Creating a New Garden & Where You Should Start

The best advice for creating a new garden is to live with the property for a year before you do anything. Observe the patterns of sunshade and wind, see how these patterns change throughout the year. Learn about any micro-climates on the property, a spot that seems well-drained during the summer may be boggy in the spring.

Notice where the frost first collects, you won’t want to grow tender plants in that area. Walk the property as often as possible, if the ground is irregular, your feet will tell you where to create paths.

Decide which views should be left open, and which need to be screened. Spend the first year learning about your property, then your garden will be a response to the environment where you live.

You may discover that your property is not well enough drained for most plants. You can accept this and grow plants that do well in poorly drained soil, or you can create raised beds or lay drainpipes.

If you need to lay drainpipes, it is best to do this before you begin creating your garden. Before you dig ditches for drainpipes, you should find out where any underground utility lines and septic installations are located and how deeply they are buried.

My garden is on poorly drained clay soil, and the drainage problems dictated the design of my garden. I dealt with the drainage problems by laying drainpipes and creating raised beds.

In the original part of my garden, the drainpipes lie under the straight gravel paths and the geometric planting beds are slightly raised above the level of the paths.

When I expanded my garden, I used ponds and canals as a drainage system. In the part of my garden which is furthest from the house, I had to lay a drainpipe along the edge of a gravel driveway.

At it’s deepest point, this drainpipe has 4 feet of gravel over it, this the one spot in my garden where I can grow plants that prefer extremely well-drained soil. My advice is to deal with drainage problems before choosing any plants.

While you are getting to know your property, you should be making decisions about how you want to use the property. If you have young children, play areas will probably be a high priority, it may be best to focus on planting trees and slow-growing shrubs, leaving a perfect lawn bordered by flower beds as a dream for the future.

If you are in your 60’s, it might be best to create a garden of raised beds, so that as you age, you can sit on the edges of your beds while you tend your plants. The possibilities are endless, but you have a year to think and dream.

While you are dreaming, you should think about how much privacy you want, not just from your neighbors, but from your family. Maybe you would love a spot for sunbathing while you read your favorite book.

If you plan to have a hot tub or spa at some time in the future, you may want to run electricity out to the planned area and to plant evergreen shrubs for privacy during the winter.

If you want to have space for entertaining, it is a good idea to mark out the space using stakes and string to find out how space feels and functions. A deck or terrace which is the same size as your living room will feel much smaller than your living room. This is because scale in a garden is different from scale in a house. In a house, 12 foot (4 meters) ceilings will feel tall, but 12 feet is short for a tree.

Also, if there is ample space in the garden, people will feel restricted if confined to a small deck. The best approach is to stake out the area and place outdoor furniture within the strings, you can even invite friends over to find out how the space will function at parties.

Put together a wish list, include everything that you and your family would like to have on the property, then begin to eliminate. One of the most common failures in garden design is to include too many features, simplicity is always best.

Once you have come with a list of what you want, it is a good idea to create a plan on paper. Remember that gardens are three dimensional, I always position trees by driving tall stakes in the ground and viewing the stake from all parts of the garden, it helps me to visualize how the mature tree will look.

Gardening has often been compared to painting, but it is really closer to sculpture. A plan on paper is just a guide, feel free to alter your plan if it doesn’t feel right when translated into three dimensions.

Maintenance is an important consideration, especially if you are a beginning gardener, try to figure out how much maintenance your design will require once it is established. When you are planning your garden, think of installing some sort of irrigation system, at the very least you should make sure that there are plenty of hose bibs. Your plants will need careful watering until they are well established, and if you are like most gardeners, you will keep adding new plants.

I am unsure about recommending groundcovers, many of them are very invasive, and as your love of gardening develops, you may find yourselves fighting groundcovers because you want room for new plants.

My advice about groundcovers is the same as my advice about any plants, try a few plants before you plant hundreds of them, groundcovers are adaptable, but they are living organisms and they may not like the conditions in your garden. If you want to garden during your first year on the property, it is a good idea to have a planting bed for trying plants in, with the intention of moving them in a year or two.