The plan for your garden should take into account the individual needs of your family members, their different ages and interests and your general lifestyle -how much time you wish to spend gardening, whether the lawn needs to double as a play area, how often you might entertain in the garden. The length of time you intend to live in the house will influence certain decisions, as will the amount of money you are prepared to spend on it.

One of the most fundamental factors is the time that can be spent on the garden, whether ir is purely your time or whether you plan to have some outside assistance. There is no point in having elaborate ideas and fanciful plans if they would be impossible to maintain within your own spare time, and prohibitively expensive if you were to employ skilled help. It is helpful to ascertain just how much time certain styles and sizes of garden will require. By visiting friends' gardens or those open to the public you can gain some idea of the upkeep involved in maintaining garden features such as shrub rose beds compared with herbaceous borders, a lawn compared with an expanse of gravel, or containers of annual plantings against summer-flowering shrubs. It is depressing to own a beautiful garden, only to discover that you cannot keep abreast of the weekly and monthly chores which the garden demands of you in order to look its best.

Drawing up your checklist

When deciding what, ideally, the garden should comprise, you might draw up a list of possibilities and the appropriate area in which to set them. Apart from the obvious elements that make up a garden lawns, flower beds and a terrace -you should give some thought to the question of access, involving other hard surfaces such as paths and drives and to essential features like sheds and compost bins.

An expanse of lawn is high on many people's lisr of priorities, particularly where a family with young children is concerned. A lawn also provides a good foreground for borders of plants. Another priority might be a paved area in a warm, sunny part of the garden, preferably near the house. Such a terrace would be more useful if it were given the protection and privacy of walls, hedges or trellis. Paths will be needed to link different areas of the garden and you may need to make, or improve, a drive.

Most gardens will need boundaries of some sort; particularly in an urban or suburban setting, a perimeter barrier is essential to close out neighbours traffic and the world in general. You might also feel that divisions within the garden are a good idea, creating several individual garden areas within one plot each with a distinctive character.

The number and the scale of beds and borders for mixed plantings should be appropriate to the size of the garden. Looking at the garden as a whole, you need to settle not only upon a style of planting, but also on a planting policy. Is the whole garden going to be planted for year-round colour and interest, or for maximum impact around just one season? If the garden is divided into separate areas, should each one be given its own colour theme and also a particular season? The garden planted for interest throughout the year can be said to have diluted appeal with some plants flowering triumphantly while their close neighbours are only just emerging, and others fading and dying away. The seasonally planted garden or border, on the other hand, builds to a united, spectacular performance, peaking as one.

The inspiration for a garden can come from different sources, indeed the garden layout may combine several vignettes culled from admired gardens and perhaps reworked using modern materials. Favourite plants may be noted down from other gardens where their mature lines can be seen and appreciated at first hand. If you would also like beds to supply vegetables, fruit and cut flowers for the house, these can be as attractive as any other border provided they are planned well.

You may wish to consider the use of water in some form, be it a wall fountain, a small pond or a larger expanse of water. Water gives another dimension to a garden, opening up a range of different plants. Care must be taken with ponds where young children are present; it would be safer to avoid water altogether until they are older, but otherwise you could fit a rigid square mesh grill just beneath the surface, to be removed when the children have grown up.

Areas of a more utilitarian nature may be needed. A spot well away from the house should be found to site compost-making bins; you may also want an area to store farmyard manure while it rots down. None of these should be in view from the house or the main part of the garden, and they may require some screening. They should, however be easily accessible particularly for wheelbarrows or trailers. Close to the house but still obscured from view areas for drying the washing and sitting the dustbins need to be considered. Garden sheds while a useful ingredient of a garden should be positioned discreetly they may be camouflaged by plants or with the use of trellis. The siting of a greenhouse needs care; while it should not be visible from the house, it must be in full sun.

Assessing your plot

The potential, and the limitations, of your site have to be considered on several different levels -and preferably simultaneously. There are certain things you cannot change, such as the shape of the plot and the type of climate, but it is through working with what you have and contributing your own ideas that you will achieve a garden of unique character. We may divide the considerations into roughly two categories -those relating to the plot's shape, size and general layout, and the influences that climate, soil and orientation will have on what you can plant.

Considerations of shape and size

The overall shape of the plot should not necessarily dictate the layout of your garden, for any shortcomings can be disguised by numerous visual tricks. Dense plantings of shrubs will camouflage the regular perimeter lines. Internal divisions of hedges, trellis or walls can be used to mislead the eye. A long, narrow plot will be foreshortened by the use of a division near the house with a view through to the remaining garden; conversely a short plot could be visually lengthened by placing a division at the far end of the garden, half-concealing a small area at the extremity of the plot. Always avoid a path running through the middle of a long, narrow garden, which would only accentuate its [,jnear proportions. By using different shaped trees and shrubs, a short garden may be made to appear considerably longer than it is. Broadly rounded trees and shrubs such as Viburnum opultts 'Roseum', planted near the house, or the beginning of the view, should be followed by decreasingly smaller shrubs with a slimmer outline. Features such as a series of arches can also be intentionally reduced in size away from the house visually to elongate the garden.

A garden dominated by a house in the middle of the plot will need to be planned and planted to maximize the space. The best solution is to have flower borders on the boundaries, and fill them with small-leaved, fine-textured foliage plants, restrained in growth, keeping the area around the building as free and spacious as possible.

Colour can play a significant part in enhancing perspective. If bright, strong colours are used close to the beginning of the view, along with dark-leaved plants and white flowers, running away to pale pinks and blues with pale or silver a great sense of distance will be achieved. Conversely, if a white flowered shrub or a white-painted bench is placed at the end of a garden it will appear to jump out, shattering the pleasing impression of distance created.

The general layout

The starting point for the garden's layout and materials should come from the house. It is best to let the period of the house influence the overall style of the garden, by using details and materials which relate back to the house. This is not to say that a traditional house build in the 1940s cannot have a cottage-style garden looking back to the nineteenth century, or a more contemporary style of garden, using areas of gravel and raised beds. From the proportions of a house you will still find inspiration for lines of paths, the position of a gateway and the proportions of a border. The brick or stone from which the house is built can also be echoed in terracing and walling materials. The well planned garden should help to merge a house into its immediate surroundings, giving the impression that the house has grown up out of the garden.

When considering your plot, it is easy to look only as far as your own boundaries and perimeter walls, and not at the houses and gardens of your neighbours. But these may, now or in the future, have a significant influence on your own garden. Over-sized trees near a boundary can cause severe shade problems, as can a tall evergreen boundary hedge which has developed into a row of conifer trees; these will also create drought conditions in their vicinity. High windows in neighbouring houses are difficult to screen. Using evergreens for screening may inadvertently draw the eye to the offending building, particularly in a garden containing few other evergreens, whereas a deciduous and evergreen mixture will soften and greatly reduce the impact of nearby buildings. Alternatively you could use plant-clad trellis to screen something unsightly or to block a view.

Occasionally it happens that structures on adjacent land, rather than being hidden or screened, can be 'borrowed' as a feature for your own garden. A handsome specimen tree, a distant church tower, or a fine view may be used as a focal point; this will extend the horizons of a small garden in particular. In such cases your own plantings should direct the eye to what is beyond.

The climate

Factors such as regional and local climate, the type of soil and the orientation of the site will strongly affect what you plant in your garden, and they are all closely inter-related. A regional climate is influenced by the region's relative latitude and position within a landmass. The prevailing atmospheric conditions create a general pattern of regional weather which includes factors such as the average amount of seasonal rainfall, the degree of frost during winter and the highest temperatures reached in summer. Within a localized area the weather trends may differ somewhat from the regional climate as a result of land contours and areas of vegetation such as woodland; in cities the density of buildings often creates a more sheltered environment but the level of pollution may restrict what you can grow.

A micro climate is a pocket of unique atmospheric conditions prevailing in a garden or garden area. The effect of a high enclosing wall, a protective hedge or a clump of trees would be reduce the wind in a part of the garden including the case of the wall, to reflect or store the sun's heat. An overhanging canopy of trees with a pond below will give a sheltered, moist atmosphere in its vicinity. A hot, sunny corner created by two walls will greatly mitigate the possibly unfavourable conditions of a regional and local climate, permitting you to grow less hardy plants than could be grown in an exposed neighbouring garden.

Cold winds in late winter can cause as much damage as the most severe mid-winter temperatures, so in any open, exposed garden it is advisable to create a protective barrier to reduce the wind speed. In areas subject to heavy falls of snow you should avoid having tiered evergreen plants, as a weight of snow will be liable to tear the branches off. To live in a particularly dry or an exceptionally wet area should be met as a challenge. Either climatic extreme will disqualify you from growing certain plants, but provided you select species suited to the prevailing conditions, then they will of course thrive.

The type of soil

When assessing the type of soil in a garden it is usual ro talk of its chemical type as well as its texture and structure. Soils may be chemically defined on a pH scale of one ro ten, to show whether they are predominamly alkaline (lime-conraining) or acid (lime-free); a soil is said to be neutral at pH 7. It is important [0 discover which type of soil you have as there are plant groups associated specifically with each, as well as a wide choice of palms which will tolerate either tendency. Your soil may easily be tested by using a simple home tester kit; it will be given a pH reading (per cent hydrogen in concentration). The lower the reading, the greater the acidity; the higher the reading the more alkaline the soil is. Palms such as Rhododendroll, Galtltberia, Kalmia and PieriJ all require lime-free acid soils, whereas Iris pallida, HellebomJ orie1!talis, PI/lsatilla and Cmtrall/hus thrive on highly alkaline soils.

The texture of a soil is judged by the size of its particles: sandy soils are made up of large particles whereas in clay soils fine particles are predominant. In between these two extremes are loams, which comprise a mixture of the two. A heavy soil is one whose fine soil particles are tightly bound together by a film of water occupying the spaces between the particles, making it heavy to dig. Heavy soils might encompass clays, clay loams and the finest silts. A light soil comprises large particles, the spaces between them being too big to be held together by water tension. The lighter soil is therefore more open, resulting in a sandy or a sandy loam tendency.

The structure of a soil refers to the way the particles are held together, in crumbs or clods. The size of these dictates the nature of the soil structure to a great extent. If they are very small, the vital air ports will be largely absent from the soil; if too large, the air ports will be too widely distributed to be beneficial to young root growth. Unlike the texture of a soil, we can at least influence its structure by adding organic material which will assist the formation of crumbs. This process is also encouraged by natural weather being agents such as frost, rain and sun.

Organic matter can be added to soils in the form of farmyard manure, garden compost or bark chippings. These condition the soil, adding bulk and improving its nutrient-and moisture-holding capacity; they also add nutrients, but only to a limited extent. To a light sandy or stony soil the organic matter gives substance, and helps to keep its Structure open and fresh, whereas it lightens a heavy soil.

The orientation

The orientation of house and garden forms a subtle partnership with the climate, their interplay dictum the choice of successful plants. Whether the garden faces north, south, east or west will determine the levels of light and warmth or the degree of prolonged cold and shade and at what time the sunlight will pass over certain areas of the garden . The layout of the garden should be arranged to take advantage of the range of conditions within it -for example, sitting a terrace to catch the evening sun. Plants should also be selected to suit the diverse range of microclimates created by differing orientations: cool areas of deep shade and moisture will provide fine habitats for hardy ferns, hosras and pulmonarias, whereas those plants requiring warmth will revel in the heat and direct light of an area facing or tilting into the sun.

Style and planting

The style of planting, and how this is integrated with the basic structure, will greatly influence the character of the garden. Where a garden is divided into distinct areas, isolated from one another, several different styles may be adopted. It is too simplistic to consider adopting the obvious extremes of formal and informal; however, a blended composition of the two in varying strengths of each will provide noticeable changes of character. Clipped evergreen hedges and geometric evergreen shapes, combined with straight-sided, square-cornered flower borders edged with dwarf hedges, would be purely formal. But if this rigid framework is combined with a lush, flowery planting of herbaceous perennials and annuals, the integration of the two styles can be remarkable. Conversely, an informal lawn with spreading trees and shrubs under planted with naturalized bulbs among billowing old-fashioned roses may be greatly enhanced by the presence of some formal, clipped evergreen shapes.

The way in which a garden is maintained will also dramatically alter its general appearance. A rigorously pruned and trimmed garden, with hedges angularly cut and shrubs kept to modest proportions, will give a totally different impression from one in which hedges are permitted to broaden and waver slightly off-course, and shrubs are left to make natural billowing shapes, even if the selection of plants in them is more or less identical.

Measuring the site

Many gardeners will consider a structural plan unnecessary, preferring to use a bundle of canes, a ball of thick, visible string and a hosepipe, to physically 'create' the layout of their new garden. However this course of action makes it difficult to envisage the sire without many of its existing features leading to a tendency to build the new layout on the bones of the present garden. It is also difficult to layout several alternative proposals on the same site without causing confusion. Putting a garden plan on paper provides the ideal point of reference -it allows time for a considered choice, while enabling different ideas to be superimposed upon a basic outline plan.

Before drawing up a plan, decide what areas are to be included. Take in the whole plot if it is a relatively small garden. Bur if it is larger, with areas that can easily be divided off and taken as single entries, draw a series of plans that relate to each other to show details, and also draw a small-scale plan of the whole garden.

Before taking any measurements of the existing garden, draw a rough sketch of it, marking on one side of the house, plus any boundary lines, paths and terraces, the shapes of any flower borders, the shape of a lawn, and any specimen trees or other strong features that exist. Draw this out on a large sheer of paper, preferably fixed a board, to facilitate writing on it 'in the field '. On a smaller sheet measurements have to be squeezed in and can all too easily become confused.

Now go Out into the garden, having equipped yourself with two tape measures one of them preferably a long surveyor's rape (these can be hired). You should ideally have someone with you, to hold one end of the tape. When measuring on your own, push a fine steel rod through the ring on the end of the tape and then push the rod into the ground, to hold the tape firmly in place. After taking each individual measurement, stop and write the dimensions onto the sketch plan if many measurements converge in one area it may be helpful to mark on fine arrows to relate each measurement to its line.

What goes on the plan

In the majority of cases a plan of the garden will include at least one side of the house and it is a good idea to begin measuring here. Take the overall dimensions, then measure the individual sections of wall which make up that facade, with windows and doors accurately measured and indicated. From these points the layout of the garden will develop: path and terraces running off from windows and doorways, walls and hedges leading from the corners of the building. Now measure and mark on all the boundaries of the garden, or garden area, jotting down whether it is a wall, fence or hedge and from what material it is made. An indication of the height of each boundary is also useful.

Any existing paths or terraces should be measured next. Straight and parallel borders, paths or retaining walls can easily be marked, using measurements taken from the boundaries. Curved lines and edges are more difficult to indicate, and for these you will need both tape measures. The same applies to what might be called 'floating features', which include trees, island beds, a summer house or a pond which are not attached or linked to their surroundings in any way, often being positioned in an expanse of lawn. To measure distant features, the line of the long tape measure may be extended by the use of poles, canes or surveyor's ranging rods.

As this is not a planting plan all that is required at this stage is to indicate on your site plan any areas of existing shrubs and trees and perhaps whether they are deciduous or evergreen. It is useful to show the diameter of a tree's canopy, to remind you to allow for shade in that vicinity. Any retaining walls with changes of level should be shown, with a note to the effect that there is a level change; a bank of grass leading to a level change should also be indicated at its lower and upper height. If you know where electric cables, water pipes and waste pipes run, it is important to include this information on your plan.

If you have not already done so, and as a final check, measure the overall width and length of the plot in one go, at both ends and through the middle. It is dangerous to depend on adding up composite measurements to give a total length. Take into account any slopes, which would add slightly to your total measurements. A good test for accuracy is to draw out your longer tape measure, fixing it diagonally across the whole plot and measuring the length, then do the same between the opposite two corners. When the final drawing is made, check this distance on the plan to verify your accuracy.

Drawing up the plan

Having gathered all the information relating m your site, you can decide what form the plan will take. Unless you have access m a drawing board , the easiest solution is m use squared graph paper. Whether you are making a plan on graph paper or using scale rules, the most important consideration is m draw the plan big enough, using an appropriate scale. Use large sheets of graph paper and experiment m find what size of square will represent a square metre, while enabling the whole plan m fit on the sheet. There is nothing worse than trying m draw details that are no bigger than a postage stamp. I generally use a scale of 1: 100 for general structure plans and 1:50 for more detailed planting plans.

Using an HB pencil, I mark out the boundaries of the garden first, centralizing the drawing as far as possible and making the most of the sheet of paper. If the house features in the drawing, draw this in next, indicating the doors and windows; write in the heights of the window sills from ground level, m enable a specific choice of plant heights beneath the windows. Once all the walls, hedges and buildings are in place, the adjoining features may be plotted in relation m these: the paths, terraces, retaining walls, level changes and any internal divisions such as walls, hedges and fences, against which existing borders may be drawn. Finally, mark on m the plan any 'floating features' such as trees or island beds.

This plan will now contain all the useful information gathered from the site; it should be checked against the measurement of the original diagonal tie lines and, if correct, inked over to make it permanent. If you draw on tracing paper, over the graph paper, mistakes in permanent ink can easily be removed with a scalpel blade, and copies can be printed from it with ease and clarity. Use a fine nibbled pen for the small internal details which may be ignored in the new scheme, and a broad-nibbled pen to emphasize fixed features such as house walls and boundaries, internal divisions, paths and terracing, and the lines of borders or lawn areas that you intend to keep. Trees and spreading shrubs should have their centre point marked with a cross, and their outer canopy line ringed with a series of short, faint dashes. Add an arrow point to indicate north, with a note of the scale used . Once the structure plan of existing features is complete, you should make several copies of it, safeguarding the original.

Producing a new garden plan

You can work on your copies to produce a variety of different options for the garden layout, and at this stage it is worth keeping an open mind and considering a manner of possibilities. You may decide to base the garden very much on existing lines and features or mutually abandon what is there and begin afresh. A newly built house may have a garden consisting only of boundaries, so here a creative mind and a strong imagination will be needed.

This is the time to call to mind all that you would want your garden to provide, and the plants you particularly like, set against the amount of time you will be able to spare m look after it. Remember that the aspect and climate will greatly influence the plants and materials used. You will need m consider the character and period of the house and its surroundings and what you can afford financially. Your plans should also reflect how long you intend to live in this particular house, which will m some extent determine the type of plantings you choose for the garden.

You can draw up a number of plans containing different proposals, but do not necessarily look at them in isolation; points from each may be brought together to form a strong structure, combining a greater number of your priorities. Make sure you allocate enough time to this stage, mulling over the various combinations, looking out of windows to envisage how different ideas would look from strategic positions. Eventually a general plan will emerge, no doubt with some compromises but hopefully with many of your requirements intact. It is important to have considered the area as a whole, with thought to the long-term appeal of the garden, even if this will take several years of phased construction and planting.

Putting the plan into action

Once the chosen scheme has been 'inked in' on the original plan, more copies can be taken from this, on which priorities of work can be identified and time schedules allocated. Whether we are talking about a plot the size of several fields, that tennis court, or a few square metres, it is all too easy to spend a lot of money on designing, remodelling and planting a garden. But once you have decided on an overall scheme, individual tasks and projects may be put into action as and when time and money permit, spreading the workload and the expenditure.

By building a garden over several years, bur in a logical series of stages, a greater pleasure is derived from seeing it take shape than from it arriving like fitted kitchen areas are assembled in a matter of days. You also ensure that any money spent goes on plants or materials that are needed and avoid the annual dash to the garden centre in late spring to buy plants to brighten up the garden for another season possibly only to discover these areas be wholly unsuitable in years to come. To carry out at least some of the work yourself will give greater satisfaction than a grand scheme undertaken On your behalf by a builder or landscape gardener.

Developing a garden in stages also gives a staggered introduction to the maintenance required of it. This can prove useful, and you may decide during the garden's subsequent development to reduce high-maintenance, complex areas, derailed in their composition, and replace them with simpler ideas, often with equal effect. The stages can be indicated on your plan by the use of different colour shadings.

Trying out the layout

Before even embarking on the first stage of the work, it will prove useful to mark out many of the intended features on the site. Bamboo canes laid end to end give a visual impression of the outline of a border, and short sections of bamboo canes knocked into the ground like pegs, with light coloured twine fastened between them, enable corners, curves and lines to be suggested. Hedge lines, walls, terraces and steps can all be shown in this way and if some of the areas not feel right, there is nothing lost by changing your mind at this preliminary stage. The sweeping curve of a lawn or drive may be portrayed by a supple hosepipe and a formal line of clipped topiary shapes by upturned dustbins. Single specimen trees positioned across a more distant lawn can be represented by sturdy tree stakes painted white, enabling you to view them from all angles and distances. The spacing of medium-sized to large trees is particularly difficult. One can never imagine that two 'poles' sited 15 metres (50 feet) apart will one clay touch branches.