Design Priorities
The starting point for designing your garden is to establish a few priorities that will help you or a professional designer to produce something that you will find satisfying.
The easy answer to many of the following questions is that you want everything and if you have sufficient space and money, you may be able to incorporate a wide variety of the options on offer.
However, most people have to settle for some kind of compromise and therefore, whilst it may not be realistic to respond in absolute terms to each of these questions, you should at least try to decide which options are most important for you.
Having said that, you may decide that your requirements in the future could be very different from what you need right now.
An obvious example is that you may have some boisterous young children and your garden needs to be tough to survive their playing. However if you envisage living in the same home when your children have flown the nest, it may be worth thinking about what kind of garden you will then want. Consideration of future requirements may influence your design decisions in the shorter term.
Consider each of the following questions to help you identify your most important priorities:
- What is your budget?
This may be an absolute limit to what you are willing or able to afford. Alternatively you may start with only ballpark ideas that you can tighten up after having considered some early ideas. - What are the primary functions of your garden?
This might range from Play area, Vegetable garden, Wildlife haven, Entertainment area, Relaxation area, Competition showpiece, Personal hobby and more. - Do you have preference for a particular style of garden?
Options include Formal, Cottage, Wildlife, Traditional, Period, Modern, National or Courtyard. - What are you preferences for Landscaping?
The primary choice is between hard landscaping, such as paving or decking on the one hand, and living materials such as lawns and flowerbeds on the other. However, you may also have more specific likes and dislikes for example natural stone in preference to concrete paving. - What specific features do you want included?
This depends on your intended use of the garden and could include such examples as Sheltered area, Hard standing, Lighting, Heating, Water feature or permanent BBQ - What types of plants do you want to be included?
This can depend on a variety of factors, for example your preferences for trees, shrubs, flowers or vegetables. This may be coupled with your likes and dislikes in colours and fragrances. Other factors may include your care for wildlife and preferences for exotic plants or local indigenous varieties. - What seasons of the year are most important for you?
Most people want to use their gardens during summer months but some prefer most interest to occur in spring with its sense of new life, whilst others like to emphasise the colours of autumn and yet others want to major on interest during winter months. - How important is it that the garden should be low maintenance?
The answer may be determined by such factors as the time you have available, your natural inclination for gardening or your physical abilities.
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