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Garden design

Garden design, a typical word used in many landscape design projects. However, it isn’t one that your every day joe uses on a frequent basis. Usually it’s garden, or gardening. But, the design principal is very real in the creation of a garden! Often times taking more thought then any one gardener would like to admit!

The first in designing a garden begins with knowing the type and style of garden you yourself want. Whether it be a flower garden or a vegetable garden, is always a great way to start off the planning process of designing your garden. Upon the first rough-draft of your garden design, you will begin to understand why gardening is considered to be the one and only form of hope on earth.

From the first moment you push the seeds into the ground, you need to have absolute and complete faith that your plants will grow and bloom. While this is the first step, no garden design is complete until you see your hard work blooming. (That is if it ever ends completely, as they will need to be revitalized every year from then on) However, if your plants fail or you find the weather simply isn’t right during the year. There is always next year to try again with your ultimate garden design.

Now that you understand the depth of your decision to begin your garden design. It’s now time to get to work! It is more than just putting seeds into the ground and watching them grow. It takes time, patience, and creativity to produce the landscape design of your dreams. I personally have found that much like any other landscape design project, that writing it on paper first can greatly help the execution of my garden design. It may very well help you in the long run as well!

In this series of articles on garden design, you will find it loaded with tips and tricks for garden designing. While you may have a great wealth of knowledge about gardening, there is always something more that you can learn from others. This is of course tip number one!

Tip one: Always try to further the knowledge you have of garden design. Whether that be by researching online or talking to a knowledgeable friend or family member.

Along the line of our first helpful tip in this series of articles: furthering your knowledge of garden design. There are methods in which to gain the knowledge that will help you through this process. First and foremost you can rely on your friends and family, who have experience in their own gardens. However, that isn’t always an option for everyone. Maybe you are the first in your bloodline to become interested in this sacred art of gardening?

If that is the case, you will find that your local nursery and garden center are your biggest ally! While the internet is a wonderful place to start your search, it is important to know what you are searching for before sifting through countless websites for the information. They can answer questions ranging from the more simple such as the difference between annual and perennial plants. All the way to the more difficult questions as what type of plants may thrive in your local community and climate. Some example questions that you may wish to speak to your garden associate about are :

1. What types of plants will thrive in my climate?
2. How do I care for those plants?
3. How do I tell if my soil is good enough to plant in?
4. What plants should be in shaded areas? Which should be in the sun?
5. What kind of tools are needed to maintain my garden?
6. How long will my plants last?
7. Methods of pest control that are non-toxic?

These are all simple and important questions that you will need to gather answers to. Simply because they can help you to maintain a healthy and thriving garden for years to come. If you find that your questions haven’t been answered thoroughly, it is always possible to find the information online with a few good key words. Remember that you should always specify the climate in which you live, so that you can narrow down the results that you are given in any one search.

Tip two: When you are choosing the plants for your garden, it is important to keep their size, shape, and color in mind. This will help to create an over-all cohesive look throughout your garden design.

Our second tip is of the utmost importance to the back yard gardener. Simply because you won’t be as likely to enjoy a garden that is simply tossed together. You know the gardens I’m talking about. The ones that are over-grown and chaotic to look at. No, you want a uniform and beautiful garden that will help you to relax. But how do you do that exactly by simply looking into color, shape and size?

That’s simple! While the sizes of your plants may not seem to be that big of a deal at the moment. You will find soon enough that if you plant flowers all on the same level, they tend to blend in with one another. Landscape design and gardening relies a great deal on levels and height differences (along with color) to help create visual interest. Adding a few taller plants such as trees and shrubs, or even just taller flowers along with your mid-sized flowers and ground creepers Can all help to play a vital role in creating that breathtaking and awe inspiring garden that you’d like to create. Along this same note is the over-all shape of any one plant in your garden design. It is used to create visual interest, as well as help to round out the over-all look and shape of your garden’s edges.

The color as you know is what makes a garden to many. Vibrant violets, ruby reds, and even crisp greens are known to be the highlight of gardens across the world. However, it is possible to make a mess of those beautiful colors. One such way is by planting too many colors. Yes, it is possible to have many colors in one place. It is suggested that you choose as many as five different colors that complement one another, and stick to them throughout any one garden bed. That isn’t to say that you can’t have a different color pallet for each bed. It is just a rule of thumb, that will help you to keep your gardens beautiful and easily seen without distractions.

Tip three: Make sure your soil is good enough to plant in! We all need nutrients, including plants. To have and maintain a healthy and productive garden, it is important to enrich your soil with fertilizer or home-made compost.

You might think that just because you have dirt in your back yard, that you can plant anything in it. Wrong! Much like us, plants need certain things to live. This also includes vital vitamins and minerals that they absorb through the soil with their roots. For this reason it is important to speak to your local garden center associates about the soil in your area. It may be important for you to purchase some top soil or fertilizer to mix in with your yard’s garden beds. Which brings us to another important step of keeping your soil garden perfect. Tilling! That’s right tilling! While it is possible to till your soil (mix it up by breaking it down, and loosening it up) with a shovel, they make handy machines to make the work go much quicker. While if you have a smaller garden design it isn’t important to have a tiller, if you have a much larger garden in mind; this will be a wonderful investment for you.

Another step in the proper maintenance of your garden’s soil is the use of mulch and compost. While you may choose to start your own compost pile to save on the costs, it can always be found from a neighbor of a local garden center. What is mulch? What is compost? Well, mulching is a method of both keeping your seedlings warm in the spring months, but also keeping them safe from pests that may choose to eat those tender little seedlings just beginning to grow. It is common to use straw for mulch or loose and light wood chips. While compost may be termed in the same category as mulch to many, it is essentially another method of providing food for your plants. In short it is the decomposition of organic material, into the nutrients that plants just love!

Lastly, never de-worm your soil! Yes, they are slimy! But they also help to keep your plants healthy! They are natures way of keeping our plant life fed and happy. If you don’t have worms in your yard get them! Red worms (another type of earthworms) are a wonderful addition to anyone’s garden design.

Tip four: Plant for fragrance, privacy, and energy conservation. Plants aren’t just another pretty face! They have many means of creating the perfect combination of beauty and productivity.

How do you plant for productivity as well as beauty? That’s easy! With the use of shrubs, trees, flowers, fruits, and vegetables combined you can have a productive and relaxing hobby. While the use of shrubs in gardens isn’t as common place for your at-home gardener as it is for the landscape design world. You will find that they have their uses. Not only can they help to increase the privacy of your garden, but they can help to conserve on energy ast well.

Though productivity and energy consumption is always a good reason to garden, it isn’t always the only reason people choose to enjoy the hobby of gardening and garden design. Many people have found that planting fragrant and aromatic flowers can help to ease their daily stress. From the moment you walk onto your property, you will find that you feel far better than you had during your day of work. Simply making it one of the many perks of gardening. While the relaxation is a key point, it can also help to attract wildlife. Which is another one of the many reasons seem to consider gardening. There isn’t anything quite as spectacular as seeing a hummingbird flit through your garden. This of course will only happen if you offer them some of their favorite smell-good flowers such as honeysuckle.

Through all of these tips and tricks, you will learn that the world of garden design is always changing. As new and improved technology, and even hybrid plants become available. You will find yourself changing your garden design almost annually. Making it the ultimate in hobbies, since you will never run into the same thing again next year. It’s a surprise! The ultimate surprise of growing your own living things, and being able to enjoy them throughout the year.

We will leave you with one final tip in your garden design in closing, in hopes that you will find newer and more exciting methods of garden design.

Tip five: Always look for something new! Research the newest trends in garden design, to insure that you area always up to date. You never know what will come up! It may just surprise you.