LANDSCAPING HOME GARDENS AHT103

Learn how to Design Your Home Garden
Learn how to plan, lay out and construct your own home garden. Whether you want a garden which you can work in, play in or simply look at and feel proud of then this course is for you. Topics covered include: designing gardens, styles of gardens, drawing plans, understanding soils, basic landscape construction, weeds & pests, planting & pruning, lawns and other surfacings, garden features, plus a special project to help you develop your own garden.

Garden Design Course

  • Learn Home Garden Design by Distance Education
  • A proper garden plan can save a lot of money
  • Don't waste money on the wrong plants and garden materials
  • Get a gtarden that is functional, looks good and doesn't blow the budget

This course is designed to teach you how to design (or renovate) a home garden; and then, to maintain it. The subject aims above all to develop a solid understanding of the principles and procedures underlying the design and development of garden areas. The subject is relevant to both small and large landscapes, equally of value in developing a new home garden, or improving an existing one. Though consideration is given to both design and construction, the emphasis in this subject is on landscape design.

Each one of the ten assignments will require written answers to set questions (sometimes drawings), plus a plant collection.

Six plants are to be collected and submitted with each assignment. Each pressed plant should be labeled with both scientific and common names plus details of size and shape, conditions it will grow in, maintenance requirements, lifespan, appearance (and any way it's appearance might change throughout the year) plus several recommendations as to suitable situations it could be used in by the landscaper.

The ten lessons are as follows:

1. Designing Gardens

- the basics of design concepts through to understanding how to use them.

2. Styles of Gardens

- formal, informal, natural, and other themes.

3. Drawing Plans ‑Designing Gardens

- learn how to draw basic landscape features and garden designs.

4. Understanding Soils

- clays, loams, sands - how to identify them and treat them for better plant growth.

5. Basic Landscape Construction

- what is involved to build basic structures like steps, walls, paths, etc.

6. Weeds & Pests

- how to identify and treat garden weeds and pests.

7. Planting and Pruning

- techniques to plant, prune and care for garden plants.

8. Lawns, paving and other surfacing

- care for various surfaces

9. Garden Features

- how to select and use garden features in a landscape.

10. Developing "YOUR" Garden - Special Project

 

Landscaping Tips from our Tutors:

What Mood Do You Want in Your Garden?

There are many elements that contribute to the ambience or mood of a garden. Colour is perhaps most significant, however the choice of plants, the quantity of plants (or no plants), the permanent structures and ornamentation are also important.

Active vs. Passive
A garden with a barbecue area, a sandpit, a swing, a pool and a child’s play house would be seen as being ‘active’. It is clear that the garden is more utilitarian. Conversely, a garden with a bench beneath some shade trees, a pond, a sculpture, a herbaceous border and some specimen trees would create an ambience of tranquillity. It is more likely that the owners would spend time resting in the garden and admiring it. It would be considered ‘passive’.

Simple vs. Complex
A complex garden will clearly have lots of intricate areas created through using many different plant species. It may have a number of paths that lead to different areas of the garden. These areas may pertain to a number of different themes. There could be a number of different focal points. It could be planted so that different plants look their best at different times of the year, so as to maintain year round interest. Such a garden may have a number of effects on ambience. It may be quite stimulating for the onlooker encouraging them to look further and more deeply into the garden. It may activate their imagination and inspire them toward their own gardening aspirations. If the garden is extremely complex, however, it may also serve to overwhelm some individuals who would prefer something a little less complex so as to be able to relax.
On the other hand, a simple garden may have few plants, perhaps a large lawn area or paved area and little in the way of features. Such a garden would be more likely to evoke a feeling of relaxation and perhaps permit the onlooker to focus on their own thoughts. If the garden is too simple, however, it may make the onlooker feel disinterested or bored in the garden and it will therefore fail to attract people into it.

Light vs. Shade
The amount of light in the garden has quite a profound effect on mood. A garden that has much light could be associated with feelings of openness, joy, elation and optimism. A garden that has much shade would create feelings of enclosure, frustration, and gloom.

Movement vs. Static
Movement in the garden can be created in a number of ways. It can come about through the natural movement of trees and shrubs in the wind, through mobiles or through water fountains. It gives an air of vitality and of life. The associated sounds reiterate this sense of living; the rustle of the leaves in the trees, the splash of the water. On the contrary, a garden that has little movement may seem rather dull and lifeless.

Other Factors Affecting Mood
As well as the compositional elements, mood may be affected through the garden theme. A Japanese or Chinese garden may conjure up thoughts and feelings associated with the orient. A rigidly formal garden may evoke austerity, power and respect. A modern garden could trigger feelings of youth, vitality and chic.
The general state of the garden also plays an important role in the effect that it has on mood. For example, a well-maintained garden gives the impression of orderliness, attention and care. An overgrown garden with dilapidated structures, broken pots and pavers and so on, gives the feeling of neglect, decay and at worst, death (compare this too with the associations with history, battles and bygone times that are conjured up through the careful placing of cracked pillars, aged vases and other historical structures).
Humour can be injected into the garden using such tings as ornaments (anything from gnomes to manikins, toy cars to bizarre sculptures), planting up amusing containers such as a car tyre or old toilet, installing unusually twisted foliage or trees with funny shaped trunks, or perhaps even pruning a box tree into the shape of a helicopter or elephant.
Mystery can be achieved through concealed entrances, covered walkways, peepholes, murals separate ‘garden rooms’.
There are indeed numerous ways in which a myriad of moods can be instigated and the personality of the owner reflected in the garden.