It may feel like we are still in the depths of winter and long summer nights are a lifetime away, but now is the perfect time to be planning any changes to your garden. I want to take you back to basics, to talk through how best to spatially plan your garden and address questions you need to ask yourself in order to get the most out of your space.

Wish List

The first stage is to work out how you want to use your garden. Is it for eating outside, children playing, growing vegetables, having friends and family round, or having a shed for a particular hobby? Make a list of your requirements and then prioritise them. Depending on the size of your garden, it may be that you can not accommodate everything, so it is a good idea to think about what is most important to you.

Break it Down

From this list then you can knuckle into a bit more detail.

• If you want to eat outside, how many of you are there to fit around the table? What time of day will this be – breakfast, lunchtime, evenings, or all three?
• When entertaining, how many people do you tend to have round at a time? How big is your family to have them over for a BBQ?

• If you would like some play equipment for the children, what age are they and what do they like to do? Are they into ball sports, would they love a trampoline, a sandpit, a swing?
• What size does your shed need to be? How much storage or workbench space do you require?

Know Your Plot

Now that you have compiled your wish list with some notes added, it is time to assess your plot. Work out which way the garden faces and see how the sun passes through the garden during the day. Is there a strong prevailing wind, is it flat, sloping, or on different levels? Measure up your garden and mark on the existing features which you are not planning to change such as any slopes, mature trees, and boundaries. Add a curved arrow of how the sun passes through the garden to help visualise the plot.

Get Creative

Once you are at the stage where you have your wish list, along with a basic sketch of your garden and its features, you have the fun part of being creative and marrying the two together.

You now know where the sunny spots are at different times of day, so that will dictate where best to have your seating areas for morning, noon, and night. You could opt to have three seating areas if you have the space, or prioritise the main patio to be in the sunniest lunchtime spot and perhaps just a bench for a morning coffee or evening drink if space is limited.

Is this patio right next to the house? If not, you will need a path to get there, so add this in.

You may want to have your children’s play area in the shade or close to the house where you can keep an eye on them from the kitchen window. Keep going like this through your list to build in the different requirements.

I would recommend focusing on fewer zones and being generous with them, rather than squeezing in too much which can end up as a little bit of a hotch-potch. Consider the journey through the garden so that it feels cohesive going from one area to another.

Finally, it is really important that the design is in keeping with both the house and also the wider setting, both in terms of style and choice of materials, and that you consider the views from inside looking out.

So, there you have it, a basic step by step guide on how to layout your garden so it works for you and your specific requirements. If this all feels a little too much or you are still at loggerheads on how to proceed, then it’s time to call a garden designer to help you through the process.

Katie Reynolds Design offers garden and interior design services across Aberdeenshire and the North East of Scotland. She is qualified in both sectors, having trained at KLC School of Design in London and the National Design Academy.

Gardens and interiors are often treated as separate entities in the design world but Katie is passionate about integrating the two disciplines, believing that together they define your home.

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