Beginner Gardening: Beyond Barren...starting from scratch! Help!, 1 by Diana_K

Diana_K wrote:
Ditto WeeNel:

Draw the property on some graph paper. Draw it to scale.

1) Hardscape:
Do you want better access from the street or driveway to the house? Add walkways like this:
Park your car in the driveway and walk where you might want to walk if there was a walkway there.
Park your car on the street and walk where you might if you were a visitor, and there was a walkway there.
Lay out a garden hose and try different shapes. Curving? Straight?
Are they far enough apart that they come together at a focal point?
See what happens if you make a 3' or 4' walkway from street and driveway then enlarge the junction. Make that a focal point, maybe cut out the center for flowers, or add a fountain or garden statuary.
Enlarge the areas where the walkway touches the driveway and street.
Do you need a walkway to get from the driveway or front door to the side yard? It is often a good idea to have access all the way around the house, gates on both sides. This can be a narrower walk or flagstones set in the soil as long as you do not need to wheel garbage cans out that way.

Draw these lightly on the plan or use a bit of tracing paper over the plan.

2) Planting.
A) How much lawn? Maintenance, water vs it is the best play surface. Lots? Some? None? Draw in these areas. Make the lawn touch the walkway at right angles. Make it continue on the other side, almost like the walkway was not there.
It is tricky to make 2 curves look good together, so if you have decided on a curving walkway then keep the lawn either straight, or wide enough that the different curves do not clash. More 'design by garden hose.'
Go upstairs and look down on it to see if it looks balanced. If the parts are too un-equal it will not look right.

Draw this on the plan or on tracing paper over the plan.

B) The remainder of the space is for plants other than lawn.
a) Trees- Where do you need something tall? Shade for the windows? Hide an ugly view?
b) Do you need shrubs as a property marker? Hedge? Other large shrubs?

Draw in the largest shrubs and the trees on the plan. Mark the trees as a small circle (the trunk) and a larger circle (the canopy of leaves). You can still plant under the canopy. At first it will be sunny, the tree is small. Over the years the tree will grow large enough to shade out whatever your first choice was, and you will probably have to replant with shade plants.

c) Now pencil in on the plan lots of circles ranging from 4' diameter down to 1'. These represent plants that could grow to 5' wide down to about 18" wide. You are drawing them a bit smaller than they might actually grow, slightly overlapped so they can grow together and blend. The largest of these circles (3' and 4') are shrubs. The smaller circles (2' and 1') are more often perennials, though there are a few shrubs this size. Understand that many perennials have some period when they might not be there. Either they die back or need to be severely trimmed, cleaned up seasonally.

d) If you like gardening, and want areas for seasonal color, then leave some areas blank and note that is what they are for. Prepare the soil well for the future flowers.