It’s National Gardening week this week and it’s also slap bang in the middle of DIY season, so we thought we’d combine the two and showcase 7 (-ish!) key tools you’ll need to be able to do a spot of DIY garden design. 

These tools are all about doing. There will be many reasons why you want a change in your garden; the things to consider and think about; resources for inspiration, and much more but we’re assuming that you’ve done all of that thinking prior to starting this DIY garden design project and now just want to get stuck in! And these tools will certainly help you on your way.

So, in no particular order...

Paper

A key ingredient for any garden design recipe; use plain paper to sketch your perimeters, make notes of measurements and plot existing features that are likely to remain in your garden post-design (including your house!).  When you’ve taken all of your measurements outside in your garden, it’s time for a cuppa and some blank, clean sheets of paper to draw up a more accurate scale version of your garden space.  Graph paper can help here because the lined squares give you a quick reference point to judge lengths and distances but it’s not essential, and some people find the lines distracting rather than helpful, especially when your garden isn’t ‘square’.  Try to use fairly good quality paper for your drawing if you can, they cope better with things being erased!  You don’t need large sheets of paper but if you have any A3 size available to you your drawing is likely to be less cluttered than if you’re drawing on A4 size.

Pencil/eraser

We’ve lumped these two key tools together since one is often attached to the other, but either way, if you’re counting them separately or together you can’t do a garden design without either of them.  Pencils rather than pens make for easier corrections and believe us when we say there are likely to be many!  We draw sketches with our pencils when we’re doing site surveys and taking measurements and we always do our drafting with pencils when we’re drawing manually.  It’s only at final stages that we’ll use pens for a more permanent finish.  A related (though optional if you have a large supply of pencils!) tool here is also a pencil sharpener (we do seem to go through pencils at an alarming rate!).  Erasers are for corrections but we also draw a lot of ‘guide’ lines, circles and curves which help us plot things more accurately.  We would erase these once our points are plotted. Putty erasers that artists use can be shaped into finer points which can help if you’re trying to be more precise with erasing something and they don’t leave all of those rubber bits behind either!

Tape measure

A must have tool for garden designers.  We use a mix of long length tape measures – 50m and 30m – plus a typical 5m retractable one for smaller lengths.  Surveyors will often use laser measures.  You want to try to measure your garden and its features as accurately as possible but if you don’t have long tape measures and don’t want to buy one (they range from about £6 - £60) you can ‘relay’ your normal household tape measure, since most of us usually have one stashed away somewhere.  You can also sometimes reference a boundary to get an estimate by counting fence panels (if you have them). They are typically 1.8m wide (or 6ft in old money!) so that can give you an idea of boundary length.  If you know what your typical stride measures you can also get an estimate by striding out lengths, counting as you go.  None of these estimating methods can beat a tape measure though so consider investing; even a cheap one will still do the job!

Camera

Sounds a bit weird right? But a camera can be a great prompt for when you’re back at the graph paper trying to turn all of those measurements into something tangible!  A good place to start is to stand in the middle of your garden (or an area of it if you have a very big garden) and turn 360 degrees, taking photos as you go.  Take photos of existing trees, retaining walls, awkward corners, all from different angles.  Also take photos of different views of your garden from different spots.  Try to give yourself a reference point to other things too, for example; a photo of the existing tree, but showing how close it is to the boundary behind it.  Any camera will do the job here.  We often use our smart phones for this job.

Ruler

Another tool we can’t live without, a ruler will help you plot your garden to scale, turning all of your measurements into a diagram that fits onto a normal size piece of paper.  We use scale rulers for this job but an ordinary 30cm ruler can do the job for you just as effectively, you just have to do some maths to be able to convert your measurements into a small enough size to fit on your paper.  For instance say the length of your garden measured 12.4m.  We tend to work in millimetres so 12.4m = 12400mm.  To convert that to a scale of 1:50, for instance, divide 12400mm by 50 = 248.  So the length of the line you would draw on your paper to represent 12.4m would be 248mm.  If you can’t fit the converted length onto the paper you have try a scale of 1:100 (divide your mm lengths by 100 instead of 50 to get the converted length at scale, in this case 12400 divided by 100 = 124mm.)  The key here is to apply the same scale to absolutely everything you’ve measured. 

Compass x 2

We use two types of compass in garden design.  Firstly, we want to know which direction the sun travels in relation to your garden because this tells you how much light your garden is likely to get during the day.  A south facing garden will have sun all day for instance, assuming there are no obstructions like neighbouring buildings or shade giving trees, etc.  A north facing garden is likely to be in the shade of the house for most of the day.  Use a compass (or a compass app on your smart phone) to find out which direction is North in relation to your garden.
We also use a drawing compass to enable us to draw circles accurately.  We’ll plot the canopy of an existing tree, for instance, using the trunk as the centre point so we would have an idea of where the shade will be from the tree in your garden.  We use them to draw circular patios, at scale, etc.  Not essential but definitely useful.  If you don’t have one hidden away in your old school pencil case, get your trusty ruler and start measuring the diameter of glasses and bowls in your cupboards – you can draw around them (if you have one the right size)!

Tracing Paper

We use copious amounts of tracing paper but if you don’t have any it's not essential.  We tend to draw different elements onto different layers but for DIY garden design it can work really well if you draw your perimeter, house and things that are staying in your garden onto your graph paper.  Then use tracing paper on top of your graph paper to start trying out different shapes and layouts, a different sheet of tracing paper for each new layout/shape idea you have.  Then you can keep swapping them to see which works best for you.  This means that you only have to draw your perimeter, house, etc once and still try out lots of different layouts.  Alternatively, you could copy or scan your perimeter drawing and make multiple copies to try out different layouts and shapes.

Ready for the job ahead...

Great garden design is about planning; having the ‘bigger picture’ in your mind before you start changing things. It’s fine to take on and change different parts of your garden at different times but if you don’t have the bigger picture in your head before you start making changes the results can often feel ‘fractured’, if you know what we mean. 

These tools will help you start the physical garden design process just as the professionals do it; by measuring up the garden (so we know the space we have available to us); plotting everything that will stay in the garden; turning those measurements into a scale plan; coming up with a proposed layout for the garden.

Now that you’re kitted out with the tools you need to do the job it’s time to get stuck in!  (And don’t forget where we are if you get stuck!)