Planning Your Garden from Scratch - the Basics:

Pning a gen is relvely easy if you have a "bk vas" on which to draw your design, although te are st plenty of things to consider if you don't want to wish later that you'd done more pning and less doing! One of the major considerons is how much time you or want to spare to look after your gen.

The Boundary

Assuming that you have neighbours and d or want to demark your boundary, what do you want to look at? Trees? A hedge? A fence? Let's consider a few alternves.

* Wire fence - not pretty but you grow climbing pts up it and bushes in front and eventually, it w become invisible (and so w your neighbours).

* Wood panel fencing - not too bad to look at but you w d to paint or spray on some sort of preservve. Creosote is quite cheap but smells horrible and damages pts (don't forget te may be some on the ot side of the fence). Ot preservves cost a bit more but come in a variety of colours so you have a light or dark wood or even green or blue if you want. This w d redoing every couple of years depending on weat conditions we you live. If you have concrete posts and the panels d replacing, you just slide the old ones out and the new ones in. Wooden posts d to be embedded in cement as do concrete ones but wooden ones frequently rot so you w d to replace the post and dig out and replace the cement.

* Wooden rail and overlapping pk fencing - each pk ds to be nailed to the horizontal rails. It looks nice but also ds a protective cong. It be cheap and easy to repair if only a few pks rot at a time.

* A hedge. No matter what you choose in terms of hedge pts, you w d to clip your hedge at least once a year to keep it tidy. When choosing, you d to decide whet you want evergreen or deciduous, how tall you want it to be, what soil it ds and how quickly you want it to grow. My advice would be to choose something which w grow to the required height and no more and only ds annual pruning. Don't forget that conifers such as Leydii grow very quickly and lose foliage at the bottom if they're not kept in check. In addition, nothing else w grow below them and they may well end up blocking out both your and your neighbours' light, particularly if your gen is not large.

Grass

Do you want a lawn? Bear in mind that it w d watering in dry spells, feeding about twice a year, mowing at least once a week in the growing season (including tidying up the edges), aerng occasionally, scarifying to remove the dead bits underneath and worse st, kept weed free. On the plus side, mowing etc. be very tapeutic and ssfying, a well-kept lawn is lovely underfoot and much nicer to look at than concrete. Of course you always invest in Astroturf for the same effect!

H Landscaping

If you ever saw the popular TV series "Ground Force", you w know that te are endless possibilities for h dscaping. You have a paved po or a wooden deck, raised flower beds of stone or brick, or terraced flower beds and steps if your gen slopes. Ou have paths of gravel or pebbles or coloured slate or stepping stones. You have pebbly or gravelled areas with artistic arrangements of pt-fed pots, coloured china balls and any ot gen ornament you think of. How about a deck or ot seng area away from the house to catch the last of the evening sun?

Decorve Bits and Hiding Horrors

Right at the start is a good time to decide on ot structures too. Are you going to grow climbers? How about a pergola or an archway? Do you want trelliswork? We are you going to keep that mower and all the ot tools you'll d? A gen shed? One of those plastic cabinets? Do you want this storage to be visible or nicely camouflaged? Are you going to grow vegetables and if so, do you want your veg bed and/or greenhouse hidden behind some nice climbers? After all, tomatoes and runner beans may taste good but they're not very attractive to gaze at over your well-earned glass of wine at the end of a h day's gening!

Watch out for the next article on choosing your pting.