Sketching and Planning your Garden Design
Garden design can be easy if you have a plan on paper. Drawing a simple sketch will make a huge difference when starting work. This article explains how you can put your own garden design on paper with no artistic skills required.
Step 1
Decide what you want to design. Preparation is key to a good garden design. Before putting pen to paper, make sure you know exactly what you want to achieve. Consider if your garden needs to be safe for children to play in and pet friendly. Also think about how your garden will be used. Some common activities include relaxing, playing sport, entertaining guests and growing trees or plants. Once you have some garden design ideas and a list of requirements, you can start measuring and sketching!
Step 2
Get your tools ready. You will need the following items:
- Tape measure.
- Crayons, pencil and an eraser.
- Paper (A3 is a good size).
- Your list of requirements from step 1.
Step 3
Measure your garden. Space and shape will drastically affect your garden design. You should sketch a simple outline of your garden once you have measured the perimeter. Use a ruler to ensure the design is to scale and you will find a large sketch on A3 to be most useful, particularly if the garden isn’t a uniform shape. Using these details, you can then decide what features to include in the design.
Step 4
Split your garden sketch into sections. Most gardens will consist of several basic elements such as decking, a lawn and flowerbeds; draw outlines to illustrate these sections. Do not use any color at this stage although you may wish to apply faint labels. The end result will illustrate the general layout of your garden.
Step 5
Add detail to your garden design. Your drawing will start to take form after this stage. Draw a small cloud shape to represent trees, rectangles to illustrate any structures, and solid lines to show pathways. Use similar techniques to sketch the outline of a pond or other features. Once you have finished adding these details, use color to bring the garden design to life.
Step 6
Finalize your garden design drawing. Go into your garden with the colored drawing and attempt to visualize your new design in place. Consider showing your drawing to friends or family to get their opinion. If you are unhappy with any aspects of your drawing, you should simply make another revision until you are satisfied. The end result will be a unique garden design, which can later be implemented withconfidence.
