My son is a garden designer. He loves doing sustainable naturalistic schemes and soft landscaping is always much cheaper than hard. Sadly there is a myth that garden design is unaffordable. He mainly gets wealthy clients who have to be persuaded to include plants. Just find a garden designer and tell them your budget and what you like and what you hate. Most work for a percentage of the total budget. Some provide a plan for a fixed price and supply the plants.

I'd endorse what Sandra Marshall says. We have a walled town centre garden that was a muddy building site after an old extension was removed that covered much of the garden. We knew broadly what layout we wanted and our builders were happy to do the hard landscaping. But we were unsure what the best planting would be for the soil, orientation and to encourage wildlife. We went to a local garden designer who was wonderful, endorsed our layout ideas, worked out a planting plan taking account of our preferences, ordered the plants and came and helped lay them out when they arrived. Her fees were surprisingly modest and easily covered by what we saved on ordering plants through her as she had discounted rates with nurseries. She also provided ongoing advice by email when I had queries about plant care. Three years on the garden flourishes with lots of wildlife, gives us great pleasure and is much admired by visitors.

Good article, and totally agree with the suggestions offered. I would also suggest a big dollop of honesty into the mix too. We had a single story extension built and didn't really know how we were going to finish it. However, we shared this with the builder, who actually helped us with some decisions - together we compromised.

I would also say that clients should appreciate that project managment of not only your build, but that of other clients that the builder has, is a delicate jigsaw and us, as clients, need to be aware that (especially in the 2021 climate) prices will increase, and supplies will decrease and this will have an impact.

I ask that builders are also as honest, as it does not take much to lose trust when such costs are at stake.

A contract is of no benefit at all if the builder has lied about being a member of the Guild of Master Craftsmen while utilising their dedicated contract, as she did in my case. So always check up on the most basic elements of the builder’s credentials. And be suspicious if the contacts given you re. previous jobs fail to get back to you with feedback.

Trees........wonderful trees, but be careful. You need those with smaller roots like those mentioned or pot them in huge pots and make them movable around the garden. These bring wildlife and add sculpture to a space. Playing with the angles of the decking was interesting above too. I haven't yet imagined if I painted my fences black.....yet I have always gone for dark brown and immediately it makes any planting stand out prouder than a fence ever would and the fencing sinks into the background.

The biggest mistake, I feel, people make is to be more concerned about fence colour rather than the planting. Fencing becomes invisible if they are covered in climbers or shrubs and a tree or two. Fill your garden with plants and fences and paving blend away.

I like 3, 5, 8 and 10. I use a chinoiserie style screen in my bedroom to hide my laundry baskets and clothes airer.

Very nice