Design a garden?

[rosamundjohn]

I have a garden or should I say space of about a quarter of a acre. It is walled, enclosed and full of rubble etc. I will move this.How does one go about turning it into something decent and more or less maintenance free, I want a frog pond, a greenhouse, somewhere to sit under cover and a bird table. I have no idea where to start. Concrete with some areas of green? What I am asking is the order of play! I am going to clean it and level the ground but then what? I will need to stop it growing again. In the hope of some replies.....

[monkeyeyes]

What a fantastic opportunity !!

I'm quite jealous.............
Look in your area for a Landscape designer/gardner and I'm sure they will be happy to help you knock your ideas into shape.........best of luck.

[jno]

the only maintenance-free garden is a concrete one. Are you sure you wouldn't like flowers or grass or anything, even if it meant lawnmowing occasionally? Anyway, your own imagination is the first stop: decide what you want, what sort of proportions (big pond, little greenhouse? other way round?) then contact a designer or gardener who could help you lay it all out.

[theonlyone]

You have a blank canvas for your garden ..
have a veg plot ...greenhouse ..borders ..
a bit of lawn ...noooo concrete ...
build a pergola ..a Wisteria and Honysuckle
on it ..it all takes time to establish ...we have a
wild life pond ..frogs are noisy little devils ...but
they do eat the slugs ..so we are now really organic ..make your own compost ....think about
it ..do you live near a school as they love to
get the pupils/students in to eco projects ...

[rosamundjohn]

Hi all. Thank you all for your answers. I agree it is down to imagination and goodness knows what I will come up with. I am expecting a total disaster. There are no landscape gardeners in the area of Spain that I live. I have a scaled board and will have to measure out the plot and go from there. Any visitors welcome,ha!

[Hawkwalk]

http://www.applegategardens.co.uk/

take a look here, there are 160 free designs and plenty of ideas.

[thugulike]

I had a similar problem but I had half an acre. I signed up for a garden design course (1 night a week for 8 weeks ) and planned the garden from that.

I also had a copy of David Stevens book on garden design which is wonderful. Not sure if it's still in print but you could try. It took me 10 years to complete my design but it looks good now.

[landscaper2]

I think the "...area of Spain...." changes things a tad! Just have a look at how the locals treat their plots. Have a look at some professionally landscaped properties. Steal other peoples ideas! Start jotting down a 'want' list, but before going too far, make sure your ideas are suitable for the climate and evironment.