Using Your Garden Plan

You should have a freehand rough sketch drawn, indicating the position of the house first, and then any doors or windows relevant. You should have all the necessary measurements of your garden on the sketch. Omit any features you are sure will be eliminated from the new design. Using the information included on the freehand sketch made in the in the garden, draw a scale version that you can use during the design process. Graph paper would be helpful and can be found in any office supply store. The following steps should help you to lay out your plan.

1. Even expert garden designers make a number of rough sketches of possible designs before finalizing the chosen one. So devise a way of using your master outline again and again without having to redraw it. One way is to make a number of photocopies and use tracing paper.

2. If you have a drawing board simply use tracing paper overlays for your roughs while experimenting with ideas. If you do not have a drawing board and your garden is small, you may be able to use a clipboard to hold the tracing paper firmly in position.

3. Films and pens of the type that are used for overhead projection sheets are effective if you prefer to use colors that can easily be wiped off for correction.

4. Try drawing and cutting out scale features that you want to include in your finished design, such as a raised pond, patio furniture or raised or raised beds. These can be moved around until they look right, but they should be used as aids only once the overall design has been formulated in your mind. If you try to design your garden around the few key symbols that you have placed it will almost certainly lack coherence.