Landscape Design is a process and requires a few key steps that if taken seriously will guarantee lifelong enjoyment for the property owner. Whether the project involves a small area for a vegetable garden, or a large outdoor entertainment space. The following step-by-step process is an easy practical approach for the novice home gardener.

Draw a Base Map
Before starting your design, prepare a base map (scaled drawing) of the important features and the characteristics of your property or site. Be sure to include the boundaries of your property, the location, and size of existing structures and utilities, existing trees and some critical ground elevations. At least note high and low spots, poorly drained areas, and which way your property slopes. Be as accurate as possible. Sometimes hiring a surveyor to conduct a boundary and/or a topographical survey is a sensible solution, especially if you have a very large treed area or steep slopes.

Study your Property or Site
Understand the natural features that influence your property or site. Take a walk around your property, photographing and making notes of your observations on a copy of your Base Map. You might also want to photograph background views of your property, both good and bad. Photograph your site from your neighbor’s yards, to see the other side looking in. Arrange the photos on a poster board or two. Then, take a step back and ask yourself what pleases you about the property or site, and what is not pleasing. What would you like to change? Is there too much sun or shade, a view to a busy street or other eyesores? A picture is really worth a thousand words!

Note wind direction and study sun angles. Are deer or other animals a problem? Test your soil for acidity and alkalinity. A soil test kit can be purchased at any nursery or hardware store. Make sure the kit you buy tells how much organic matter is present in your soil. This will help you prepare your soil properly if you decide to do the work yourself.

Write your Goals and Objectives
Writing down your goals and objectives now will make it much easier for you to draw later. Goals are very broad statements about your design. For example, one goal might be to include a play area for your kids. Objectives are more specific. So, one of your objectives for the play area might be to construct a lawn in the backyard, or a multipurpose court. For every goal there might be one or more objectives.

When I meet with clients, I usually deal with the following four issues. Addressing these issues help me formulate the goals and objectives for their design projects....more

Preparing your Garden Soil

The ideal soil for your garden is loam. Loam is a combination of silt, sand, clay and humus or decayed organic matter. It has a dark color; it is free of rocks and weeds and drains well. However, not everyone’s garden consists of loam, and as a result, we end up adding amendments and fertilizers to our garden soil to get it just so. I have lived in several areas in the United States and in each area I always had to add amendments to the soil. Right now though, my property has great soil –not loam, but about two acres of this great soil is mixed with small rounded river rock!