Plan Your Perfect Garden

Before you buy a single plant or piece of garden furniture you must answer these three essential questions:

1. What is YOUR perfect garden?

Everyone has a different idea of the ‘perfect garden’ – make a list of some of the things that are important to you. Do you want explosions of colour, or do you want to concentrate your efforts on beautifully fragranced plants? Do you want more privacy? Do you have a colour theme in mind, or any specific plants or features? Is scent important? Do you want a herb garden by the kitchen door, or a little space to grow a salad or some potatoes? There are loads of ideas online, on gardening programmes, or magazines. Speak to friends or relatives that have gardens you admire. You could even take a day trip to a local stately home or park for ideas. The main thing is that you need to decide what is important to you and build your garden around that.

2.What does your garden need to be?

Child-friendly? Eco-friendly? Accessible? Low maintenance? A place for entertaining? It’s important to balance this with your list of wants from above, because your garden must work with your lifestyle or looking after it will soon become a chore. It must be a place where every family member can feel comfortable. If you have the space, giving your children their own little bit of the garden to plan and grow can be a wonderful learning experience, and a lovely family activity.

3. What are you working with?

Be practical and plan for the space and type of garden you’ve got. Know which bits of your garden get the light at which times of the day, and use that to your advantage, both in terms of your planting and seating areas. If you’re in a shady, or windy spot, choose plants that won’t mind that. What soil do you have? This will also affect the plants that will thrive.  Do you have a huge lawn with established trees, flowerbeds and borders, or a handkerchief-sized patch of soil? A yard can become a beautiful garden with a few pots and a little trellis. If you don’t have any outdoor space, even a window box or a few pots indoors can brighten your home. Just having plants around to care to is good for you, your mind and body.

Once you have answered all the questions above, the fun can start. Draw out a floorplan of your space and sketch out your perfect garden. Have a look in a garden centre or online to estimate the size and types of plants that could work in your space – making sure you leave room for them to reach their full potential. Some plants can stay and grow year-on-year and can end up taking over if you’re not careful, so find out how big a plant can grow – and the best way to train or prune them to keep them from being too unruly. It’s important that you know how to care for each plant, and if they’ll require special care to thrive.

Remember that you’re in no rush to get everything in place – gardens are living, ever-changing things. It’s worth waiting to see how a plant establishes itself before adding more plants around it, you may even be inspired by the way something grows before you move on. This approach can also help keep your costs and effort low, as buying fewer, smaller plants or cultivating seeds is cheaper than buying lots of mature plants to fill your garden all in one go.

The main thing is that you to enjoy your outdoor space– its creation, its use, and the way it changes throughout the year.  There is no rush – take your time and create the perfect space for you – whether that be a haven of peace, a noisy place of family fun or a place to entertain guests – or perhaps a mix of all three.