Landscape planning: The importance of landscape planning

What does one normally do when starting our first garden? Well, plant of course. That is exactly what I did many years ago when I moved into my first house and started my own garden. After a few seasons of serious gardening my flower beds just grew and grew and looked overgrown in no time! This was because I would put in flowers and plants and even flowering shrubs to give my garden that well-established look without giving them space to grow into. I threw caution to the wind and did not bother with flower bed borders as there was no inclination to make use of landscape edging at that point in time and I did not want to curb myself. However, instead of ending up with a zen garden, all I achieved was disorganized chaos. I suppose with hindsight I can now say it was a matter of learning by actually doing gardening and I am grateful that I did not allow the chaos to distract me from the benefits and pleasures of gardening, but it did allude me to the importance of proper planning.

Proper planning

My first garden was a nightmare. After a couple of seasons and after moving too many plants around, my garden had no identity. This just goes to show that without a proper landscape design plan, your landscaping and garden can be more work than it has to be and can actually take away from the beauty of your home and property, and can make gardening more of a chore than a pleasure. Then I learnt the value of advance planning and realized that it’s the only way to a better designed garden landscape. Landscaping, and especially the planning and design aspects of it, is the most important task in establishing a good garden. You should give it ample attention when you plan on establishing a garden. The aim with this website is thus to offer all novice gardeners and amateur landscapers the guidance that was seriously lacking when I attempted my first ever garden. Our ultimate aim is to have a guide to landscaping and gardening for beginners – as this web site grows, so will our gardens.

It is not only new gardens that require good planning as you will often find that an already established garden can be overgrown and neglected. In both cases planning would be paramount. You need to take into account factors such as personal preference, age, type of lifestyle, and other requirements. Allow me to elaborate why I state that you need to take these into account as it can be a determining factor in your front yard landscape and backyard landscape design planning.

• A busy lifestyle would translate into a garden that is categorized as low maintenance. These types of gardens usually have a formal design, little lawn, lots of hard landscaping and permanent plants.
• A limited budget would translate into a low maintenance garden that requires the minimum costs to maintain. You will usually make use of easy-growing plants that are also self-propagating.
• Having children and pets would translate into a garden that features a lot of open space and lawn and would usually fall into the informal garden category.

A good front yard landscape and backyard landscape design plan offers a way to avoid the classic dilemma: wandering around your garden with the plants you’ve just bought and wondering where the heck to put them! When planning your garden you also require accurate measurements of your plot so that you know exactly where you want your plants. The plan should also be drawn to scale so that everything will be proportional. In my personal experience I want to state the simplicity principle reign supreme in my garden – simple patterns with a distinct personal style of course. In fact backyard landscape ideas should not be too complicated. Complicated backyard landscape ideas and landscape designs might be cost intensive and labor intensive. After all we want to enjoy and relax in the garden as well.