Planning your garden
For me, having an outside area has been a blessing during the lockdown and has now given me inspiration to transform it into a tranquil environment to relax or entertain. People’s mental health has improved with being outdoors more. With so many garden products to offer on the market having the luxury of more sustainable products, Fisher’s Creek will help you with where to begin.
How and where do you start?
Your garden is just as important as the inside of your home, no matter how big or small. It needs to work for you and your family, and will be a way to let your personality shine through.
Having focal points in the garden that will be eye-catching or thought provoking can inspire any guests who visit
Caged Planters - two sizes available
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Planning your space, no matter how big or small and making the most of every inch can be done successfully with utilising areas which you would not have otherwise thought of and making the most of that space – this could be using a plain wall, so think vertical too!
Push the boundaries when designing your garden and don’t necessarily do the expected. The possibilities are endless in creating a link between nature and your home. Combine various design elements, whilst stimulating effects, and why not use some of your senses to achieve this too.
Garden Trading Log and Bin Stores
Planning, Space & Layout
Firstly, planning is everything! Making the most of the functionality in your outside space, combining it with a creative flair, will potentially give you your dream garden. If you are bringing a lot of your existing garden items, such as bicycles, lawn mower, furniture etc. work out if you can put a shed or storage unit to store these items and try not to block any pathways or overshadow areas you wish to enhance.
You may be wanting to create a beautiful summerhouse or a lovely shed, so then why not work around this as your feature. Alternatively, you may wish the shed to be tucked out of the way and out of view. Why not list your items on a piece of paper and see how the space works for you your family (this could include a tidy storage unit for the bins or logs). If you are able to sketch, why not put a piece of tracing paper over the photograph of your garden and place the items with an outline to see if it will work – this may save a lot of time. Will the layout flow with easy access and where to put items such as the dustbins, out of sight and smell, but still accessible. Think of how much footfall there will be in one given area, for example, this could be access to the side gate or the back patio doors and will the ground withstand the footfall? It may be that this is an area that needs some attention with paving.
Here are some main pointers when planning your space:
Position your uninspiring storage containers (for tools, toys, bikes etc.) out of site if possible. Alternatively place these items in something that is visually pleasing.
Decide what will be your focal point.
Think about your seating area – is this going to be in the sun or shade or a mixture of both?
Look at the ground for paving and footfall.
Think about privacy and your views to where you are positioning your seating (a screen may be a great idea).
Plan your planting to suit your lifestyle, personality, colour, senses and think of each season. If you travel a lot, consider plants that need little water too.
Get creative and think shapes next to other objects and how well they work together in harmony.
If you have limited space, try not to use over-sized shrubs. Also look at vertical hanging for plants.
What plants and shrubs shed their foliage in the winter creating unwanted debris.
Colour
Why not try and link your colour choices from your home through to the garden. We can be bowled over by the colours available and use them as an attraction point. Colours can vary in their tones throughout the day from being in the full sunshine, to being in the shade.
Your plant choices mixed with materials such as wood, stone, metal, fabric, glass or, maybe even mirrors used as backdrops, can be both magical and dramatic.
Garden Trading Outdoor Mirror
You may wish to keep it refined, by having brightly coloured seat pads or cushions adding a little splash of orange or vibrant yellow but complimenting your floral arrangements. There are numerous ways in introducing plenty of colours, it could be through the flowers, painting a fence or wall, accessories such as plant pots or even bunting in the summer.
Shapes and Textures
Why not create shapes and textures and see how they can create a wonderful interesting outdoor space. Transform certain shrubs into unusual shapes. You may wish to introduce the flow of curves into your patio – sketch this by experimenting with a birds’ eye view of shapes you wish to create and plan carefully to where your different textures such as woods, metals and stones are best suited. In smaller gardens it is better to keep to fewer shapes, rather than overwhelming the limited space you have. If you are wanting to create a relaxing and calming space, then the curved lines will be a great way to soften the area compared to harder and more rigid lines.
Try not to over complicate the space. In a smaller garden, less is more, but clever use of shapes, such as the obelisk in the image above which can give an illusion of more space. If you have borders that are making you feel hemmed in, then why not create a window in the hedge allowing the eye to see further down the garden rather than blocking a view.
Smell
When creating your beautiful outdoor space, contemplate the senses such as smell. Plan scents for each season when planting, as this doesn’t have to be just for summer! Perhaps encourage our insects too – most plants sold now inform us if they encourage bees.
Make sure bad odours don’t hit you when entering the space, with the bins placed nearby, and watch out for shrubs that have unusual smells - don’t always be fooled by visually beautiful plants, as some plants have unpleasant odours purely to attract their pollinators.
Sound & Nature
It doesn’t always have to be your sight that wows someone when coming into your garden. Think about different aspects of sound and how this can create a feeling of calm and relaxation. Your choice of shrubs or trees can create beautiful sounds, like a giant bamboo blowing in the wind.
How about a water feature as your focal point bringing wildlife into your garden? This could be a beautiful structure which is enhanced by lighting for the evening too, creating a stunning view.
Decorative wind chimes could be both charming, as well as adding some beautiful decorative art objects or adding a little of personality into the garden. These could have some relevance to your travels or items that you may have made, or even collected over your lifetime.
Styles
There are no boundaries when it comes to creating a unique style in your garden. Plan carefully what you are wanting to achieve in the given space and why. List the items, making sure they will fit in the space, so you do not make any costly mistakes! You may wish the overall design to be a contemporary one, in which case look at the materials such as wood and glass to give it a more contemporary feel.
Would you like to stamp your personality into the garden? If you are a keen gardener, you will already know your plants and shrubs and there are specific flowers and shrubs to suit various styles. This maybe an oriental garden and your travels and memories have been influenced from the Far East – this will certainly be a topic of conversation when entertaining. We are all so fortunate to learn from online, so many garden designers can teach us what to do and how to do it well, with so much choice!
Lighting, Shadows & Tricks
There are endless inventive ways in which to create exciting illusions and special effects with the use of natural daylight, as well as the use of lighting for the evening in your garden. You can create quite a dramatic look if you really plan your lighting in relation to where you plant your shrubs, creating wonderful shadows and giving areas real depth and also add some mystery and drama. Look to see if there are any neighbouring shadows from walls or trees in the daytime as it could overshadow your planning.
Garden Trading Festoon Lighting
Once you’ve determined how the daytime shadows move, why not use special techniques in painting some objects, enabling you to create a variety of tones. Placing a mirror on a wall with plants around will really enlarge the space, (especially if you have a small garden) but remembering to keep this clean, otherwise, it will be very apparent it is a mirror!
Look at reflections in the use of metals, coloured glass and even water. A pond can create the same effect as a mirror, but by clever positioning of a colourful tree or shrub nearby, will enhance a dramatic appearance, as well as reflecting available light.
Furniture
When you have looked at all the possibilities in creating your beautiful outdoor space, you will now want to enjoy that space and in doing so, the finishing touches such as bringing in your furniture and accessorising will equally be as important in getting it right from the comfort aspect as well as design and overall look.
Decide if the furniture is purely for you to indulge in, which may be hidden for privacy as a retreat, or to be for entertaining for friends and family as the real hub of the garden and your focal point. Think about dual purpose for the furniture if space is a problem, like storage units which double up as bench or even up against a wall, using many other materials such as wood bringing warmth into the garden.
You may wish to have more privacy from others and you can do this by adding a screen - seen in the image to the right, or simply want to make the area separate to main garden. This can be achieved cost effectively using trellising or make this your statement piece if you have a bigger budget, but make sure it is suitable for outdoor use and is safe from falling.
