Gardening is mostly about growing plants, making sure they thrive and look nice, but if you want the whole garden to look good you’ll need to step back and see the wider picture.
A good looking garden has a purposeful lay-out, rather than a haphazard one, with all the different parts nicely in balance. 
Guide to a good looking garden: start with a list all the things you’d like to have in the garden, i.e.
- childrens play area,
- a shed or similar storage
- clothes drying,
- patio
- vegetable patch
mark out the space using rope or canes to include all these, you may have to compromise by having a smaller shed, or remove an item completely if you don’t have enough space. Combining storage with a swing is a neat idea: 
Don’t be too mean with the proportions Borders need to be big enough for shrubs so they don’t overhang the path or lawn, 1 metre wide is a good starting point. Make the patio big enough to allow chairs to be moved back from the table, you might also want room for plant pots of herbs, flowers or topiary. 
The lawn needs to be in proportion to the other areas of the garden. If the garden is small consider having paving instead of grass, it’s initially more expensive but much less work in the long term. Have a plan so you can get it right without having to make endless changes, which can be expensive and is certainly frustrating and time consuming. The next post will be about growing herbs, and there’ll be more posts about how to have a good looking garden over the next few weeks. Enjoy your garden. Jill all images: Jill Anderson
