To begin designing your garden you need to think about what you need your garden to be.

What will you do in your garden?  Do you have a  large garden space, a  house garden space or a small Terrace garden space to develop into your garden?

Whatever the size of your garden, the The design rules will still be the same. You will make the garden to suit your lifestyle. Even in the smallest garden you will have a place to sit and enjoy the day and the plants around you.

Sit in your garden with a pen and paper and map out what would suit the different positions in your space.

Note down the fencing and buildings, where you would like paths, paved areas,steps,archways,gazebo,lawns.

These along with your trees and large shrubs are the bones of your garden  and must be in place before you do any soft planting or under planting.

A patio can provide a comfortable outdoor entertaining area. It needs protection from the weather and a good degree of privacy. A paved surface with garden or potted plants around and a garden ornament  makes it a place you want to spend time, with friends or family or just to read a book..

Trees are a focal point in any garden and if you have a large space you need to get your trees planted as they are the bones of your garden planting.

If you are lucky enough to have mature trees to work with then you can design your garden around them and begin to think of your under planting. Planning the pathways that can lead to  hidden facinating areas of interest.

Outdoor garden rooms is the modern concept of creating entirely different parts of your garden with a different  influence and micro-climate that will suit different plants. This will break your plan down into manageable areas to work with instead of the whole garden at the one time.

Now you need to think about the type of garden areas you would like in your plan.Gardens come in different styles each with their own atmosphere. There are formal gardens, casual gardens, herb gardens, Japanese gardens, Italian and mediterranean  gardens, cottage gardens, water wise gardens  just for a start.