Need advice for landscape design

New to the site and landscaping. I'm wondering what steps you took to plan your overall backyard design. I'm not sure where to start.

Need pictures of the backyard.
What plants are available? Budget?

Bellie

Have to agree with Bellie, pictures are always a great way to offer the right kind of help as the question you have asked is a bit general.

The type of info that will be of huge importance is.

How much sun AND shade does the yard receive per day, deciding on plants will depend on this.

What type of soil do you have, A very cheep (few dollars) soil testing kit from Store will help you find the soil type you have, do soil tests in various areas as soil CAN be different from one area to the other especially where construction work has taken place like building the house or garage.

How much time do you have to devote to your yard, This will help decide the plans for easy maintaining OR needing regular attention.


What would be your dream garden and plants, this will help give a plant list to suit your taste, soil type and the amount of time you can devote to looking after the yard.

Have a wander around your local area with a camera and take pictures of any shrubs, flowers yard layout, any nice ponds or structures you would like to incorporate into the plans. things like a nicely placed garden seat at end of a path.

Finally, try give a reasonable budget IF possible for the work you might require to have either done by yourself, or by paid contractors for heavy work IF required.

Lastly, I would also go to your local book store AND library to search for books on how to lay out a yard, how to do hard landscaping for things like patio's, lighting, forming flower beds, raised beds or any other structures you might wish to have in the garden, this as you read it might sound very complicated but the reality is, it can all be done in stages as a good garden was never made in a single day, weather, climate, soil type and other factors will dictate how fast or slow the construction will move along.

To get you started, go outside and take a picture of your yard WITH the house in the picture,
Have it blown up and then use a large piece of white paper, I like to use the plane side of wall paper, place the enlarged picture on the paper and pin it to a board, next overlay Both with a sheet of clear greaseproof baking parchment, you buy this on a role from grocery store.
once all this is in place, you are ready to add and begin a plan, the clear paper allows you to erase mistakes or alter beds or structures you have changed your mind about.
Leave a margin at the side for NOTE taking, plant names or colours, remember a nice yard does not have to be seen all at once, a winding path that leads to a nice area or veg bed is a great way to make the yard seem larger as you wind your way around little individual spaces like different rooms, a surprise is better than flat looking at e3verything at one viewing.

You need to go outside with measuring tape, with help, buy garden canes to stick into the soil at points of interest you need to keep fresh in mind, make labels to tie onto the canes to help you remember why the cane is there, it's a tree, a cross point in path, a fountain, a light and so on, they can be moved again till your happy with the situation.
Measure and take notes of all structures you need to keep, like drain lines, down water pipes, electrical boxes, foot paths IF leaving in place, driveways, tall structure like archways or over head cables as well as UNDERGROUND cables/ drains as these can NOT be dug up or damaged.

Go back indoors and begin to mark and draw these things onto the
WHITE Paper under the clear parchment as these are all Permanent things you have to work around.

Next you need to decide on shapes and forms like a meandering pathway or straight path, how wide and what materials do you like for this pathway, best to choose a colour of stone, brick, gravel that will compliment the house colour scheme.
To make beds or borders, use the garden hose and bend, go straight or curve the hose to mark the shape you would like, remember to go back inside and look out the window at the shape you have just made, look see IF it needs a larger curve, a straight line or even a full circle, but it will help you decide the outlook from inside out as this view is just as important as just the garden from outdoors.

Once you have a rough plan you can then decide the type of trees, shrubs, flowers, veg beds or roses over arches etc you would like. Most importantly, IF you have a plan to hand, you then are able to take time to do the work an area at a time like hard landscaping is done first as you don't want to dig up flower beds or have to move a newly planted tree because you planted it in the wrong place.

Hope this gives you some encouragement and where to start.
Pass on more info to the forum and believe me, there will be many differing ideas re what you want and how to do it, that's what gardening is all about, learning how, why and when you need to do any jobs as this makes life easier, cheaper in the long run and YOU get the yard you wanted and to enjoy for many years. take your time, relax, it's not rocket science, and now you have decided to join the many gardeners across the world, most of all have fun doing the plan, it's your yard and don't be bullied into anything you don't need, want or cant afford, this site is where you get help to take control of your own environment so enjoy and a big welcome to Dave's Garden.
Best Regards. WeeNel.

The most basic place to start is with the work that is done first, then move on to selecting materials.
For example, ask if you need a retaining wall at all before you try to figure out the materials. If you do not need one, then there is no reason to look at materials for one.

Start with underground and soil moving.
Do you need drainage? Electrical or plumbing for outdoor kitchen or other? Do you want a spa, swimming pool or pond? A mounded area or raised bed? Do you need retaining walls?
If you need any of these, then get elevations, and note locations where you will hook up the plumbing and similar details. You will need to know how much your property slopes and where to run drainage, and where to place retaining walls.
If you want outdoor kitchen or firepit plumbed to your gas supply then you need to find out if the current pipes are big enough.

Next is Hardscape.
Lay out the items related to the prior question: Retaining walls, swimming pool, pond, outdoor kitchen, fire pit or even a storage shed. Anything that needs electricity, water or gas plumbed to it. (Not good to decide you want these after you have poured the patio, then realize you need gas to your outdoor kitchen under the concrete).
Next items: Concrete, paver or other patio and walkways? Wood (elevated) deck, Patio cover?
Materials related to these: Wood, brick, stone, concrete, pavers...
If any of these materials are already on the house, and you like them, then repeating them in the garden is a good idea.

More hardscape
Fences and gates (property line or internal, for example for pool safety)
Low voltage lighting, flagstone or other loose set walks or stairs, boulders, stones as mulch or decomposed stone walkways.

Softscape:
Soil preparation (do you need a soil test?)
Irrigation (Where will the valves be? Run pipes under walkways and patio to reach the other side.)
Plants
Mulch
Lawn (header board or pour a concrete mow band when you pour a patio)
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I would draw your house and garden to scale on some graph paper (makes several copies of this) and start laying out some of the larger areas with attention to how you will be walking around.
For someone not experienced in planning on paper I would get out in the garden with whatever garden furniture you have and some garden hoses or string and start laying it out.
If your property is so sloped that you need retaining walls lay these out first. How will you get from one area to the next?
See what happens if you make the patio too small, then try to sit at the table. Push the chair back and fall off the 'edge'. (Now make the patio larger).
Put the storage shed where you think it will work, then see that you can easily get the lawn mower to the lawns. (Now decide that you really do not want it all the way down the hill)
Put almost anything (a box, a rock... whatever) you have out there to represent trees. Imagine the tree grown larger, shading the patio, or the windows.
Look at your layout from each room of the house.
As you decide what size to make things sketch the basic size onto the paper.

Once you have the big stuff you can start thinking about materials and the shape.
So far the patio is just a blob. Should it be square/rectangle? Rounded? Some materials make certain shapes better than others.
A retaining wall of wood is almost always straight lines, at 90 degrees when you turn corners.
A rock wall can be curved.
A deck (wood or synthetic) does straight lines, 90 degrees or 45 degrees pretty well. It takes a real craftsman to make curves.
Concrete, stone or pavers can make curves easier than wood.

Are there local codes you need to follow? If you are in an area where you are only allowed to build certain things or use certain materials, then you should know that when you start. Don't plan a Taj Mahal for chickens, then find out you are not allowed to keep chickens.

Thanks for all the great advice! This was really helpful.

My yard gets full sun. There are no trees (yet!). I bought a soil testing kit, and I plan to try it this week.

Since you recommended drawing my plan, I got a site plan from MySitePlan.com to start with, so I'll also start sketching out some ideas this week.

I'm sure I'll be back for more guidance soon as I get really get started with it!

Thanks again!!!

Good for you, very proud of you for going out and getting started, just take your time as IF you get things wrong, and the work is already started, it is sometimes costly to have to change things around especially when it concerns hard landscape.

There are times when you think you have your ideas and plans just right, then you get to bed and woof, your brain just goes into overdrive and before you know it, your creeping back to your plan before you forget this new idea you just got flashing into your head in the middle of the night LOL, that's when you know you have the gardening obsession, Jeeeeeeez.

Keep taking pictures of plants, shrubs, garden layouts, archways, lights or any other landscape ideas you like and then see IF it is possible to incorporate into your plan, it might just be a bench seat placed in front of a window or under a tree, but remember IF you plant a tree, it wont be too long before it is large enough to set off the scene for a nice place to sit and enjoy your garden, so always carry your camera, IF you like a plant layout, go home a draw it at the side of your plant until you are ready to move onto that area of garden design, it's very easy to forget where, what or why you admired bits of landscaping until you draw it and use it as reference.

Just enjoy this stage as it will soon be your reality when time, funds, help or work gets going.
Best of luck, good luck and Best Regards.
WeeNel.

I had some squared paper. Did a plan & then cut out sizes of plants & moved them on the square paper...

I often use cut outs of a spa or hot tub and other substantial but not very large things.
Outdoor kitchen, storage shed, and so on. These are easy to move to different locations.

A plot plan on a sheet of graph paper is the best beginning.
Then some tracing paper over that can help lay out the big things.

Unless the yard is really big a swimming pool usually only fits in one place.
A retaining wall really has only one location that is the most effective: Maximum gain of flat land for the minimum wall height.
Walkways are often started from doors and gates that are already in place.
A patio or deck is also sort of placed for you, though the shape and size can vary.
Overhead structures for shade will almost always go right over the deck or patio, though may not cover all of it. Which way does the sun move and what time of day will you be using the patio the most? Patio covers are usually toward the west so there is afternoon shade on the patio. That is when it is hottest, and when maximum use is most likely.
Add trees that will grow into shade and main overhead features.
For plants the initial design just shows big circles and little circles for larger and smaller shrubs. Trees are shown as a circle with a trunk.
No names, yet. Just get the basic layout done first.