Jun 30 2010
How To Create A New Garden | creating new garden
The question when you are thinking about making a garden is: do you have a choice of where to put it. For example, you may have a very big garden or you may be looking for an allotment from the local council. However, if you do not have a choice, then you will have to choose the kind of plants you want for your garden according to its location and condition.
If, however, you are fortunate enough to have a choice, then the chief consideration is the sun. In deed, even more significant that that is what type of plants you want to grow. If you want flowers that prefer the sun or if you like plants that cannot bear it, then the location of the garden is vital.
In the northern hemisphere, the majority of gardeners would pick a south-facing garden, if they had the choice, but not everyone. Some gardeners are interested in marsh plants or woodland plants, for instance. If you do make the majority choice and go for a south-facing garden, then your planting beds should run from north to south, because that way they will receive maximum exposure to the sun’s rays.
If, however, you cannot get a south-facing garden, but you can get one facing southeast, then your flower beds should run north-west to south-east for the greatest exposure to the sun. Other directions can be worked out in a similar fashion.
The plan, whichever way your garden is facing, is to get the sun shining as near to 50% on each side of the plants as possible. The only real way of gaining success in this matter is by having a south-facing garden in the northern hemisphere or a north-facing garden in the southern hemisphere.
When you have worked out the best place to put your garden, or which way it is facing, you should start designing it. This can best be carried out on graph paper. The first step is to draw a scale diagram of your garden. Once you have done that, you should prepare the ground by either clearing it of rubbish or clearing the scrub.
If your garden has decent turf, plan on your graph paper where you want your flower beds to be and draw them in. Then cut these areas out of your garden.
Depending how much area you have set aside for plants, you can now either dig it over or rotovate it. Whichever means you choose, do it to the best of your ability, because once you have flowers and bushes in your garden, you will not find it so straightforward again. Dig plenty of manure into the earth while you are about it.
Now that you have a decent environment for your future plants, you can go about choosing your plants. This has to be done with the orientation of your garden in mind, if you want to make the most of the space that you have available to you.
If you want to moderate a south-facing garden, this can easily be done by adding trees and bushes to provide shade, but it is not easy to heat up a cold north-facing garden.
Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on a number of subjects, but is at present involved with visual comfort lighting. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Outdoor Wall Lamps.
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