Composing the Picture: Getting Your Plan on Paper

1. Do you want to rearrange or alter the groupings from your Base Plan - public or approach areas; private or living areas; garden(s); service area(s)?
   

2. What would you like to see happen with those large existing materials?.
   

3. Items needing attention for safety or comfort's sake should be listed on a Top Priority page of your notebook.
   

4. Now make that wish list of how you would like to rearrange these groupings or what you would like to see added on a separate sheet in your notebook.
   

5. Next to each item jot down whether you are physically able to accomplish the desired changes or will need to hire someone to help. This will help you figure out how realistic your wish list is.
   

6. Finally prioritize what you would like to see accomplished. This can take the form of a numbered system, for example #1-10 with #1 being a short-term possibility and #10 being a distant, but longed-for dream. Or, you can set up annual goals that will use your developing skills and allow you to budget your time and money for these changes.

To illustrate what I mean by this part of the planning process, and the need to keep your ideas and plans flexible, here is how an area on the south side of our house developed over time.

When my husband and I first moved into the house over three decades ago, I realized that the site abutting to the east of the double door exiting from the basement would make an ideal place for a small greenhouse. However, with little money and three small children, this idea had to go on my wish list.

The most important thing at this exit then was to install a safe landscape including a landing so the back yard and clothesline could be reached. This, we did with various sizes of flat rocks collected from around the property.

High on our priority list was construction of a cold frame for the vegetable and flower seedlings we started in the house. When a neighbor offered some old window sash to us, we built our cold frame on this site, incorporating more flat rocks from our property.

Meanwhile, the freeze-thaw cycles of New England