Garden landscaping: plan the project first

Gardening and landscaping are not the same job: gardening is the ongoing care, landscaping is the shaping. Garden landscape design is easier when you see it as stages. First comes the brief: what the garden is for. Then a concept: where things go. Then the hard landscaping, meaning ground, walls, steps and drainage. Then the soft landscaping, meaning planting. Last come the finishing touches: lighting, furniture and pots.

Doing it in this order avoids the usual mistake of buying plants before you know where the paths go.

Weather and seasons shape the schedule too. Ground work suits dry spells, while planting is best done when plants can establish, which in many climates means autumn or spring.

A good brief fits on a page and makes every later decision easier.

• Uses. Who uses the garden and for what: eating, play, growing, wildlife, quiet.
• Style. A few words and a few pictures: Cottage, Zen, Nordic meadow, Mediterranean, modern patio.
• Upkeep. How much time you want to spend, honestly.
• Conditions. Sun and shade, soil, slopes, wind, neighbours and what you must keep.
• Constraints. Access for machines, rules about boundaries and trees, and the rough scale of the project.

Paths, patios, walls and drainage come first because they are disruptive and hard to change. Planting follows, so that nothing is trampled. The order matters most for access: digging a path through a finished border is a bad day.

If you are thinking about the house as well as the garden, see front yard landscaping ideas and back yard design for the two most common starting points.

Landscape design ideas are easiest to judge in a picture, and a picture is the easiest way to explain what you have in mind. With Omriss you can photograph the site and try planting, paths, seating, water and lighting on it, in different seasons and light, and keep the options you like. It helps you decide, and it helps others see what you mean.

It does not replace a survey, a planting plan or a quote. Omriss does not offer or recommend landscaping services; it is an app for exploring ideas.

When you bring your pictures to a designer or contractor, ask:

• What exactly is included, and what is not?
• How will drainage, levels and access be handled?
• Who looks after the planting in its first year?
• What will it be like to live here during the work, and for how long?
• What happens if something unexpected turns up in the ground?