How to Design a Garden From Scratch (My Exact Process)

So how do we transform an empty space or a space that we find uninspiring into the garden of our dreams? This year I was presented with a unique opportunity to build a garden from scratch and to reflect back on the garden design elements that I think make the biggest impact. So how exactly do you transform a blank space into the garden of your dreams? Hi I'm Sue from Garden Moxie and this summer I moved from an established garden in Michigan to a temporary garden in Kentucky while my husband and I build our forever home. In today's video I'm sharing the first look at our new property and sharing the process I'm using to design our new garden. I'll examine how having a space is going to provide the perfect laboratory to learn about the growing conditions here in Kentucky while giving me a chance to start growing the plants that will be used to fill my permanent garden home. I think a great place to start this story of garden building is to talk about what garden design features I want to include in my new garden and how gardening in my temporary garden is going to provide a laboratory to teach me what plants will thrive in my Kentucky clay soil and one of the things that I'm most looking forward to this winter season is starting to grow plants from seed that I'll be able to move to my forever home. My garden is the place that I go to escape the noisy world. It's my retreat, a quiet place that recharges my creativity and my garden is a place where I grow plants that feed the birds and the pollinators and it's a place where I can forage and find materials to surround myself with nature and I want a garden that I can enjoy all year round even including the winter months. So I'm thinking long and hard about all the things I love about gardening. I prefer a garden that feels cozy and secluded. I'm a big fan of garden rooms and this idea of not being able to see a garden all at once. I've recently started emphasizing this notion of merging the indoors and outdoors and focusing on the beauty that can be found in everyday life. I've spent a lot of time visiting old gardens and reading old garden design books to learn what makes a garden truly remarkable. Historic gardeners were masters at using vertical space. They didn't just focus on the ground level. Instead they created gardens that were planted in layers. By using small trees, shrubs, and climbing vines they were able to create an amazing design. These gardeners from the past understood that flowers were actually the least important feature in our gardens. Instead of starting their garden designs with the plants, these gardeners knew the importance of structure in the garden. Garden paths, pergolas, garden walls, they all create the bones of our gardens. The flowers are the icing on the cake and the gardeners that I admire understood that we need to be selective about the plants that we use to fill our gardens. This notion of finding the right plant for the right place is truly key to designing a garden that ultimately is less work. We can't fight our sight. Instead we need to let our sight dictate what our gardens will eventually look like. I'm a big fan also of the arts and crafts movement of garden design where we rely on materials that are available on site and in nature to help us design. Using natural materials helps our gardens sit more naturally in the landscape. When I'm thinking about my permanent garden design I want to think about the types of activities I enjoy. I love to decorate my house with elements that I find in my garden. Whether it's a small bouquet or a beautiful wreath, whether it's cutting flowers or forcing branches in the time. When I'm designing my new garden I want to think about these things and want to think about including shrubs for forcing branches. I want to grow trees and shrubs that I can cut and use to create winter patio containers or use them for decorating window boxes or making wreaths. And I love to watch the birds and the pollinators in my garden and I want my new garden to provide a safe place for all the little critters that will ultimately share my garden with me. I don't want to be spraying harsh chemicals. I want to be a good steward of the land that we're lucky enough to live on. And one of the things I love the most in a garden is the sound of water. Water features can be added to small gardens and patios as well as more elaborate gardens. And I'll definitely be including a water feature in my new permanent garden design. I moved our fountain from Michigan to Kentucky and even though it was a difficult move it was totally worth the effort. Here in my temporary space the fountain adds a beautiful sound to the patio and this fountain is going to move with us to our permanent garden. So I've started to collect the ideas, ideas and designs that I love. I'm just looking through old garden design books. I'm looking through old Pinterest boards. I'm collecting all of these beautiful images on a bulletin board in my workroom and I'm going to study these images to really distill the elements that I think are going to be important to include in my permanent garden design. I already know that my approach to designing my permanent garden is going to be to focus on the two spaces that are closest to the house and start with those gardens first and then move my way outward as I have time and resources. The main focus of the garden at Sugar Hill, which is what we call our permanent home, will be the mighty oak. The house is being built to align specifically with this beautiful oak tree and we plan to use the Kentucky limestone that we're finding on site to be able to create garden walls, steps and pavers for garden paths and borders. I think that raised beds made from limestone will be a great way to create a kitchen garden as well. The limestone sits so well in the landscape because that's the material that's available on the land where we live. We intend to use the slopes and the contours of the land to help us divide the space. Until the house is completed I'm not going to know exactly the final details of the garden design. I have a high level idea that there will be a flower border and garden rooms along the back of the property as well as a merry garden off the lower patio entrance at the ground level. These are the spaces where I'll start. I expect that I'm going to be dividing this space into garden rooms with specific color schemes but what those are going to look like exactly only time will tell. I intend to grow different plants from seed in my temporary garden to try out different color schemes and see if anything really inspires me. I'd love to hear how you approach your garden design whether you have a large garden or just a small patio. How do you collect your ideas and what's the most important feature in your garden? I'd love to hear what you think in the comment section. Well that's it for this video and I'll see you in the next one.