Designing Your Garden.pdf

DESIGNING YOUR GARDEN

A well designed garden, tailored to your own particular

needs, will not only be beautiful and productive, but will give

you and your family pleasure throughout the year.

You don't have to be a design wizard - or even particularly

artistic - to create a beautiful garden. The concepts of good

design are simple to understand and straightforward to put

into practice.

Whether developing a new garden from scratch, or

reshaping an existing one, understanding and developing

basic design skills will help you achive good results, and

more importantly, develop a garden with exactly the layout

that is best for you.

Changes in your garden's design need not be profound.

Repositioning a tree, for example, erecting a screen, or

changing one of your garden surfaces may be small

adjustments, but each of them can have a profound effect

on the overall appearance.

2 - Decide what you want out of your

arden

g The first and most important step is to decide exactly what

your garden means to you, and what you expect from it. You

may want:

Somewhere to sit. Examples might be a terrace or patio.

Somewhere for children to play. Sandpits, swings and

climbing frames could all be incorporated into your garden's

design, perhaps to be altered later, when they've grown up.

A source of food. More and more people want to grow fruit

and vegetables. In a small plot, a kitchen garden can be

beautiful as well as productive.

A special plant collection. A plant enthusiast's garden should

offer different habitats including hot dry spots and cool

shady ones.

A showcase. Why not enter your local 'Best Front Garden'

contest?

A wildlife refuge. With increasing threats to natural habitats,

our gardens are becoming important sanctuaries.

Never be afraid to borrow ideas. Visit other gardens - there

are thousands open to the public nowadays. Look at books

and magazines and consider how features that appeal to you

could be adapted to your own garden.

3 - Assessing what you've got

Once you have decided what you want from your garden,

the next step is to assess what is already there:

Surrounding influences. Features of the surrounding

landscape will influence your design. Objects of beauty - a

church spire, perhaps - could become backdrops to your

vistas; an ugly building, or noisy road will need concealing

behind shrubs.

The shape of your plot. Your design must lie comfortably

within the dimensions of your plot. If the area has a strange

shape - a triangle perhaps, or irregular boundaries - make

sure you use the space efficiently.

Soil, aspect and climate. The greatest enemy of any garden

is wind. In an exposed area, therefore, your design must

include shelter, such as fences, hedges or shrubs. Likewise,

heavy shade, poor soil or a local frost problem will all

influence your plans.

Existing layout and design features. You must decide

whether to keep these and incorporate them into your new

design, or whether to remove them and start afresh.

Make a list of your garden's strongest natural advantages -

good soil, perhaps, or beautiful views. Your design should

make the most of these advantages and thus help to

neutralise any disadvantages.

4 - Setting up your basic design

Begin by making rough plans. Use graph paper and develop

your plan to scale, but don't get too bogged down in the

technicalities. Instead, plan a general layout and begin to

arrange the various features within it, first on paper, then

pacing them out in the garden. You can mark the areas out with

sticks and string. Illustration (1) demonstrates an example

garden.

Prioritise your features in order of desirability. There may not

be room for everything, so decide which to sacrifice, or which

are to be scaled down.

Try to think of trees and shrubs in terms of their final size,

rather than a couple of seasons after planting.

If you have access to a photocopier, draw a general plan to

scale, and make a number of copies. This will give you plenty of

scope to experiment with different layouts.

5 - Creating a framework and forming the

ayout

l It is important, when designing your garden, to consider the

area as a whole, and to mark out a general framework. The

dimensions of a whole plot will make up a main frame,

almost like a picture frame, and within that, you must decide

on important factors such as internal divisions, pathways

and entrances.

Try to arrange for several interesting vistas, since these will

make your garden a pleasure to stroll around, as well as

providing optimum views from the various key points.

Some aspects of your framework will be pre-decided, and

you must work with them: the position of the house, the

main gate, where the doors and windows are situated etc.

Final layout will depend on these, and on existing conditions.

You will probably want your sitting area, for example, in sun,

near the house, but with maximum privacy.

Within these constraints, position such key features as

archways, ponds, a lawn or borders where they will create

the most pleasing effect.

Never underestimate the importance of a view through the

window - especially a window frequently used. Pathways

that lead into the distance, attractive borders that change

through the seasons, a thoughtfully sited pond - all are

examples of garden design that can be enjoyed every day

from indoors.

6 - Making internal boundaries

Internal divisions and screens can be as important as

boundary fences, since they divide up parts of the garden for

different uses and allow for changes in mood and style from

one to another. Surprises are valuable in a garden's design.

Route pathways round corners or through mysterious

archways, leading them to a hidden feature - a rustic seat,

perhaps, overhung with a fragrant climber.

7 - Disguising unsightly objects

Eyesores can be disguised in various ways. Often, designing

a prominent vista so that it leads the eye away from any

unsightliness will be enough to effect a disguise. Screens,

especially those that can be furnished with growing plants,

work well, as do hedges.

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: