With a little planning, designing a garden can save a lot of time and money come planting time. Several steps taken at the beginning will assure you of the garden design or landscape design you want in the end. Many homeowners really don’t plan out a garden. They simply try to work with what they have, removing one plant here, putting in a couple of new plants there. The results are a hit-and-miss and more often than not, a miss as to what they really were trying to accomplish.

During the winter months, in many regions, most of the gardens plants and shrubs have gone dormant and are even covered by snow much of the time. So what’s a gardener to do during this time off? We can surround ourselves with gardening books and magazines, watch a few selected gardening shows on TV, or yes, why not design that new summertime garden now.  You don't have to be a professional garden designer to create a small garden or landscape design.

First, try to make some decisions. What type of interests do you have? How much time do you want to spend in your garden? Choose an area of your landscape that you like to spend time in. That way, no matter if you have to completely renovate this area, it won’t be work because this gives you pleasure and you’ll enjoy being there.

Once the area to be transformed has been decided on, you should consider the amount of area you will have for your new garden. First consider any permanent changes you want to make. Do you want all or just a few trees and shrubs left standing? They are the supporting skeleton of structure that will be remaining through the winter months. They will require little if any maintenance once they are established.

Choosing a limited number of plants as well as a limited number of varieties is critical. Choosing from between 5 and 12 varieties will provide very nice combinations of color, greenery, cover, and foliage. Too many varieties can cause an area to look more like a nursery and with so many types of plants, maintenance could be a nightmare and last from spring to fall. Too many plants themselves can cause overcrowding and not only be unhealthy for the plants, the area could end up looking overgrown and unattractive. There is really no need to over purchase plants since the growing height and width are normally included with each plant.

Grouping your plants by variety helps not only esthetically, but in maintenance as well. When an area of the same variety is grouped, all feeding, watering, and fertilizing can be done at the same time instead of jumping all around the yard one plant at a time. Grouping shrubs in quantities of three or more is more esthetically pleasing and gives a much bolder effect to your design. Whether doing a small garden design or large landscape design, these basics still apply.

Design your garden using graph paper. It can be obtained at a stationary or art supply store and makes the job of laying out your basic plan very easy and organized. If you plan on drawing your entire lot, and it is less than half of an acre, graph paper 18 to 24 inches square will work well. You can use a scale of 1:4 (1 inch equals 4 feet or 1/4 inch equals 1 foot) for a small yard down to 1:20 (1 inch equals 20 feet) for a half-acre lot. Graph paper is available in 4, 8, or 10 light grids per inch. If possible, purchase the graph paper to represent a square foot of garden area in relation to 1 square on the graph paper.  This will keep it simple and will not allow so much for miscalculations. Be sure to get large enough paper to allow for your home,  any structures, and their square footage you want to include in your plan.

You can begin by drawing all permanent features of your lot: Home, deck, driveway, garage, sheds, existing trees and shrubs (that will remain in place). It’s also a good idea to include electrical outlets, water faucets, water supply lines, septic tanks, and sewer lines. Be sure to know where all buried utility lines are located so you don’t accidentally break any if excavation is required.

It’s a good idea to acquire a map of your entire lot. One may already exist on file. Check with your mortgage company, any builder or architect, or anyone else that may have been involved in upgrades to your lot. A property survey may also be on file at your local town or county building department. These existing maps may show exact locations of buried sewer lines, water supply lines, septic tanks, wells, and utility lines that you didn’t even realize were there if you’re the new owner of your home.

When drawing trees, draw the trunks as black dots and the spread diameter of their branches as solid circular lines. The drip line can be very important as well as provide shade when considering certain types of plants.

 Included below is a legend of possible landscape symbols to use for your trees, plants, and other materials:

                                                                                                   

 Measure the specific area that you will be planting and transfer these measurements to your plans. Transfer all adjacent areas as well so consideration of landscape materials can be decided  as well. Your new plans will allow you to spot potential problems you may not have been aware of before, even though they‘ve been there for months or years. Now is the time to correct that garden border so it will make mowing easier, rather than leaving tight corners or angles and hard to maintain areas.

Now is also the time to plan ahead. You can pencil in walkways and paths according to traffic flow. Borders can be added as well. An easy method is to place tracing paper over your map and draw freehand any objects, new patios or decks, water features, etc. You can physically place string, rope, garden hose, sticks, or any thing else in your landscape design area to represent a border or plants to get an idea of  how it would actually look. Make any changes on your plans. It’s much easier to adjust your measurements on paper or by moving that piece of rope laying across the yard than it is to start digging and excavating all over a second time.

Also, now is the time to place any sprinkler or drip system on your garden design. This will involve trenching or digging, and so it is very critical that your map shows exactly where it will be installed.

With all of your planning, measuring, and designing transferred to your site map, it’s a good idea to review some considerations in case you want to change or move plants, shrubs, or trees while everything is still on paper.  Take notes as you go through the landscape and garden designing process.                

Listed below are some suggestions:

# If property lines are involved, does your plan meet all building codes, setback, or easement restrictions?

# Does the plan meet your objectives of use? Is it planned with foot traffic in mind and functional for the use of the family?

# Is your new area pleasing to the eye? Does it have curb appeal?

# Does it interfere when moving vehicles such as backing a car up or turning around in a driveway?

# Has drainage of the area been considered?

# Will your garden design be considered:  

A) High Maintenance B) Low Maintenance C) No Maintenance?

# Has cost versus labor and effort been considered? Will you be doing the work yourself or hiring a professional?


With these considerations and a final draft of your plan, you are well on your way to implementing your new garden design. You’ve saved a lot of time and money and are not relying on guess work to achieve your goals, and last but not least you’ve done it in the off season and it’s certainly better to have planned ahead than to be behind come planting time.

    Happy Gardening !