Garden Design Basics: Fitting It All In!

"I want it ALL and I want it NOW!" is the time-honored cry of gardeners every where, even though we all know that time, money and space can limit fitting it "all" into a landscape or garden design. Even tougher, is remembering that good garden design is more than just planting a bunch of nice expensive stuff.

There is hope! A basic plan will help you get the best bang for the buck. And maybe avoid a lot of wasted effort and disappointment.

Start with a priority list for functional needs, then add the fun stuff, and then see which solutions you can come up with. This can be an extremely creative process. Finding that perfect elusive solution to a thorny set of requirements is a euphoric "Eureka!" type of experience.

Need a creativity boost? Get a jump start or a brainstorm straight from some absolute Pro's!

One final hit on the basics. After last week's fiasco, I'm sure you have made all your paths wide enough. So before we jump to the fun stuff, just make sure you have provided for other equally dry and stupid stuff such as parking cars and turning them around, hiding trash cans and laundry lines, and ensuring safe play space for basketball hoops and swing sets.

You are sure to have some requirements like those to meet before you can really relax and enjoy the surroundings in your garden, we all do. And the time to tackle these little pesty problems is NOW because they sure won't go away on their own.

THEN you can accommodate the water gardens and fountains, bird feeders and sun dials, outdoor entertaining and barbecue cooking, swimming pool, whirl pool and hot tub, the proverbial putting and croquet lawns, microclimate for a plant collection, whatever suits you.

Finally, the fun stuff!

This is YOUR garden and your list should include the things you will enjoy the most. So make that a graded priority list! The list will help you budget time, money and space as you plan, and it will help you to organize your thoughts and efforts.

Remember: you are only using the list as a tool to help you make forward progress, so it is not the final word. No way you can flunk! Best of all your list should include LOTS of "I wish" items!

Go To Page: 1 2 3