Landscape gardening is to the gardener what the Sistine Chapel was to Michelangelo. A vast unblemished surface, to create and design upon in a way that is unique to you. As with all gardening forms, before you create your masterpiece you'll need to have at a least a rough idea of what it is you want to create.



Vast rolling hills and expanses of land stretching to the horizon might be all well and good in theory, but to work it properly a plan must first exist somewhere, even if it is only in your mind. Without a proper plan the landscape gardener will fail in their attempts to create a work of art.

Since you have such a vast and empty canvas on which to set your brushstrokes to, the brave individual who undertakes landscape gardening, has before him a veritable plethora of ideas to choose from.

A normal garden, or Asian garden. Wooded areas, or large sections of uncluttered space. Water features, gazebos, patios, decks, raised beds, or rock beds.

The list is endless, and all are as visually stunning as the other. This then is where your will power comes in handy. Resist the urge to jump right in into the deep end and start digging up your garden. There's more to landscape gardening than meets the eye.

I can't stress enough how much planning, planning, and more planning you'll need to do to before you start your landscape gardening project. You could of course forgo all that tedious planning and jump right in, but chances are you'll get stuck even before you're aware of it. A good example would be that lovely gazebo that was going for a song that you grabbed up before anyone else could. But now you find that it doesn't fit anywhere within the confines of your garden. After all, it was cheap, what can you do? (A metaphoric shrugging of the shoulders).

So, now that you've started on your plan, you'll need to decide what type of stuff you want cluttering up your garden. A sun dial? Or perhaps even a garden seat. What about that lovely fountain you saw just the other day. And don't forget the gazebo.

Fine, you've decided the type of garden you want, you've decided what items you want gracing your garden, now comes the real meaty part of landscape gardening. You need to decide exactly where everything is going to be placed. In other words you'll need to design the landscape of the garden, placing a pot there, a shrub here, a tall sapling in the corner, your sun dial in a suitably sunny place, perhaps even next to your fountain. And let's not forget to squash that gazebo in, anyway you can!

Landscape gardening is just like every other gardening project you're tackled to date, only with a little more scope, and harder, back breaking work. The perfect choice for the gardener who's tried everything, and wants to start a garden from scratch.

To Your Gardening Success!

John Smythe