Drawings & Plans

Drawings

This is the point where you get to fit all of your requirements into the master plan.

Whilst you may wish to design and draw up your own plans, we would strongly recommend the use of a professional garden designer. Many will complete an initial basic design scheme for a nominal fee but they will have the experience and expertise to avoid any potentially crucial mistakes in your plans.

At myhome mygarden, we have established a network of garden designers throughout the UK and would be pleased to deal with this part of the process for you. See our Garden Design & Landscaping Services section for more information.

However, even when using the services of a garden designer, you should have a good idea of what you want to achieve in your garden and which existing features you want to keep.

Take time to look at the Objectives section of our site and make a list of what you would like to include. All designers prefer to have a clear understanding of what you are looking for.

You may wish to draw some initial sketches and pass these on to your designer and a good way of achieving this is to take photographs of the garden from various angles and sketch directly onto a print out of them. Digital cameras and a colour inkjet printer are ideal for this. Alternatively you can place tracing paper over the image, and sketch onto this as this will help you to visualize your design in 3D.

Many garden designers use Computer Aided Design software which can give you an excellent idea of how your garden will look as shown in the examples below. This can be particularly useful for the main views of the garden such as from a particular window or patio door.

Whether you are planning to carry out the actual work yourself, or will be employing gardening contractors to do this, an accurate and well specified plan is an essential reference point.

It will help to avoid disputes and gives everyone involved a clear understanding of the final goal.

Top Tips

1. A two dimensional (2d) plan should always be supplemented by one or more 3d plans or perspective views as these will enable you to visualize the height of the garden. Think about things you would like to screen such as a neighbours garage or rusty swing.
2. If you are drawing the plan yourself, do it on graph paper and it’s always a good idea to do a rough sketch first. The scale will depend on the size of your garden and, for large gardens, you may need more than one page. Include the north point and clearly show the boundaries.
3. Always draw plants at their mature size so that you can avoid overcrowding and having to move them later as they grow.
4. Show existing features that are to be retained such as mature trees– this well help to avoid over-enthusiastic contractors removing elements that will then have to be reinstated. It’s also a good idea to include the existing buildings and permanent features such as manhole covers.
5. Some items will need separate details which show the method of construction (e.g. water features, retaining walls, etc) and it is often a good idea to draw a close up on areas of specialist interest. Some sloping gardens may also need a cross-section.
6. The drawings should be in colour to help get a better feel of the final results. Try and include everything that you want on the drawing in colours that match their true colour as closely as possible.
7. When carrying out the design, think about how the garden will develop and your needs will change. For example, a sandpit could become a raised bed or pond and a playhouse can be changed to a summerhouse as the kids get older.
8. Proportions and scale – this is an area where a garden designer will help get things right. Generally, the elements of the garden should be in scale with the house so they should be smaller for a bungalow than for a three storey town house.
9. Read the other sections of Design and Planning on our site prior to completing your drawing as there is lots of information on the main garden elements including planting.
10. Take plenty of copies – various people will use the plans as the work is completed and they have a habit of getting wet and torn. Always keep the master copy in a safe place.