will need to paint or spray on some sort of preservative. Creosote is quite cheap but smells horrible and damages plants (don't forget there may be some on the other side of the fence). Other preservatives cost a bit more but come in a variety of colours so you can have a light or dark wood or even green or blue if you want. This will need redoing every couple of years depending on weather conditions where you live. If you have concrete posts and the panels need replacing, you can just slide the old ones out and the new ones in. Wooden posts need to be embedded in cement as do concrete ones but wooden ones frequently rot so you will need to replace the post and dig out and replace the cement.
• Wooden rail and overlapping plank fencing - each plank needs to be nailed to the horizontal rails. It looks nice but also needs a protective coating. It can be cheap and easy to repair if only a few planks rot at a time.
• A hedge. No matter what you choose in terms of hedge plants, you will need to clip your hedge at least once a year to keep it tidy. When choosing, you need to decide whether you want evergreen or deciduous, how tall you want it to be, what soil it needs and how quickly you want it to grow. My advice would be to choose something which will grow to the required height and no more and only needs annual pruning. Don't forget that conifers such as Leylandii grow very quickly and can lose foliage at the bottom if they're not kept in check. In addition, nothing else will grow below them and they may well end up blocking out both your and your neighbours' light, particularly if your garden is not large.

Grass

Do you want a lawn? Bear in mind that it will need watering in dry spells, feeding about twice a year, mowing at least once a week in the growing season (including tidying up the edges), aerating occasionally, scarifying to remove the dead bits underneath and worse still, kept weed free. On the plus side, mowing etc. can be very therapeutic and satisfying, a well-kept lawn is lovely underfoot and much nicer to look at than concrete. Of course you can always invest in Astroturf for the same effect!

Hard Landscaping

If you ever saw the popular TV series “Ground Force”, you will know that there are endless possibilities for hard landscaping. You can have a paved patio or a wooden deck, raised flower beds of stone or brick, or terraced flower beds and steps if your garden slopes. Ou can have paths of gravel or pebbles or coloured slate or stepping stones. You can have pebbly or gravelled areas with artistic arrangements of plant-filled pots, coloured china balls and any other garden ornament you can think of. How about a deck or other seating area away from the house to catch the last of the evening sun?

Decorative Bits and Hiding Horrors

Right at the start is a good time to decide on other structures too. Are you going to grow climbers? How about a pergola or an archway? Do you want trelliswork? Where are you going to keep that mower and all the other tools you'll need? A garden shed? One of those plastic cabinets? Do you want this storage to be visible or nicely camouflaged? Are you going to grow vegetables and if so, do you want your veg bed and/or greenhouse hidden behind some nice climbers? After all, tomatoes and runner beans may taste good but they're not very attractive to gaze at over your well-earned glass of wine at the end of a hard day's gardening!

Watch out for the next article on choosing your planting.

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Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Gardening
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