When we have land and want to make a garden, of any kind, we have never considered what we can do and also we don’t know how to start.
Making a garden from scratch is financially expensive in terms of time and effort. Gardening prices are very wide depending on what you are looking for. It is an endless sector and sometimes it is not easy to find good value for money. Some professionals and materials are very cheap, very expensive and very good in terms of quality-price ratio, but you have to know how to search.
This is like decorating a house. You have to start looking, taking references in magazines, stores, thousands of websites, videos, and ideas until you decide on certain things that may fit… It’s great to do it yourself but it’s expensive. Therefore we have two options:
- Do it ourselves. A very satisfactory personal project
- Or hire the services of a decorator
The second option is always more expensive, although if you are an undeniably busy person, with hardly any time to dedicate to the initial decoration of a house, a decorator can help you a lot. Know how to combine colours depending on spaces and light, price ranges in materials, furniture, etc. You don’t learn it in two days and this professional group knows everything about the subject.
Similarly, making a garden is exactly the same
All spectrums of people who want to have a garden must be covered. Because everything is said, having a garden gives life and joy to the house, it is a wonderful leisure space and puts you in direct contact with nature in a private space, but not everyone likes to maintain it, much less even want to consider having to make one from scratch! Colors to taste!
A professional gardener not only prunes and cuts the grass
Professional gardeners know – in addition to cutting and pruning – how to plan spaces, how to generate the best routes to make paths, paving, plan irrigation systems and types, and sectorize irrigation based on plot size, water pressure and route of irrigation. each sector…
Decide what type of species we can plant based on our geographical area
It is evident that if I live in Madrid and I love tropical gardens, no matter how much I want to, I either get a programmed glass greenhouse, with automatic temperature and humidity control like the one in the Royal Botanical Garden, or I find it rather difficult. Knowing what type of trees, shrubs and plants, in general, I can maintain in a specific climate is essential to not getting frustrated from the first moment. The professionals are going to recommend the perfect species and in this case, if I have no idea, I would go to professional gardeners in Madrid who can advise me on what to plant, where to plant it and in general how to configure the spaces.
Also, one can do a search exercise on the web, ask in forums, go to a nursery, neighbours, or friends if one wants to venture to do it oneself.
Choosing the garden style is important. There are rustic styles, with an informal air, and designs that are carefree or careless. Others are modern Zen-like with everything very delimited and smooth, clean textures, with white edges, interspersed lights… It’s a world. This style is mainly conditioned by the type of climate. The soil influences it in general terms, but it is something that we can modify on a basic basis if the plot is not very large. The climate is the first thing that determines.
Clear examples are:
- The English garden
- Zen-like garden
- Topiary sculpture garden (advanced).
- Mediterranean garden or zero garden.
- Coastal garden.
- rockery garden
1. To make a garden we start by observing
We have to see how our garden space is configured. Observe different corners and spaces and start thinking about how we want those spaces. Are we going to make a gazebo? A pergola? Do we want a barbecue?
Another very important thing is to see the orientation of our garden concerning the sun. That largely determines the type of species we can plant. If we are going to need light areas of small size, or on the contrary, a small shade tree will be necessary. If the trees are shade trees, it is recommended that they be deciduous so that, when they grow, they do not prevent radiation from entering the house. Perennial trees provide shade in winter and are not efficient. The evergreen only for hedges on fences and trellises.
2. Work on the plane
It is something very necessary. Sketch several well-measured spaces, routes, and paths, establish light and water points, and work on the different spaces based on orientation considerations and our idea of a garden. It is an essential task. Here we will also begin to decide on materials, ground cover plants, grass in areas that are not transit areas, etc.
Plan access routes and paths
Depending on the spaces, we must configure access from the house to the garden that does not break the aesthetics, that is not uncomfortable and that leaves as much usable space as possible. From there we must choose the type of path based on our garden style. Modern paving, gravel marked with logs, stones, wood…
Generate different spaces
There will be living areas of the garden and purely decorative areas where access is restricted by the presence of plants, flower beds, ground cover plants, etc. If you have enough space you can make a grass or meadow area but you will have to plan the irrigation accordingly. You can also use artificial grass if you do not have the possibility of irrigation or if you are simply not willing to maintain it. The lawn mainly requires:
- Receipts
- Irrigation (if it is automatic by sprinkling it is one less problem).
- Court
- Elimination of adventitious weeds. (Clover, dandelion…)
Working on a plan or sketch is essential in the entire creative process.
Plan irrigation system (sprinkler, drip, programming…)
Irrigation is another headache if it is going to be needed. It depends a lot on the plot and water pressure. In addition, it is essential to sectorize well to program different frequencies, types and irrigation times depending on the areas:
- The lawn will be one or more areas (depending on the surface to be covered) that will have to be watered by sprinkler. You must choose the type of sprinkler or diffuser carefully, whether it is programmed or not. If you are going to do it manually, there are several options. If they are sprinklers or diffusers, you should see the spray radius and the minimum pressure you need to know how many sectors you should configure.
- Plant areas, bushes, flower beds, etc. The best system is a drip or micro-dropper. Water savings and simplicity. In addition, it is placed well and is hidden in leafy areas.
Lighting system
Making a pleasant garden also requires good lighting to enjoy summer nights. They have to be outdoor lighting systems and today the best technology is LED. Outdoor LED strips, lanterns with light sensors, with manual on or off, with solar panels… various lanterns…
3. Bring the paths, spaces and places from the plan to the plot
Once the cabinet work is finished on the plan, you must delimit the spaces on the plot with ropes or whatever you have on hand and rectify things. Seeing on the plane is not the same as having it on the ground. A path that may seem narrow to us on the map may then seem too much on the ground.
If you change, you will have to recalculate irrigation routes, lighting, m2 of flooring, etc. and replan. It is a job that is always done but it should not make you lazy. It is like that and it is part of the process. Everything rarely works out the first time.
The green walls with evergreen hedges provide packaging and dress the boundaries of the plot
4. Perimeter delimitations with hedge or vegetation
This point, although it is the last one, is no less important. Depending on the type of plot and what you have around you, you will want more or less privacy. If there is not a lot of population or neighbours nearby and the landscape is beautiful, I prefer to sacrifice privacy for the landscape. If you prefer not to be looked at, then you should consider a fence with a hedge of a certain height to delimit it. Here we have two basic options depending on the space:
- Lattice with climbers. For small farms, it is ideal since it does not take up space from the garden like a boxwood hedge, thuja or similar. And some species can become very bushy.
- Garden hedges: If you have enough space, a thick hedge gives a lot of appearance to the garden. It is undoubtedly. It tends to be more work than climbers, especially the first few years until you get it established. Then we will have to make one or two cuts per year to keep it healthy, and leafy and limit its lateral and vertical growth depending on what we want.
- If you have a wall: you can cover it with climbers. Some can climb the wall without needing a stake, but if you place a trellis to stake, you will have more varied options for climbers.
From here you just have to get to work, whether you are going to do it yourself or hire someone to advise you. Once done you will surely enjoy it.