Starting from scratch By Lesley Hegarty
GARDEN DESIGN
Where on earth do you start?
You have just moved into a brand new home with all mod cons, but you are looking out onto a dismal patch of soggy lawn and a few sorry-looking shrubs which the builders planted hastily before they left. Chances are that the soil underneath is also that unworkable mix of heavy clay and rubble.
You have two choices: either you do nothing with it for the next few years and become increasingly frustrated with it, or you view it as a tremendous opportunity to put your stamp on the garden right from the beginning. You become involved in the creation of your ideal landscape which will not only be a great investment, immediately adding value to your property but will also allow you to enjoy a continuous daily return on it. How often can you say that?
A garden designed from scratch – we take you through from the planning stage to the finished garden in this new exclusive Country Gardener series
various stages from first meeting the client right through to completion of the garden.
The initial meeting was just that – a chance to meet and begin to get to know the clients, their tastes and the site. Typical of many modern properties, this garden (approximately 132m square), is shallower than wide and originally had a looming, larchlap fence giving a claustrophobic feel to the space.
The next two stages form the basis of any good design – ‘taking of the brief’ and carrying out the survey and site assessment.
The former follows on from the initial meeting and gives the designer the opportunity to ascertain in greater depth your needs and wishes so that any ensuing design will be you-specific rather than merely a generic arty design. If art is your passion, for example, then finding out which particular artists’ work you like, may be as important as knowing how many people you will sit round your outside table. Our clients wanted their garden to feel more expansive, include two entertaining spaces, a dog lavatory, and they wished to do the work themselves.
Our survey and site assessment began on approaching the property. What is the landscape like, what grows well in other gardens and which hard landscaping materials are used locally? These facts all help give your garden context. Once in the garden we then took accurate measurements and photos, plotted the levels, analysed the soil, aspect and all other relevant features. An accurately measured plan to work from is absolutely essential.
If you just have a bare new patch of land and have some ideas but don’t know how to fit it together a garden designer can help
If you have lots of ideas about what you would like in your garden, but don’t know how to fit it together into your particular space, a garden designer can help. Contrary to what you might think, this doesn’t cost the earth and should be a really enjoyable process for you that results in a cohesive plan for the whole garden. Whether you construct it yourself or have it professionally landscaped this can be done in manageable tranches over a number of years.
Over the forthcoming issues we will feature one particular garden, very like the one described in the first paragraph, which we designed for a young family. We will review the
When assessing the site it is imperative to look closely at the ‘genius loci’ (spirit of the place), its pros and cons, the borrowed landscape and plants the client may wish to save. Also, where the drains are and if there are access problems or potential planning issues. Equally important is just spending time in the garden getting a feeling for the space and beginning some stirrings of response in design terms to its potential.
At this early stage you might also consider the approximate budget you could commit to the project, being aware that the most expensive gardens aren’t always the most effective.
Inevitably these early stages are primarily facts led, but the next issue will deal with the more obviously creative stage of the project.
Lesley Hegarty and Robert Webber,
www.hegartywebberpartnership.com Tel: 01934 853273
30
Country Gardener
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