This is an interesting and very important concept and one not many people give enough thought to.
On visits to potential client’s gardens, I’m often find myself greeted with things like a 15 foot imposing hedge in a small garden, a gigantic trampoline taking up an already tiny lawn area, or an enormous shed hiding the view of some beautiful borders.
Often, we have been called upon to help clients rearrange a badly planned garden…☹
So, what’s the secret?
Arranging your garden layout is just like planning your interior design. How many people have purchased a sofa for their lounge, then not able to fit it in the desired position when it arrives?
So, it’s all in the planning! The best place to start is to devise a drawing of how you want your garden to be - if you don’t know how to draw to scale just work at 1cm = 1m.
Get yourself 2 x A4 pieces of paper and on one piece mark out the borders of your garden. On the other piece of paper draw out your shed, BBQ, table and chairs, trampoline,veggie garden etc. then, cut them out and start positioning on the piece of paper that has your garden boundaries marked.
I promise by putting in the effort to do this at the start of developing your garden it will be worth it and will save you a headache later.
Where is best to position everything?
During the Summer months here in the UK, most of us like to get out in the garden and enjoy the sun whilst it’s here, but we must also consider things our plants - some plants like full sun, and some prefer shade. So, it’s good to think about where the sun starts and finishes in the day, most of us enjoy the late afternoon and evening sun, so this should help you to first work out where your patio is going to go.
If you have a long wide rectangular garden, turning things at 45 degrees is useful, this is also beneficial in a long narrow garden.
Trellis work cleverly positioned can draw the eye through the garden. Mirrors can be useful too.
The best tip I have though, is to do you research. The internet is full of lots of information on garden planning and design, so get Googling!
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