So that’s pretty much it for the overall planning process.  Take note of what you’ve got, decide what you want, justify that with what’s possible, divide the whole into areas. 
Now what?  Well, logically, you do one area at a time.  But we aren’t Vulcans (Star Trek reference), so there’s a big problem with doing one [...]

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We have everything we wanted in this area. It seats 6 people. It’s right off the enclosed deck, so it’s not far from the kitchen – we sometimes have our meals out here. It blocks the view of the cars in the driveway. There is plenty of shade from both the carport and the trees. Believe it or not, there are lots of plants in this area – a dozen kinds of hosta, half a dozen types of ferns, soloman’s seal, cross vine, moss between the stones, ivy on the fence and much more. There’s a water feature (the blue urn in the corner) and even outdoor speakers (which we rarely use – the sound of the birds and the water is usually enough).

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Let’s start with what we now call our upper patio. It is appoximately 22′ x 20′ – about the size of a large room, which is exactly what we wanted. As you can see from the photos below, it had no privacy, no greenery and no charm. In other words, Ug Ly. Don’t you agree?

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So this is where we started on our map. We penciled in the sections that would make nice “areas” (either a garden area or a seating area). We laid out our paths to get as much distance through them as possible (they meander). We wound up with a drawing with overlapping ovals and circles and a long curving line running along and between them. We hadn’t decided which type of garden went where yet, but we knew that that would be at least partially dictated by the conditions of each area.

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What exactly does the title mean? It means: if you have something on your wish list, what does that mean as far as your plan goes? For instance, let’s say that you want a cutting garden so that you can have freshly cut flowers in the house. A cutting garden means sunshine. At least 6 hours of direct sunshine. More is better. Do you have a place that gets that much sun?

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Get yourself a notebook and call it MY GARDEN (or Our Garden, or Chrissy’s Garden or MeeMaw’s Garden or whatever). On page one, write: I would like a garden with _____________. This is page one. Don’t put anything on this page except what you would like in your garden. If next week you think, “I’d really like a little shade and a table and chairs to sit with friends”, then add that to this page. Don’t analyze it, don’t rule it out because of size restraints, just write it down. This isn’t what you can do – this is WHAT YOU WANT. There’s a difference.

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Before you can plan your garden, you need to know what you have. You might say… I don’t have anything. Oh, but you do. You have sunshine (or shade – even if it’s the shade from another building). You have soil. True – maybe it’s clay. Or maybe it’s under an old driveway, but it’s there. And you probably have a few things growing – even if they’re weeds and grass. But more than likely, even if you’ve just moved in and think your yard is a barren desert, you’ve probably got a hedge or two, a tree or two and a few unknown plants.

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These two elements – what you have and what you want – are the things you MUST know before you can proceed successfully. You can proceed without one or the other, even both, but not successfully. In the weeks ahead we’ll discuss these two tasks. And we’ll move on to discussing things like Elements of a Garden, How to Budget for a Garden (without breaking the bank), How to Get as Much as Possible as Quickly as Possible, Patience, and more.

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The best gardens are gardens that look good all year long, even without flowers, even covered with snow.

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When we first moved to Winston Salem, we rented a house two blocks from here.  We wanted to explore the city for a year or two, learn the neighborhoods, test the commutes, before we decided on where to buy a home.  Two blocks makes a lot of difference.
Understand that two blocks from here is perfectly [...]

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