Designing a garden

[BlackAlys]

Help! DH and I have a fairly large, square garden to a property that we are currently renovating.

I've left the garden design to DH and so far he's come up with where to place his shed/potting lean to.

Any hints and tips on how to organise and design our garden? We want to grow veg and have a fairly natural looking garden - not too manicured - we just don't know where to start!

I think a good place to start would be observing where the light falls in your garden - figure out if it is north facing, south facing etc.
That will help you chose where best to build raised beds for your veg, which areas might best be suited to having a flowerbed dug in, and help you establish which plants would thrive best in which areas.

Observe where water collects, which parts might be a little soggier than others, or totally dry if they were at the top of a slope.
Taking these things into account will go a long way to ensuring you've designed things well and the plants you've chosen will thrive in the right spot for them.

For instance, the front of my house is North facing, so only gets a few hours of sun in the morning. When it rains, water really collects in this area. So I specifically sought out plants that could tolerate shade and moist conditions.

Do you have any mature trees or shrubs already, which cast shade?
If not you might want to consider adding some, especially if you're lucky enough to have a large space. These will add some much needed structure and vertical interest.

If you like quite an informal style, browse images of cottage gardens, these will give you lots of ideas for low maintenance, pretty perennials.

If you are putting in flower beds and borders, I'd dig in softly curved shapes, which will look much more natural and informal rather than straight lines and edges. Think islands of flowerbeds, perhaps in kidney bean shapes or ovals, or a gently wavy edged border.

Perhaps the veg growing area would be best suited close by the greenhouse/shed/lean to, so that area looks all together more productive, and the rest of the garden dedicated to 'pretty'?
Just some things to consider.

All fantastic advice from the PP!

I'd also suggest going to visit gardens to see what you like. You can visit hundreds of gardens via the National Open Gardens Scheme, but there are bound to be other places near you that you can visit too- RHS gardens, NT properties, or wander round where you live and see what grows well in other peoples' gardens.

I often find our local plant nursery a good source of inspiration- they group plants together that I would never consider and have unusual varieties that you don't see elsewhere.

Things do well in sunshine so design the things that are most important to you (eg veg) to be in the sunniest bits.
As pp said, you don't want straight lines. You also don't want obviously modern materials so stick to stone, weathered vernacular brick, wood, etc. Create 'rooms' so your garden has some what's-round-the-corner? mystery. Use different materials to define different areas. Lead the eye with views and focal points.
Don't forget to design the boring bits - compost heap, washing line, bin store.
Lastly, the planting. If you want naturalistic then go for more soft, muted colours. Don't forget to include evergreens so you have some winter interest.

The first thing yoU need is a pad of graph paper. Begin By marking out the best places for you to sit and to eat for different times of the day.. Mark which parts of the garden are sunny and which are shady. This will of course depend on the time of day,

Draw different shaped beds, circles, rectangles, triangles and try to create a meandering walkway between them. Don’t be afraid to mix and match different shapes.

If you put ‘landscape garden’ into Pinterest and the pin or screenshot everything you like. Usually this will give you a clear idea of palette and style that you like best.

Start up slowly, creating one bed which you will see and enjoy most often. Once this first bed is dug and planted the others will probably fall into place.

Working in smaller sections will stop you getting overwhelmed.

think about how you will use the garden - do you want a space to sit & have coffee in the morning sunshine? If so, where is sun in the morning? Or do you prefer a sunny spot for evening wine? If so, pick a different spot. Put a bench there & then plant around the bench. Have a winding path to lead to your bench too.

Similarly, is there a place where you want a nice view from the house? So put a feature plant there or a small tree, or a birdbath etc. And then plant around it.