measuring gardens

How to draw your garden site survey plan to scale [part 2]

In this video we take a look at how to turn all those measurements you took from the last video and translate them into a usable drawing.

Why bother, though?

I mean, really, who wants to spend any of their free time trying to get a garden survey onto a bit of paper?

Answer: anyone who really wants to do a good job creating their dream garden.

The rest of the population will be too lazy and won’t care enough. That’s not you though, is it? If it were, you probably wouldn’t be spending time to learn how to create a great garden if you didn’t really want to achieve one, would you? Unless of course the garden design fairies have hidden a hypnotic message into the YouTube efforts (seek help if you think that’s the case).

To get yourself though this slightly dull but VITAL part of creating a beautiful garden – just envisage your dream garden a few months from now. Imagine sitting in it on a lovely summer’s evening sipping your favourite beverage – surely that was worth an hour spent measuring your garden and drawing up your survey? If it wasn’t, you didn’t imagine a beautiful enough garden – try again!

As you’ll have seen in the video, the shape of the freehand, rough survey sketch and the finished drawing is significantly different. THIS ALWAYS happens – that is why you mustn’t guess what shape and size your garden is! If you haven’t already, read the tapemeasureaphobia post, you will see why this is SO important to do.

Next week we get onto the fun part – the design. You’ll see exactly how the process is done, from beginning to end – plenty of top designer trade secrets coming your way!

Filed Under: Garden Design Tagged With: Garden Design, Garden plan, garden survey, landscape design, landscape plan, measuring gardens, scale drawing

How to measure your garden [part 1]

By Rachel Mathews 5 Comments

The video above is for anyone suffering from tapemeasureaphobia!

Yes, we finally have the first of the infamous garden in Spain video series up and running…. hoorah – well not quite hoorah, more horror. I don’t know what is worse, being in front of the camera to do these (yes I do feel like someone auditioning for a bad reality tv series) or the horrific editing process where I have to sit through hours of gaffs!

So why would I put myself through this horror (other than to make my family and friends cry with laughter)?

Because it is REALLY important you measure your garden if you are going to design it well. The survey is the first step to successfully designing your garden, without it you won’t succeed. Yes the reality is as harsh as that…

The other aim of the video is to show you, there isn’t anything to be afraid of. No rocket science involved, no sorcery, just a tape measure and a sheet or two of paper.

So watch the video, laugh if you have to but most importantly get out there and survey your garden!

In the next video in part 2 of this 4 part series – How to draw up your garden survey to scale (it really isn’t *that* scary).

Leave a comment if the video has been helpful, or if you have a question you would like answered on garden surveying.

If you would like another FREE lesson, download it from the Beginner’s Successful Garden Design Course (sample lesson is halfway down page)

Filed Under: Garden Design Tagged With: garden survey, how to survey a garden, measuring gardens

Do you suffer from the phobia that affects new gardeners?

By Rachel Mathews 13 Comments

There is a worrying condition that threatens to thwart good garden design…

The condition is called tapemeasureaphobia. A bit of a mouthful to say, but it’s no laughing matter, there are some fairly serious consequences to the condition that doesn’t always become apparent immediately…

In layman’s terms this affliction, is simply known as an extreme fear of tape measures, resulting in sufferers being unable to measure their garden! I once suffered from the affliction myself. The first garden I ever designed BEFORE I was properly trained (my parents garden) I didn’t measure… I did put a LOT of time and effort into the design though… shame it didn’t fit when we came to build it!! Now before you start thinking bad things about me, I was only 19 and I had read, nearly, one whole book, on garden design and had skipped the bit about measuring as it looked really dull, boring and not that important!

I wasn’t wrong with the dull and boring part – it is. BUT I was WRONG about it not being important!

Why is measuring the garden so important? Won’t an educated guess do?

In a really well designed garden, the design works as a whole entity – every aspect is interlinked, even if it is divided into different sections. If you change one part of the design it has a knock on effect with everything else. A bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle – you can’t fiddle with one bit and have it not effect everything around it!

So what have jigsaws got to do with measuring a garden?!

I’m getting to that bit! Imagine you are building your jigsaw in a frame – the frame is solid and has fixed dimensions (pretty much like your garden fence or boundary). Now for argument’s sake, you have guessed that the frame is square and of a certain size… bear with me… and you have made a jigsaw according to the size you THINK the frame is… Now imagine trying to get that jigsaw to fit in that existing frame!

Even if you are REALLY good at guessing, what do you think the odds are that your jigsaw will fit perfectly into that frame are? Obviously you can’t alter the frame to make the jigsaw fit, so your only option is to make the jigsaw fit the frame….and that of course will affect the overall look, shape and feel of it.

How easy do you think that will be?

The honest answer is it depends on the design, some designs are more robust than others and can take a bit of altering without any major casualties. But you will most likely find (like I did with my first garden design) that the garden wasn’t quite the shape and size you thought it was. Therefore your design and all that TIME you spent on it has to be re-done, on site! NO easy task, not even for a professional garden designer!

If you are going to spend the time and effort designing your garden (and I really hope you are)… Trust me, trust me, trust me on this one – you really do need to measure your garden properly BEFORE you design it! If you want to learn exactly how to survey there is a free garden video tutorial on measuring which is ideal for easy shape gardens or there is a full survey course.

And if you’ve had any measuring disasters you’re brave enough to share – please tell us about your experiences in the comments!

If you would like to learn more about avoiding BIG garden design errors please sign up to the Successful Garden Design Newsletter and receive a FREE 5-part report on what to avoid! Your email address will NOT be passed onto anyone else and you will NOT be spammed!