So that your green dream becomes a reality, you don't have to have a dream property.
With good planning, every garden can be designed like a paradise.
The ideal house has been found, but the garden looks so boring, that one would like to turn one's back on him. Or: After the new building, the property exists, that should one day become a garden, nothing but bare earth and a few trees, that should stop. Or: After many years the garden has lost its face, because the trees have grown wild, in which there is no space for lawns or flower beds.
All of these are starting points for a redesign of the garden. There is not much to be gained from changes here and there, because a beautiful picture only emerges, when all parts fit together and green spaces are created according to their use. First of all, it is important to take stock of this, what is available, a list of wishes, which the garden should fulfill, as well as ideas, how they can be turned into reality.
For garden architects, there is always a plan at the beginning, in which all this is taken into account and terraces, Glasshouse, Dandruff, Lawns and beds can be moved back and forth without any effort.
1. The floor
Laying the lawn on the loamyest piece of earth has just as little prospect of success as the vegetable patch there, where sand predominates. After the measurement, the soil types in the garden must be drawn in the plan. Where something is already growing, you can orientate yourself on so-called pointer plants: Field mustard and nettles indicate fertile soil, Buttercup prefers wet, compacted earth, Sorrel and common plantain grow on impermeable soil and heather there, where there are few nutrients and an acidic environment. You can find out more from soil samples, which you can examine yourself with the help of test sets or send it to investigation offices (Addresses in the next issue).
2. The shape of the terrain
It can be useful for hillside properties, To create terraces, to make better use of the space. To define, where should be terraced, one measures the slope and draws it in the plan. This is very easy with a measuring stick, Folding rule and spirit level. One end of the measuring stick is placed horizontally on the floor, then you move the folding rule to the point, where it shows a meter from the ground, and takes the measurement from the beginning of the staff to this point. From there you continue to measure the entire flight to the lowest point of the property. Finally, the horizontal as well as the vertical are transferred and the slope has thus been implemented in the drawing. Several such measurements are useful in undulating terrain, which can be put together like discs.
3. The new system
What the new garden should offer, is best decided in the family council. Seat and terrace, Flowers- and vegetable patches,
Sandpit and play structure - everything is painted in proportionally correct dimensions, cut out and put on the garden plan- and pushed, until the best place is found.
The following standard dimensions will help with planning.
The seat (or the terrace) with a table and four to six armchairs, at least 3×4 Meter, better but 4×5 Be meters tall. For the seating area in the garden with only one bench and one table, you calculate 2×3 Meter, the same for a space for two deck chairs. The sandpit with the playing area around it takes up 3×3 Meter, a play structure with a swing and a ladder is to be set up, you should 8×5 Count meters. Garden paths have to be so wide, that you can get through easily with a wheelbarrow: About a meter is necessary. Flower beds, accessible from both sides, can also be a meter or. be two arm lengths wide. Retaining walls are built on a hillside plot, Calculate a width of about one meter for the slightly angled attachment. These are mandatory for all structures such as carports or pergolas (different in the federal states) Please note the limit distances.
Step by step planning
To take everything into account, what is important for planning, several plans have to be drawn. For the survey of the area one starts from given fixed points, which we have marked with letters: A = corner of the property, B = corner of the house, C = tree trunk center, D = treetop, E = group of trees, F = contour line.
A simple measurement, as it is needed for the garden plan, In addition to the shape of the property and the location of the house, it contains all unchangeable details such as. B. Walls and fences, stages, Manhole covers or water connections as well as the plants, which should be preserved. The plan is in scale 1:100, in the case of small properties too 1:50 laid out on graph paper.
You start measuring at the house, which is drawn with window and door openings. From the corners of the house you measure at right angles to the property boundaries. It is the easiest, to make this measuring line visible by means of a string and then to measure from this line again at right angles to the other limits. The position of trees can also be seen from these lines, Identify stairs and similar elements. Everything, what cannot be measured at right angles, is determined from two points. example: a big tree, that should stop. Take two corners of the house as a starting point, from which the trunk is measured. On the plan you can then determine the intersection of the two distance lines with a compass.
As already described, slopes and elevations on the property are also measured and drawn with contour lines. The highest and lowest points are also marked. Usually these measurements are quite simple, You can only call on the help of a surveyor on terrain with large differences in altitude.
Since sun and shade in the garden play a decisive role both for the location of a seat and for the plants, mark the cardinal points on the drawing. It will be perfect, if you also copy the shadow areas in the morning, Draws in midday and evening, like them in spring, Summer and autumn are expected.