Redesign your whole garden as a phased landscaping project

This guide is for anyone facing a garden that no longer works: a bare new-build plot, a tired inherited layout or a space that floods, slopes or simply does not fit family life. It takes you through measuring and surveying the site, writing a brief, sketching a layout, checking planning and neighbour issues, budgeting and choosing between DIY and contractors. You will finish with a scaled plan, a costed phase list and a written brief you can hand to landscapers for comparable quotes.

What is inside

• Full step-by-step method9 detailed steps with decision points
• Ready-to-use templatesOne-page garden design brief · Email asking landscapers to quote · Note to neighbours before work starts
• Timed action plan8 stages from “Week 1” to “First year”
• Costly mistakes to avoid4 traps and what to do instead
• Complete checklist12 items to tick off
• Insider tips and fixes4 tips and 4 common problems solved

Step by step

1. Survey the site before you dream

   Measure the boundaries, house walls, doors, windows, existing trees, paths and changes in level, and draw them to scale on squared paper, for example one square to half a metre. Record which way the garden faces and note where sun and shade fall in the morning, at midday and in the evening, ideally in summer and winter. Mark where water lies after heavy rain, which areas are boggy or bone dry, and dig a few test holes to see your soil type and depth. Locate drains, inspection chambers, outside taps, cables and any buried services, and treat the positions as approximate until confirmed. Note views you want to keep and things you want to hide, such as bins, sheds or a neighbour's window.