Everybody likes a nice garden. It's a place of serenity and calm. Nothing is better than spending a warm summer's day in the garden. Better than that, tending to it too. Seeing something grow out of your efforts is blissful. Nothing compares to how good that can feel. It's also a great way to use space.   That said, creating a garden can seem like a gargantuan task at first. It's like looking at a blank canvas or white sheet of paper. You can get art anxiety. That's ultimately what gardening is, an art. A very careful art that needs a lot of time to show results. Not only that, it requires significant guidance to reach the end.   The best thing about gardening is about the relaxation. If it's already stressing you out at this stage, you need a little help.   Let's go through things step by step.

Image credit

 

Survey The Land

  Getting to know the space you'll be gardening is important. It is key to your planning. How much space do you have to work with? How much of the garden do you intend to use as a social area for barbecues and the like? How elaborate are you going to get with your botany?   Getting a lay of the land helps you understand where you're going with this. Know the plot like you know the back of your hand.   The quality of the grass and dirt is very important here. Some residences may have infertile soil, or do not get enough sun. This can cause a lot of cracked ground and dead grass. It isn't a very good look, and everything a gardener hates.   It isn't game over if this is the case. You can use some solutions to help alleviate the problem that is hampering the grass. Anything that is ranging from chemical and feed solutions, to just straight up digging up the garden. Once the garden is dug up, you can plant beds in more appropriate places and fill them with fertile soil bought from a garden centre.   You need to make a ‘floor plan' of your garden. From there you can design your garden. It's good to have a few floor plans spare, in case you want to scrap and redo the design a few times over. You could also hire a professional to do the designing for you. If you want the personal touch though, you'll do it yourself.   Once you're happy with the design, you can move on to the next step.  

Making It Happen

  Make sure you're ready to start before you begin in earnest. Get some time off work and plan it around the sunny summer months. The longer days mean you can work outside in the light for longer. Be sure to remain hydrated though.   When you're ready to begin, you can start buying the materials. Going to builders merchants is a good place to start. You're going to need tools on top of the materials too. If you don't have a set already, you can either borrow some or buy some. Having a set around the house can be handy. If you have to buy some, treat it as an investment.   Once you have the tools and materials, start at will. It's usually a good idea to create the basic outline of the garden instead of creating it fully starting from the bottom. Gardening is more about layering. You're not a printer, going line by line and foot by foot. You lay down the basics, and you build on it.   This would mean digging out any water features or laying the wood or paving slabs to mark a path. Don't be disheartened if by the end of the first day it just looks like a muddy, dirty mess. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither were its gardens.   If you have water features, you're going to want to lay the piping and make sure it works before you do anything else. Water features can be temperamental if you don't set them right early on. Too much dirt over the pipe can cause a low-pressure issue. Similarly, it can also happen with an awkwardly angled pipe.   Make sure the water feature is working before you do any more work. Don't fill it completely, but try it out with a little bit of water.   From there, you can begin to make the finer touches. The plants for example. Flowerbeds where you want them, maybe even a tree sprout if you have the space. Beyond that, the garden will start to take shape. You can then start bringing out benches or chairs, or even a barbeque if you have the space.   If you're spending a whole week on the garden, you should be done by the end of it. Try and compartmentalise what you want to do on any given day. Set yourself tasks and goals day by day. It should help you manage yourself and your time.   Don't forget to take regular breaks too. Gardening is a rough job. It's very fulfilling but equally exhausting. Always remember not to overdo it. Lift with your knees and not your back. Getting an injury can seriously put back your plans. If you aren't in good enough shape to work on your garden, or if you're in your golden ages hoping to relax and enjoy some serendipity in your garden, you can always hire professionals such as those available at Veterans Landscaping & Construction to do the job for you. Experts may be helpful in mitigating problems such as overhead expenses and wrongful estimation of planning that are more likely to occur when you try landscaping by yourself. All in all, while there's a real thrill of creating your garden from scratch, not everybody can do that. If you want your dream garden but can't do it yourself, enlist some help.  

Upkeep

  Once you've got the garden you've always wanted, then what do you do? Importantly enough, you make sure it stays how you want it. Upkeep is an essential part of gardening. It's what means it will last longer than a year.   A neglected garden is hard to look at. More importantly, it is hard to get back in shape. Starting from scratch is easier than getting an already established garden back into prime condition. Care for your garden. Make sure it has the water and sunlight it needs. More importantly, make sure it doesn't become overgrown.