Where to start with a garden redesign, A quick guide

You don’t need a full masterplan (or a full free weekend) to start redesigning your garden. If you can give it 45 minutes, you can get clarity on what you want, what you need, and what the first practical step should be.

1) Stand in the doorway and choose your “view”

Pick the spot you naturally look from most often (kitchen door, patio doors, upstairs window). That view is your anchor.

What do you want to feel when you look out? Calm, lush, structured, Mediterranean, wild, private?

What do you want to hide? Bins, fences, neighbouring windows, awkward corners?

2) Decide what stays (and what must go)

Redesign doesn’t always mean ripping everything out. In 5 minutes, make two lists

Keep: anything healthy, loved, or mature (especially established shrubs/trees)

Change: anything that’s struggling, messy, or simply doesn’t suit the space anymore

Tip: if you’re unsure, take photos now. A quick look at your garden on your phone often makes the “problem areas” obvious.

3) Mark your “useable zones” (even if they’re only in your head)

Most gardens need 2–4 zones,

Sitting / terrace

Planting / borders

Lawn / play

Practical (shed, bins, compost, side access)

My add on here is water, to me its a non-negotiable in a garden, it adds something for wildlife and for me

You’re not drawing a perfect plan here—just deciding what the garden needs to do for you.

4) Choose your structure first: screening + shape

If you do one thing that instantly changes how a garden feels, it’s structure.

Privacy: hedging, pleached trees, multi-stem trees

Shape: a clean edge to a border, a repeated rhythm of planting, a focal tree

If your garden feels “unfinished”, it’s often because it’s missing one of these.

5) Pick a palette (3 plants + 1 texture)

To avoid the “bitty” look, choose:

1 evergreen backbone (structure all year)

1 flowering moment (seasonal joy)

1 softener (grasses or airy planting)

1 texture (stone, gravel, bark mulch, cobbles)

Keeping it tight makes it feel intentional.

6) Do the 10-minute terrace check

Terraces are the quiet hero of a finished garden.

Is the terrace big enough for how you actually live?

Do you have a clear route from door to seating?

Is it level, safe, and easy to maintain?

Even a small upgrade—better edging, a cleaner layout, or a new gravel/pebble detail—can lift everything.

7) End with one clear next step

Before you go back inside, choose one next step for this week:

Measure the terrace area

Photograph the garden at 3 angles

Decide your privacy solution

Choose your 3-plant palette

If you’d like, send us a few photos and your rough measurements— Our Garden Curators Appointments help you choose the right trees and planting to suit your space and your style.  Personal Shopping Experience for your Garden or prefer to have one of Our Garden Designers take over the full designing of your garden then choose our design consultation or full design package and full design and build services.  Whichever works for your garden …