How to Create Your Garden: Ideas and Advice for Transforming Your Outdoor Space

by Adam Frost

Overview

"Creating a garden doesn't need to be complicated." This is the promise from Adam Frost, BBC Gardeners' World presenter and winner of multiple Chelsea Flower Show gold medals.

Regardless of your experience or budget, with Adam's help and know-how, you can design your dream garden, whether it's a small urban garden, a classic cottage garden, a suburban front garden, a low-maintenance space or a city roof terrace. His practical, no-nonsense approach strips away complex garden design concepts and focuses on your needs and preferred garden style to help you plan and build a garden that works for you.

Starting right at the beginning, Adam takes you step-by-step through the whole process, inspiring you with simple garden design ideas to tackle a full garden makeover or a simple revamp of just one part of your garden, perhaps a tired herbaceous border, a neglected vegetable patch, the patio, or a water feature.

Learn how to design a garden that reflects your practical needs, lifestyle, budget, personality, soil, and climate.

Build it yourself following the clear, uncomplicated, easy-to-understand instructions that show you everything from laying turf to terraces, planting trees or building a raised bed or water feature.

Enjoy gardening month by month with Adam's simple checklist of what to do when to keep your garden in shape at every point throughout the year.

How to Create Your Garden is about designing an outside space that is real, achievable, and right for you.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781465472854
Publisher:	DK
Publication date:	02/04/2020
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	420,460
Product dimensions:	7.60(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

A regular host on BBC TV's Gardeners' World, Adam Frost has seven Chelsea Gold Medals to testify to his skill as a gardener. After a childhood in North London and almost a decade working with legendary British gardener Geoff Hamilton, Adam set up his own international garden design consultancy in 1996, followed by the Adam Frost Gardening School in 2017. In 2013, he helped set up the Homebase Garden Academy, which prepares 80 of the retailer's young employees every year for the Royal Horticultural Society's Level 1 award, and in 2014 he became an RHS Ambassador, helping raise the profile of gardening among secondary-school students and community groups.

Table of Contents

Getting Started 06

Design

Understand Your Space 10

Introduction 12

Get to know your space 14

Map out your space 16

Get to know your soil 24

Assess your garden's climate 28

Think about your setting 32

Ask Adam 34

Design for People 36

Introduction 38

Who is your garden area for? 40

What is your garden area for? 46

How much time do you have? 50

Ask Adam 52

Find Your Style 54

Introduction 56

Finding the right materials 58

Terraces 60

Designing terraces 62

Paths and walkways 64

Designing paths and walkways 66

Steps and level changes 68

Boundaries 70

Furniture 72

Water features 74

Lighting 76

Features 78

Structures 80

Build a mood board 82

Ask Adam 84

Choose Your Plants 86

Introduction 88

Find your planting style 90

Think in layers 92

Upper and lower canopy of trees 94

Midlayer shrubs 96

Perennials 198

Bulbs 102

Climbers and wall shrubs 104

Annuals, biennials, and short-lived plants 106

Hedges 108

A Mixed Border 110

A Shady Border 114

A Hot, Dry Border 118

A Damp Border 122

Review your planting wish list 126

Ask Adam 128

Bring It All Together 130

Introduction 132

Step 1 Start the process 134

Step 2 Explore options 136

Step 3 Find the right balance 138

Step 4 Add some detail 140

Step 5 Finalize your plan 142

Step 6 Build your layers 144

Step 7 Plot your plants 146

Ask Adam 148

Build

Build Your Garden 152

Introduction 154

Basic tools for hard landscaping 156

Preparing the Site 158

Creating a Good Base 160

Lay a gravel path 162

Lay slab paving 166

Lay brick paving 168

Build a low brick wall 172

Build steps 176

Concreting Posts 182

Erect fencing 184

Build a plant support with rope swags 188

Build a raised bed 192

Build a water feature 194

Plant Your Garden 196

Introduction 198

Basic tools for soft landscaping 200

Preparing the ground for grass 202

Lay sod 204

Plant trees and shrubs 206

Plant perennials 208

Plant bulbs 210

Enjoy

Introduction 214

January 216

February 218

March 220

April 222

May 224

June 226

July 228

August 230

September 232

October 234

November 236

December 238

Useful information 240

Measurements and calculations 242

Glossary 248

Basic building materials 250

Index 252

Acknowledgments 255

About the author 256