Whether you are looking for new inspiration at the beginning of a new gardening season, feeling the need for change and something fresh, or are looking to expand your landscape and yard, there are a wide variety of reasons to look at redesigning your garden space. But before you begin, here are 8 important things you should know before you redesign your garden.
Draw a Plan of Your Yard
One of the first things that you need to do when you are considering a redesign to your garden is to draw out your existing yard from a top-down view. You want to create a plan that allows you to visualize the existing space, and will let you create as you imagine it to be. Be as accurate to scale as possible, as this will be important moving forward when you want to add certain elements and measurements become necessary. If you do not draw your garden accurately, your designs will likely be troublesome to work with when you start carrying out your plans.
Make Copies of Your Plan
You want to have several copies of your layout. This is important in order to be able to facilitate changes you make to your designs and different factors and elements come into play. When you are in the planning stages, there is an opportunity for things to drastically change. Having copies of your layout will allow you to come up with several ideas while keeping the fundamental measurements and size of your garden intact.
Highlight Key Features of Your Yard or Garden
When you are creating your layout and drawing your designs, you want to make sure that you take notes of key features of your garden or landscape. This will include things like hills, trees, what areas get sun, and what areas are stuck in shade, as well as privacy issues. Making these notes will greatly impact how you proceed.
Purposeful Design
Most gardens are intended to grow plants, flowers, or vegetation. However, some people will incorporate different purposes for their garden spaces. You might have a smaller space dedicated to actual gardening, while the rest of the area is used for mingling and getting together with family and friends. You might incorporate a patio or deck for parties, and this will be important to know before you redesign your garden or as you make the necessary changes. Depending on what your entire space will be used for will determine how large you can make your garden bed and how much room you have for your redesign.
Prioritize Major Redesigns or Renovations First
One of the easiest ways to start your redesign is with the biggest changes. These include the addition or changes to your deck, patio, and garden itself. Whether you are making renovations or additions, these will be the biggest parts of your project. Once this has been established, you can then move on to adding and looking into the smaller details. It is easier to move your focus from big to small than it is to make small changes to bigger projects, as the large focal points may completely change or even erase any small changes you attempted to make. Make sure you adjust your project goals in accordance with your budget as well as your long-term plans. And don’t worry if you can’t complete your garden redesign in one project, you can always add on later.
Don’t Forget Lighting
Lighting is another factor that will play a huge role in your garden design. Your current garden may not have the necessary lighting for its needs, and any expansion or change should facilitate this. You need to factor both your sunlight and where the path of the sun will travel, giving your plants and flowers the necessary sunlight they need. Additionally, you want to ensure that you have the best landscape lighting Phoenix has to offer to keep your garden lit at night as well. This is important because if you are spending any time in your garden space in the evening, perhaps hosting a party or getting together, you want to ensure that people can see. This is both for their safety, but you also want to highlight the beauty of your landscape and garden design as it should be appreciated in the evening as it is in the daylight.
Plants and Your Garden Focal Point
A garden is meant to be a place that evokes certain emotions and feelings, and your flowers or plants should be cohesive and chosen with a certain look in mind. You don’t want to fill your garden with a random mix of plants and flowers, but want to create a visual experience to appreciate as you work in it. When creating your flower bed, consider layers and use different levels of flowers with varying heights and sizes. You can change the colors with levels or groups, but you do not want to get too crazy with too many flowers in smaller clusters, otherwise, it will look messy. In addition to these visual choices, matching or coordinating your garden with the surrounding will also be important.
Complimentary Decor for Your Garden
The aesthetic choices you make are just as important as the functional and structural ones. A lot of the visual experience will come from your flowers, but that is not the only aspect that you have to focus on. Consider how your home is designed and if you can bring that atmosphere or vibe to your exterior decor as well, creating a seamless flow of feeling and emotion. These can include a wide variety of pieces, from your furniture to the gazebo or shelter design you have. There are plenty of ways you can decorate your backyard garden with sculptures, and fountains to complement your surroundings.
A garden can be designed in a variety of ways. You can look into more traditional designs with the typical flower bed or vegetable garden, or look for modern ways to incorporate it into your home and have it seamlessly blend with your entire landscape. No matter how it is designed, there are certain things you should always consider when redesigning or decorating your garden.
