The Fundamentals of Garden Design

The first step in designing your dream outdoor space is to work out who it’s for and what it needs to do. Jo highlights everything you need to think about.

Jo takes you through a past project - ‘The Cheese’ - that fulfilled lots of different needs in one modest space.

Jo shares some core principles that will help you progress your design, with top tips around dimensions, focal points, routes and materials.

Before ploughing ahead with the design stage it’s important to understand what you already have in your garden. In this lesson, Jo explains why you need to be patient when looking at pre-existing borders, and shares her top tips to help you create an effective border design.

In this lesson we discover some of Jo’s go-to perennials and discover how she uses these to create maximum interest, as well as provision for pollinators.

Jo explains how you can still do some gardening while you’re getting to know your site, sharing how to create a temporary border to bring colour to a bare space while you’re working on your design.

Having some general rules to follow when considering layout are key. Jo shares some ideal measurements for beds, paths, patios and dining areas, as well as revealing tips as to how this stage can impact your budget.

Drawing a scale plan is a key way to visualise how your garden will look and ensure there’s space for everything you need. Jo explains scale plans and shares top tips for laying out a tricky-shaped garden.

The materials used in a garden are key to creating an atmosphere. Jo shares some key principles to give you confidence in choosing materials that will make for an effective, sympathetic design.

Jo discusses how to choose your plants in the right order to create a robust design that gives year-round interest, and shares some of her personal favourite plants.

Jo walks you through the completed project in London, explaining how she used the layout, borders, pots and a limited palette of materials to give the garden a sense of place.

You finish your tour of the London project as Jo takes us through the planting, and also reminds us how gardens shift and mature with time.

Jo takes us to a second inspiring case study garden, a pub garden in Sussex, to look at how to create interest, journey and multiple purposes in a small space.

The journey around your garden is central to the experience of being in it. This lesson explores how to lay out your garden to create flow, discusses how to create interest through changes in level, and explores material choices in more depth.

Jo shows us how she makes a planting plan, and how she uses this valuable tool to help judge numbers and proportions of plants to save money and create the most effective design.

Good planting structure and a succession of flowering periods ensures there is year-round interest even in the smallest garden. Jo shares her tips.

Choosing your plants in the right order will help you pull together the most effective design. We look at how to create a robust structure in your planting, and the plants Jo chose for The Bell.

Jo shares an encouraging message for everyone embarking on the design of their own garden, and what to expect.