How To Plan A Garden Landscaping Project
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- 02-08-2023
Find out how to plan a garden landscaping project. Kent Groundwork are landscape gardeners working throughout Maidstone, Rochester and Kent. Learn how to create your dream garden. Expert tips and step-by-step guidance for a stunning outdoor space. Start your project today!
Decide On Your Goals
One of the most critical steps in your landscape design journey is to clearly define your goals. Taking the time to decide on your landscape goals not only helps you stay focused throughout the process but also ensures that your outdoor space aligns perfectly with your desires and lifestyle. Here are three key considerations to keep in mind when setting your landscape goals:
User-Friendly Landscape Design
Before diving into your landscape project, take the time to assess how you will use your yard. Are you planning to entertain guests in your garden, hosting lively gatherings and events? Or do you envision a tranquil sanctuary where you can escape the stresses of daily life and find solace in nature? Understanding your intended usage will guide your landscape choices effectively.
Create a clear and comprehensive objective, such as designing a landscape that provides fresh vegetables for your family's consumption and a spacious green area for recreational activities and sports. This user-friendly approach ensures that your landscape elements cater to your specific needs and desires, enhancing your outdoor living experience.
Low-Maintenance Landscape Design
Who enjoys spending countless hours mowing lawns, pulling weeds, or dealing with pesky pests? Probably not many of us. To save time and effort, consider opting for a low-maintenance landscape design.
Service experts often recommend selecting plants like hostas, peonies, and sedum that require minimal upkeep. These low-maintenance options will not only allow you to spend more time actually enjoying your garden rather than toiling in it but also prove to be a wise long-term investment.
Eco-Friendly Landscape Design
In today's environmentally conscious world, you can make a positive impact on the planet through your gardening practices. Embrace an eco-friendly landscape design that minimises harmful environmental effects. Consider your ecological impact before every gardening purchase, opting for pesticide-free alternatives to reduce toxins in your yard and protect local wildlife.
Emphasise sustainable practices by incorporating elements like rain gardens, which aid in water conservation and contribute to the overall health of the ecosystem. Other eco-gardening ideas include replacing turf with drought-tolerant ground covers, growing your own food to reduce food miles, and selecting native plant species that support local fauna.
Planning Your Landscape On A Budget
Investing in your landscape doesn't have to be costly. Studies show that well-designed landscaping can boost your home's value by 10-12%, making it a financially savvy choice. Here's a step-by-step guide to planning your landscape while sticking to your budget:
1.
Inspect Your Property
Survey your property for safety issues and potential hazards that could impact its value. Note trip hazards, dead limbs, toxic plants, erosion problems, and more.
2.
List Your Wants
Create a wishlist of landscape improvements based on your desired lifestyle. Consider features like vegetable beds, an outdoor pool, a grilling station, or an outdoor kitchen for entertainment.
3.
Set a Budget
Decide on a budget, aiming for about 10-15% of your home's value.
4.
Prioritise
Rank your needs and wants, focusing on safety first.
5.
Consult a Pro
Talk to a landscape professional for valuable insights, even if you're doing it yourself. Obtain bids from multiple companies if hiring professionals.
6.
Itemise Costs
Understand project costs, including materials, equipment, permits, and potential insurance changes. Add a buffer of 10-20% for unexpected expenses.
7.
Assess Your Plan
Review your priorities and costs to ensure they fit your budget. Explore options like reusing existing materials or dividing the project into phases.
Formal Vs Informal Gardens
The Formal Garden
In a formal garden, the essence lies in symmetry and balance, evoking an air of elegance and refinement. Geometric shapes take centre stage, portraying simplicity and clean lines within the design. An essential principle is to select a specific shape and replicate it consistently throughout the garden, be it in flower beds, paths, water features, or the spaces between these elements.
To achieve a clean and sophisticated appearance, topiary and carefully placed container plantings play pivotal roles. These elements contribute structure and formality to the garden while ensuring an aesthetically pleasing and easily manageable layout. When it comes to the plant palette, a formal garden thrives on restraint.
Opt for tranquil and subdued colour schemes, such as soft yellows, creams, whites, and lime greens, or consider a harmonious blend of blues, greys, and deep reds. This restrained approach allows the eye to rest, preventing elements from vying for attention and maintaining a sense of serenity. Trees play a significant role in providing structure and definition to the formal garden. Consider shaping trees like hawthorn, hornbeam, or lime into formal and well-groomed appearances.
In larger gardens, strategically plant some trees further away from the main areas to create a sense of depth and scale, adding to the garden's overall grandeur. Formal pools are a hallmark feature in these gardens, their simple shapes reflecting a sense of harmony, with the pool's design replicated throughout the garden, creating an enduring sense of unity.
The Informal Garden
On the other hand, informal gardens embody a more relaxed and natural approach, shunning strict lines and repeated patterns in favour of organic shapes and curves. Incorporating natural materials, these gardens maintain longer grass areas adorned with charming and vibrant bulbs. Paths meander organically through the garden, weaving through generous borders brimming with a delightful assortment of perennials, shrubs, roses, grasses, and other plantings.
Emulating the beauty of the countryside, informal gardens might feature poppies and plants like Anthriscus sylvestris 'Ravenswing' and Cenolophium denudatum, reminiscent of the wild umbellifers found in hedgerows. Informal gardens exude a romantic and untamed charm, allowing plants to seed naturally across gravel paths and permitting rambling roses to ascend trees, fostering a whimsical and enchanting ambience.
Formal Garden
Informal Garden
Do You Need Planning Permission For Garden Design?
Permitted Development is a crucial concept in UK planning law that allows homeowners to carry out specific types of home and garden work without obtaining planning permission.
Each type of development has stringent requirements, including factors like height, size, proximity to neighbouring properties, and main roads. Understanding these rules is essential before embarking on any garden project.
Under Permitted Development, you have the freedom to build, improve, maintain, or alter a fence, wall, or other enclosure. However, certain limitations apply. If the wall or fence is adjacent to a road, its height must not exceed 1 meter.
For any other walls, fences, gates, or enclosures, the height should not exceed 2 meters. It's important to note that if you live in a listed building, you cannot carry out such work under Permitted Development. In such cases, you must apply for planning permission.
For sheds, garden offices, or summerhouses, you can generally proceed under Permitted Development. However, the total area of outbuildings, including extensions, must not exceed 50% of your garden's total area.
This calculation should also account for any covered areas attached to your main building. Should your proposed outbuilding surpass the 50% limit, planning permission will be necessary.
Garden decking usually falls within the scope of permitted development, provided the platforms are no more than 30cm above the ground. Should your decking exceed this height restriction, you will need to seek planning permission.
Most garden design projects, such as re-turfing lawns, adding garden paving, or creating flower beds, do not require planning permission. However, it's important to exercise caution when pruning trees.
Certain trees may be protected under Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs), requiring you to consult with your local council before undertaking any significant pruning or tree removal.
If your garden design involves significant ground-level changes that may affect drainage, flooding, or neighbouring properties, you may require planning permission.
Consulting your local planning office will help you determine whether planning approval is necessary, considering factors like potential impacts on the surrounding area and local ecology.
Transform your visions into reality with our top-notch construction and landscaping services in Kent. As leading groundwork contractors, we create high-quality, bespoke spaces that inspire and delight. Contact us today.
