The 4-step recipe to beautify your garden

Here's the Universal recipe for arranging a garden.

What you wanted create a garden from scratch, transform an existing garden or add additional landscapingeverything is done in 4 steps:

Define your desires

The same piece of land can be developed in a thousand different ways.

What will determine whether there will be a large or small vegetable garden, whether there will be a pond or not, whether the terrace will be designed for dining for 4 or 12… is simply to the needs of the people who will use it. That is, you!

It's like when you buy a house, you list the criteria you care about: not too far from work, with 3 bedrooms, a kitchen open to the living room…

It's the same with your garden, you have to know what you want to do there.

And this applies in all cases.

New garden? Each desire will correspond to a future development of the territory.

Existing garden? Your wish list will let you know which parts of the garden you can keep as is, which will need to be completely removed and finally which will need to be modified. For example, enlarge the vegetable garden because you are retired and have more time to dedicate to it, remove the swing because now the children have grown up…

Just want to create some extra space? For example, a pool area? You need to think about your wishes in terms of the size of the pool, but also additional equipment such as a shower, a sun terrace, etc.

You must therefore take stock of your desires before going further into reflection, because it is the basis of everything.

Define the ideal position for each space in your garden

In the garden your wishes come true through the spaces: vegetable garden area, terrace area, children's play area… a bit like the rooms of a house.

And for each of these spaces it is necessary to define a location on the ground.

AND optimal position to take advantage of it and there, many criteria can be taken into account : sun, view of the neighbors, access from the house… ensuring this your entire garden is well organized and practical.

Starting from scratch, you will need to distribute the positions of each space on the ground. This is the simplest case because there are no constraints other than your criteria.

For a redevelopment, you will position the new spaces taking into account your criteria while “playing” with the existing spaces that you will keep.

And if you're simply creating a new space, you'll also need to find the right location taking into account what already exists in the garden.

The choice of materials and the technical aspect

Now you need to think about every equipment and material needed to create these spaces.

You have to take both into account:

• The aesthetic aspect so that you like it and there is harmony throughout your garden.
• The practical aspect so that the materials correspond to the desired use.
• And the technical space : If you do the work yourself, make sure you feel capable of installing the materials.
  For the same construction as a terrace, the possibilities are numerous and there is a great disparity: the slabs are not installed in the same way as the slats of a wooden terrace. And also, from one plate model to another, the technical recommendations are not necessarily the same.

Decoration and plants

Finally you have to personalize your garden decorating it in your image. It's really important so that it has its own personality.

It's also time to arrange your flowerbeds. They will enhance every space in your garden and create a connection between them. This contributes to the harmony of the whole.

These 4 steps are the foundation of any garden project, whether you're starting from scratch, doing a redesign, or adding additional space to your garden.

Each of these steps may take more or less time.

Your wishes? It all depends on whether your ideas are already clear in your head.

Looking for the right location for each space can quickly turn into difficulty if you don't know which criteria to take into consideration for each of them.

Finding the right materials for each project, comparing them to obtain a durable, aesthetic and practical result taking into account your abilities, can take hours.

Just like selecting the right varieties of plants that will grow well in your land.

A way to save time? It's about following a method where each step is explained to you in detail to save you as much time as possible.

I created two guides with this principle:

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