Beautiful garden is a work of heart

There is extraordinary satisfaction in creating your own garden plan - satisfaction comes from relaxing or entertaining in the garden and satisfaction that comes from the work done well. The effort you spend in the planning and implementation of a unique design for you to add to the pleasure provided by your park for years to come.

How do you start making a unique park room for you? Here are ten simple steps that will help you move easily through the process.

1. Identify why you want a garden.

How do you use it? Who else will enjoy the park? Remember that you might not be the only resident, so get input from all family members about how your outer space will be used.

2. Do a little dream.

Now you know why you want a garden and how you want to use it, let your imagination play with all possible features in your special room. Dreaming little will reveal the attributes that will place your personal footprint in the park.

Also decide whether you want a formal or informal park. The formal garden is very structured, divided by a strong center axis and cross axis. The informal garden has a more natural look with a strong and flowing curve.

3. Make a list of "Have".

What item is important? The list of your needs in front ensures that your final plan will not lose something important. Do you need a retaining wall? Privacy fence? A road to the garage? More parking space? Do children need a playground? What about pets?

Walk around your property and record everything important. The final design you have to balance dream features and "must have" to create satisfying and functional space.

4. What evaluation you have had.

To get to where you will go, it's good to know your starting point. Is your space big or small? Is the site it's flat or tilted? What is the climate? What kind of soil do you have? How much water is available and what source? What a view of dominating?

5. Ballpark your budget.

After you know what you want and what you need, this is the time to consider what you want to spend. The number of dollars will affect what features you include in the planned park - trees, plants, hardscape materials and architectural elements such as arbor, fountains, ponds and benches.

Remember that your "budget" consists of two elements: money and time. In terms of time, does the park have to be completed with a certain date or can you make it from time to time? (Speed costs!) Also, how much time do you want the budget to maintain your dream garden? Can you regret a few hours a week or are you lucky enough to buy a guard?

When you develop and improve your plan, you might need to balance the time and cash costs. Flexible. You might need to spend more time if you can't spend more money and vice versa.

6. Identify your garden focal point.

Each garden needs an interesting place that causes you to pause. When you choose the focal point, you choose the direction you want the visitor to see when they enter your garden. Do you "want" list including waterfalls or fountains? Retreat Arbor? Apple trees that bloom? If so, you are on a way to identify the focal point - or points - for your garden.

7. Create a rough design.

Take all the information you have collected and put it in an applied design that balances "desire" with "must have". Your goal is to create satisfying and functional space.

Buy a graph paper pad that contains 8 or 10 boxes per inch and let each box equal to one foot. (In other words, every inch of paper will be equal to 8 or 10 feet on your property.) Create a basic map with your property path and the house drawn to the scale.

You also need to track paper, markers, measuring tape, ruler, pencil and good eraser. Place tracing paper on your basic scaling map. Then refer to your list "must have" and "wants" when you make sketches of various areas of your garden. Show AP.