Garden Plan – Getting Ideas on Paper

It is advisable before picking up a spade to make an outline plan on paper. This not only records one’s thoughts, but puts the garden more into perspective than when one paces out areas for pergolas or borders with irregular strides. The shape of the garden once drawn on paper is often not as you think, and the various levels of the soil in different parts of the garden can be quite a revelation.

Outline plan

Graph paper is a useful material to use on which to draw the plan, for then each square can represent a fixed measurement and the ordinary mortal can make a more accurate drawing than is the case if he is encumbered with protractors, set squares and a plain sheet of paper. Existing features should be marked, and for a realistic appraisal of the situation, a few scale cut-outs in card of large trees, buildings or any other features of the immediate landscape should be made and erected on the plan. This gives an idea of the effect each feature will have on the garden and the best way to overcome or utilize it. The placing of any buildings should be decided and the position of paths drawn in.

Paths should not be skimped, for although they occupy valuable ground, they are the lifeline of the garden and should be adequate and in good repair. One good wide path sufficient to take a wheelbarrow with ease is preferable to half a dozen narrow ones where the handles will catch in the plants on either side. A bold sweeping gravel path with elegant curves can be the making of a cottage garden. Not only visually, but as a main artery to its heart, thus ensuring relative ease of maintenance irrespective of weather conditions.

The placing of trees and bushes should also be carefully considered, for once suc­cessfully established they resent distur­bance. Ample distance should be allowed for them to mature successfully and recom­mended distances adhered to. Half standard trees may look better planted a couple of metres (yards) apart when received from the nursery, but within four or five years will intermingle and become a terrible mess in­capable of proper care and cultivation unless thinned to the recommended distance. Close planting of woody plants to paths should similarly be avoided, at least the recommended distance between plants being applied in the same manner between plants and path.

The proximity of plants to the house also deserves consideration. Utility subjects like thyme and mint that are both decorative and frequently used in the kitchen should be placed as close to the door as feasible. Every square metre of soil capable of supporting plant life should be utilized, for this is the concept of a cottage garden. An odd bit by the garden shed may support a rambling rose, the narrow border alongside the house or garage perhaps a fan-trained cherry. In fact the opportunities for inventiveness in planting are legion.

Having decided upon the position which each permanent feature will take and having marked it carefully on the plan, the next important aspect to consider is the various levels of the plot and the method of drainage to be employed if this should prove necess­ary. Steeply sloping ground may be difficult to work and heavy rain may lead to erosion of the top soil. This can be remedied by terracing, using one or maybe two retaining walls and then levelling the soil into two or three plateaux. Uneven ground, if marked out with stakes of even height, is relatively simple to level into gentle slopes and rises which are easy on the eye, the back, and the barrow. However, it is imperative on the plan to be clear as to which way the land falls, or more important, is likely to fall after necessary correction, before a drainage scheme is devised.

Planning the drainage

Normally this need not be a complicated affair, for the average garden is not vast, and no more than two or possibly three tracks will be required to ensure adequate drain­age. It is illegal to connect land drainage to the public sewer or even the thick gravel bed which these drains rest on. In most cases it would be impractical to do so even if this were possible, and so it is wise to consult one’s own deeds or local documents to try and discover where common drains run. Perhaps there is a brook close by, or maybe a parish ditch into which surface water may flow. When a discovery of this type is suc­cessfully made, then the disposal of water seldom present any problems. However, if you are less fortunate, the use of one or possibly two soakaways (large pits filled with rubble, then topped with firm soil), if not entirely over-coming the drainage prob­lem, will do much to alleviate water-log­ging. Before anything is started though, take a look at your soil type — the raw ingredient of the garden.