Whether you want to fill gaps in your planting, develop an area or start a garden from scratch, it can be hard to know where to start. Follow this primer from garden designer Humaira Ikram to create a successful scheme
Learn your site
Before you start, make sure you understand all the idiosyncrasies of the space at hand: aspect, soil type, sun and shade, damp and dry all affect what will thrive in your garden. “You need to know what your site is like: get a survey done if you’re starting from scratch, take a soil sample, work out the slope and aspect, and check trees’ canopies even if they’re next door and not in your garden,” Humaira advises.
Don’t feel intimidated by working this out though: much of it you will already know pretty well, especially if you are adding planting to a garden you have had for some time and have seen in all seasons. “Being a designer is often more tricky in this respect because you may not know the site so well,” says Humaira. “But many amateur gardeners know their sites really well, understanding small things like cold or dry patches or where the wind blows around a corner.” Appreciating these nuances means there is often an opportunity for experimentation and risk-taking in your planting.
Work out what you want
With so many styles and influences to choose from, establishing exactly what you want from a planting area can take some effort. Designers work hard on this initial step because everything leads from it. “How do you want to use your garden?” is always Humaira’s first question.
This is followed by specific points, such as whether privacy or an open space in which children can play is the aim, or whether lots of greenery or flowers to cut and bring indoors are desired. “For designers, it is helpful to have the client give you a picture of something to clarify what they want to feel in the garden. Sometimes it’s about their history, perhaps something they did with their granny, or a holiday in Thailand. You want to try to extract that.”
Draw up a mood board
To help establish what her clients want, Humaira makes a mood board to determine the scale, shapes and colours they want for their garden. Look to brochures, magazines, the websites of nurseries and designers and online platforms such as Pinterest and Instagram to establish a look. “I want to build what a client can’t see in their head,” Humaira explains. “We send images bac
