Front Garden Makeover – SGD Reader’s Plans

I get so excited when people send me photographs of what they’ve done in their garden from what they’ve learned here at Successful Garden Design. So I’m thrilled to be able to share with you a really simple front garden makeover that one of our readers is in the process of doing.

So these are the plans that Nicole, from Washington DC, has drawn up after watching just the garden design workshop (that gives an overview of the whole design process, it’s not even a full garden design course – we’ll feature a garden from a full design course next time!).

Successful Garden Design Workshop Viewer’s Front Yard Makeover

What I love about what Nicole has done is she’s kept things really simple (hugely important).

She’s gone for a geometric shape that makes the best use of the available space, and she’s created interest through the rest of this tiny front garden with a stepping stone path that weaves through the edible planting.

Click on the image of the plan to view it larger.

The photos below show the before, we don’t have a finished photo yet as it’s still a work in progress, but I hope she’ll keep me updated later in the year.

Even though the photos don’t show the finished garden yet, you can see along with the plan image how much better the circular lawn shape is making the space look.

Helping the next generation of young gardeners learn

Nicole has not only tackled her front yard but she’s also volunteered to design and start the edible garden at her children’s elementary school. How wonderful is that!

She’s currently doing a course on permaculture methods and is trying to incorporate the aesthetics she’s learned here on this website with the practical and functional requirements of the permaculture system.

Here’s the plan she’s drawn up for it. For those of you not familiar with permaculture concepts, you basically work with nature, particularly the contours of the land so that you can make use of all available rainfall by the use of mini-ditches called swales.

Permaculture principles in a nutshell

So basically, permaculture is not only about self-watering, it’s a system that harmonises the best of nature with how you combine plant varieties, so you don’t have to dig or fertilise the soil when it’s set up properly and there’s very little weeding involved (that’s my kind of fruit and vegetable gardening – the type that does it itself!).

If you’re interested in this type of edible gardening, check out Geoff Lawton – he’s an amazingly knowledgable guy that shows you how to create a ‘food forest’ in any size garden, in any location. They’ve even managed a permaculture system near the Dead Sea of all places, it’s truly amazing what can be achieved when man works with nature…

You CAN do this too!

I’m thrilled to see how people put what they learn from online workshops and courses to good use. Not everyone is brave enough to let me use their photos on the website, so big thanks to Nicole. I hope more of you will be inspired to have a go yourself.

If you need help…

Then do check out the Successful Garden Design online garden design courses – you can see the results people have got by going to the ‘Hall of Fame – your gardens‘ category of the website.

Attend one of our FREE Fast Track Garden Design online classes…

Register on this page: https://www.successfulgardendesign.com/freeclasses/

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