With new homes being built all the time, on increasingly small plots, lots of people are understandably quite overwhelmed when faced with an area of bare earth or newly laid turf and don’t know where to begin. Coupled with the rising cost of living and limits on our available time, many people have no idea where to start when it comes to making a new garden. Here is a set of questions and tips that could make the process easier and help you to avoid costly mistakes.

What you want

What do you want your garden to do for you? Do you want it to be an entertaining space, somewhere to sunbathe, a children’s play area, somewhere to exercise your animals, a relaxing quiet spot in which to unwind, a place for nature to thrive, somewhere to grow fruit and vegetables?

The list is endless but you really need to work out what you want from your garden before you start. List these requirements and sort them into essentials and preferred.

What you have

Next you need to look at what you have. Create a bird’s eye drawing of the garden, including the solid structures, walls, fences, gates, the house, garages etc. If you have trees or mature plants and paths already in place, they need to go on the drawing too. This doesn’t need to be a difficult technical drawing to scale, but do try to record distances. Also mark North on the drawing or which way the garden faces. Show access points to the garden and where your water source is.

Using a soil testing kit (available at garden centres or on line), test to see what you soil pH is, also look to see if any areas of the garden get waterlogged or very wet in the Winter. Make a note of the type of soil you have.

Clay = heavy, sticky, holds water, difficult to dig, can become compacted, but is generally very fertile.

Loam = dark, friable, moist but free draining, holds some nutrients and water.

Sandy = paler, coarse, very free draining and easier to dig, does not hold so much nutrient or water.

You may well have a mixture of the above

Note this with your drawing along with any other observations like wind exposure, overlooked by neighbours, road noise or pollution, special needs of people likely to be using the garden.

This is particularly important. Plants and features that are dangerous to your children or pets should be avoided, as should uneven ground, trip hazards and accessibility issues for people with mobility problems or sight impairment.

Using tracing paper over your drawing mark in different designs that fulfil your criteria. Beds, borders, plants, tables, seats and other features and try different combinations until you find a design you like. This will give you an idea of the spaces you have for planting.

If you intend to have any water or electrical features in your garden please make sure they are safely installed by a qualified trades person.

Please avoid plastic grass. It leaches micro plastics into the soil and kills much of your beneficial soil fauna. It gets unbearably hot and can burn both children and pets. If used as a toilet by animals, your own or any that visit, it stinks. It still gets infested by weeds and has absolutely no benefit for humans or nature. If you don't want the bother of mowing and maintaining a lawn, think of other options, a gravel garden, larger planting areas, with paths between and an area for a table and chairs etc.

What you can do

Are you an experienced gardener or a novice? How much time a week can you reasonably spare for the garden? What is your budget? Who is going to be doing the work? All of these things matter. As a rule of thumb, if family members are creating and maintaining the garden then the one doing the most work gets the final say, however, the needs of all users should be considered when designing your new garden.

Now for the fun bit

When you have collated all this information, you can start to decide how you want the garden to look and more importantly, how you want it to make you feel. By far the easiest way to do this, is to do an image search of English Gardens (if you live in England) on your computer and save any of those that appeal to you for any reason. Then discard up to 80% of them, keeping only your 20 or so favourites. You will usually find that a theme emerges and this will help you choose the style of planting that you find most pleasing.

Armed with the details of your garden, you can then start looking in nurseries for plants that fit your criteria and will be happy in the conditions that you have in your garden.

Do not try to force a plant to grow in conditions it does not favour. Work with nature. Only buy a few plants each month. In garden centres plants are usually available for sale when they are at their most attractive, nurseries offer a wider range of more interesting plants grown on site, so buying a little each month will not only lessen the financial burden, but will ensure that you have interesting plants doing their thing all year.

Don’t be in a hurry, take your time and take photos of plants that interest you for future reference and research. TV programs that create gardens in a weekend should be viewed carefully, as some of them only put in plants that are flowering at that specific time to look good for the camera, how will they perform for the rest of the year?

Ask: Most people who grow or work with plants are passionate about them and will be pleased to help you select plants that will work for you. Rosy has created some great planting plans for different conditions that you can download from our website. We also have a plant finder with a search filter, that can help you narrow down your choices. https://www.hardysplants.co.uk

Finally enjoy. Take time to sit back and enjoy the garden each time you’re out there. Watch the bees, butterflies and other visitors to the garden and revel in all you have achieved. Record the garden on your camera phone so you can see how it looks month by month. This will also help you tweak it as you go along.

If you have any problems or questions that we may be able to advise on, please do not hesitate to get in touch at [email protected].