WHERE TO START???? ?

[Qwertyberty]

Hi, Huge garden. Very gravelly soil. Very long stretch of cery gravely very UNEVEN soil. 

I want to get stuck in and start making it LOOK like a decent garden but I know nothing about landscaping and like I said. Just where to start???? ??‍♂️

 

Ive uploaded a pic and to be honest, it doesnt quite capture how scruffy and uneven the soil is. The length of it is 16 fences long to the back wall.

 

any suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

Dave

[ToughButterCup]

Welcome.

Start with a plan. The Head Gardner in my life spends many happy hours fantasizing about (me? ..... nahhhh) what she's going to get me / force me to do .  Mind you, if a digger's involved, I'm right there,Mutley-like - and wanting medals when it's done.

 

Visit lots of gardens - Heres where to start. You'll have an extremely enjoyable time. I envy you: greatly.

[Ferdinand]

Welcome.

 

Start with a requirements statement.

What do you want to do in it?

 

Write it in one sentence. Then one para. Then one page. And post 'em here.

 

Get the ish dimensions (count fence panels x 1.8m) and aspect and relations to other houses / gardens, and plan (Council website or Google or learning - how to draw plans - opportunity).

 

For now, that looks like Derby County's old football pitch, so have a kickaround or learn Petanque.

 

Ferdinand

 

Edited May 8, 2019 by Ferdinand

[ToughButterCup]

Forgot to say - go to the library. You'll need a wheelbarrow for the  books you want to take home.

Oh, and - pretty smartish - put a large sheet of waste plastic over the area you want to set to lawn. Stops weeds.

[ProDave]

If you just want lawn, and have poor soil, then buy in some decent top soil and spread it evenly and flat over what is there.  No point making it harder than it needs to be.

[joe90]

2 hours ago, Qwertyberty said:

very UNEVEN soil

 

Ha, you ain’t seen nothing, this is what I have got to turn into a garden. Will willing swop with you!

[Jilly]

Like everything, it's easy when you break it down. Get some tracing paper to overlay multiple design attempts. Get a good book on basic garden design and decide what look you want: informal is flowing and relaxed, much easier to design and manage, just a kind of snaky path to the bottom of the garden will often do. Formal tends is very geometric and suits regimented folk sometimes, but can be planted in a relaxed way. There can be a combination, and is dictated by the style of the house too. 

For simplicity, divide the space into the zones of what you wish to do: grass for the kids, hidden sunny space for washing, sunny and nearish to the house for veg (so you remember to water), nice place to sit, BBQ etc etc . Choose the barriers : decide on hedge (don't chose something too fast growing or you will be forever chopping it and trampling your flower beds) or fence (repair or replace before your start, as again it will be annoying to damage your planting).

Decide views what you want to screen or pinch (if you overlook something nice beyond your boundary). Surprisingly, if you need privacy, it can be achieved by a pergola or some height near the house to screen at eye level, rather than a scary great Leylandii hedge which will rob light/moisture and annoy the neighbours. 

Put trees and shrubs in early to give structure, but if you are lax with watering, wait till autumn to plant so they don't die. Suss out the soil, (ask neighbours if you don't want to buy testing kit), note prevailing the wind to incorporate design shelter into the design for your selves and the plants, and note where the sun goes. By the time you have decided what colours you like and have sussed out  the local conditions, there won't be a huge choice of plants, which actually simplifies things. Factor in the big shed thing you are bound to want under permitted development, decide how much space you want as patio. Decide on your budget....

Sorry, just noticed your fences are very smart and you said it was gravelly. There are a lot of gravelly garden designs you can look at, to adapt what you have.

Edited May 8, 2019 by Jilly
forgot something

[LA3222]

Pay a professional to design one?  

 

Everyone seems happy to pay an architect to design a house but when it comes to the garden they tend to do it themselves.  My perspective is that the garden is very important in not only being a space that works for you as your outdoor living space  it it adds to the all important kerb appeal of your property.

 

I paid about £2500 to get a design done for a half acre plot and i feel it was worth every penny.  It is something i wouldnt have come up with....ever.....and is simply an excellant design.  I am now left with multiple drawings showing planting schemes, drainage, retaining walls, water feature construction, schedule of plants to purchase etc etc.

 

I now have a idiots guide set of plans to work to which suits me.

 

The chap I used offers services starting at about £100 for a 2hr consultation up to £1000 for detailed designs (mine was the price it was due to size).

 

I would say engaging a profesdional who does this for a living would be a worthwhile investment and pay for itself in terms of value added.

[Cpd]

22 hours ago, joe90 said:

Ha, you ain’t seen nothing, this is what I have got to turn into a garden. Will willing swop with you!

Yup.... I have 4.66 acres of garden, starting from nothing but monocular sheep pasture, bog land and cliffs..... six years in and a lifetime to go. If anyone has a good recommendation for an app that I can use on my iPad for doing an overview design I would be very interested. 

[joe90]

1 hour ago, LA3222 said:

Pay a professional to design one?  

 

Everyone seems happy to pay an architect to design a house but when it comes to the garden they tend to do it themselves.  My perspective is that the garden is very important in not only being a space that works for you as your outdoor living space  it it adds to the all important kerb appeal of your property.

 

I paid about £2500 to get a design done for a half acre plot and i feel it was worth every penny.  It is something i wouldnt have come up with....ever.....and is simply an excellant design.  I am now left with multiple drawings showing planting schemes, drainage, retaining walls, water feature construction, schedule of plants to purchase etc etc.

 

I now have a idiots guide set of plans to work to which suits me.

 

The chap I used offers services starting at about £100 for a 2hr consultation up to £1000 for detailed designs (mine was the price it was due to size).

 

I would say engaging a profesdional who does this for a living would be a worthwhile investment and pay for itself in terms of value added.

 

Yes, our last house had a very good garden that was obviously professionally designed, not thought about it for here but definitely worth considering (just remembered my sparky,s wife does this so may give them a call). Whatever I do it will be better than what exists!

[daiking]

2 hours ago, LA3222 said:

Pay a professional to design one?  

 

Everyone seems happy to pay an architect to design a house but when it comes to the garden they tend to do it themselves.  My perspective is that the garden is very important in not only being a space that works for you as your outdoor living space  it it adds to the all important kerb appeal of your property.

 

I paid about £2500 to get a design done for a half acre plot and i feel it was worth every penny.  It is something i wouldnt have come up with....ever.....and is simply an excellant design.  I am now left with multiple drawings showing planting schemes, drainage, retaining walls, water feature construction, schedule of plants to purchase etc etc.

 

I now have a idiots guide set of plans to work to which suits me.

 

The chap I used offers services starting at about £100 for a 2hr consultation up to £1000 for detailed designs (mine was the price it was due to size).

 

I would say engaging a profesdional who does this for a living would be a worthwhile investment and pay for itself in terms of value added.

 

If I may be so rude as to ask, how much is the designers scheme likely to cost? 2x the design? 5x? 10x?

[LA3222]

3 hours ago, daiking said:

 

If I may be so rude as to ask, how much is the designers scheme likely to cost? 2x the design? 5x? 10x?

Ha, not at all - I have stuck with the house design pretty much already ok'd by the planners.  My bill for house design stands at about 2k at the minute which covered some alterations and a variation of condition application.  Now putting the building regs app together, so another couple of £k incl. the Building Control fees.

 

Yes £2.5k is a lot for the garden design but I have a very big garden to design and I am confident that the garden will increase the market value of the house (Not that it matters as I have no intention to sell) by more than the design fees.

 

It all comes down to what people are happy to spend their money on.  Garden design for me is as important as the house design as my family & I will be spending as much time as possible during nice days chilling out in it.  

 

Putting a bit of turf down with the standard decking/patio is a bit boring in my opinion and probably as far as my own imagination would stretch to!

[LA3222]

My wife was very much against paying for a professional to produce a design and it took a lot of persuading to get her on-board.  The process took about two months with several site meetings to discuss and about halfway through she changed her tune and agreed that overall it was money well spent.

 

It's an area where you can spend nothing or a lot, but you are the person who has to live with the outcome and so it's down to the individuals perception of where best to spend the money in order to achieve a satisfactory end result.

[daiking]

6 minutes ago, LA3222 said:

Ha, not at all - I have stuck with the house design pretty much already ok'd by the planners.  My bill for house design stands at about 2k at the minute which covered some alterations and a variation of condition application.  Now putting the building regs app together, so another couple of £k incl. the Building Control fees.

 

Yes £2.5k is a lot for the garden design but I have a very big garden to design and I am confident that the garden will increase the market value of the house (Not that it matters as I have no intention to sell) by more than the design fees.

 

It all comes down to what people are happy to spend their money on.  Garden design for me is as important as the house design as my family & I will be spending as much time as possible during nice days chilling out in it.  

 

Putting a bit of turf down with the standard decking/patio is a bit boring in my opinion and probably as far as my own imagination would stretch to!

 

Sorry,  I meant how much will it cost to actually build the landscape design? (Leaving the house aside)

[LA3222]

23 minutes ago, daiking said:

 

Sorry,  I meant how much will it cost to actually build the landscape design? (Leaving the house aside)

Rog....I'm not really sure tbh.  I see your point - is it 2 or even10 the cost of the design.  It's the same as anything in life, you control the purse so only design something which is achievable within the limits of your finances.

 

In my particular situation I'm not too concerned how much it costs.  It's the end game getting the garden done - if I run out of money at this point then the work progresses at the rate which my spare cash regenerates.  I expect to spend up to 25k incl large drive & patio and wouldn't be upset with that - the work will all be done by me so it's the cost of materials.

 

I think the bottom line in all this, which is the point I was trying to make is that the services of a professional Designor should be considered.  There is no reason why the cost of their services and the design produced can't be matched to your overall budget and hopefully the end product is a design beyond your own imagination which can be achieved on your individual finances.

 

 

 

 

 

[bassanclan]

The cost of the design has nothing to do with the cost of the final garden.

 

Youve got to figure what you can afford to spend on the garden before committing yourself to a designer.

 

E.g. turfing might cost you £10-15 per sqm

Slabs/decking £40-80 per sqm

 

If you are going to do the work yourself and search for second hand/bargains you can cut it down. E.g. grass seed £0.25 psqm. I just picked up  35sqm of used slabs for £20 - £0.58 per sqm

[joe90]

We have planned the patio, paths etc and they are going down soon, after that we plan to level the whole plot and seed it with grass so it’s mowable, after that we can add trees, shrubs and dig in borders as we see fit. Yes it would be good to have a plan but we need to see it flat first and a blank canvas. We are hoping to join the local gardening club (so we get loads of freebies and good ideas ?)

[daiking]

On 09/05/2019 at 13:32, LA3222 said:

Rog....I'm not really sure tbh.  I see your point - is it 2 or even10 the cost of the design.  It's the same as anything in life, you control the purse so only design something which is achievable within the limits of your finances.

 

In my particular situation I'm not too concerned how much it costs.  It's the end game getting the garden done - if I run out of money at this point then the work progresses at the rate which my spare cash regenerates.  I expect to spend up to 25k incl large drive & patio and wouldn't be upset with that - the work will all be done by me so it's the cost of materials.

 

I think the bottom line in all this, which is the point I was trying to make is that the services of a professional Designor should be considered.  There is no reason why the cost of their services and the design produced can't be matched to your overall budget and hopefully the end product is a design beyond your own imagination which can be achieved on your individual finances.

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers so you’re looking at less than 10% of budget on design? Which seems fair for in those terms. But would you get the same service with a £5k budget?...

 

On 09/05/2019 at 13:58, bassanclan said:

The cost of the design has nothing to do with the cost of the final garden.

 

Youve got to figure what you can afford to spend on the garden before committing yourself to a designer.

 

E.g. turfing might cost you £10-15 per sqm

Slabs/decking £40-80 per sqm

 

If you are going to do the work yourself and search for second hand/bargains you can cut it down. E.g. grass seed £0.25 psqm. I just picked up  35sqm of used slabs for £20 - £0.58 per sqm

 

Maybe it doesn’t but the scheme must surely have a market value of what it would cost someone to pay for it based on the trade norms if you want to compare apples with apples.

[LA3222]

@daiking I think that @bassanclan has hit the nail on the head - I got distracted with how much I intend to spend rather than the bigger picture which is the costs are what you want them to be.

 

There will always be a point where you can't go any cheaper due to material cost but the top end is where you want it to be.

 

One of the conversations I had early on with the chap who did my design was how much does he think was a reasonable budget for a garden covering 0.5acres (I was clueless!) - the answer I got was basically that it can cost as little or as much as I want it to, much like with the interior of a house.

 

A patio slab is a patio slab, but you can spend pennies or hundreds per slab depending on your preference/budget constraints.  You can buy a full grown tree or a bare roots sapling.  All of these choices will determine how much you spend coupled with how much or how little work you do yourself.

 

He told me that he would give me all the plans I need etc....how much I spend bringing them to fruition is down to my choices.

 

It changed my perception of the garden and I now view it as much the same process of choosing how to fit out out the interior of the house - where to spend vs where to save.

 

The cost of my design is an outlier, most self builders won't have half an acre to landscape, as such the cost of getting a design put together should be in the hundreds for most which is probably a worthwhile investment I would say.