Garden Design & Landscaping Advice
Expert garden design and landscaping advice from Kirman Design. Explore costs, planning, drainage, difficult gardens, planting and project guidance.
Garden Design and Landscaping Advice
Practical guidance for planning a successful garden
Transforming a garden can be exciting, but it also involves important decisions about design, budget, materials, drainage, planting, construction and long-term maintenance.
The right information at the beginning can help you establish realistic priorities, avoid expensive mistakes and make better-informed decisions about your property.
Kirman Design has been designing and building gardens across North West England since 2005. This advice centre brings together our experience of garden design, landscape construction, planting and project delivery to help you understand what may be involved in creating your new garden.
Whether you are beginning to explore ideas, comparing professional services or preparing for a complete garden transformation, the guides below provide a useful starting point.
DISCOVER OUR GARDEN DESIGN AND BUILD PROCESS
Planning Your Garden Project
A successful garden normally begins with a clear understanding of what the space needs to achieve.
Before thinking about individual products or materials, consider how you want to use the garden, what currently prevents you from enjoying it and which changes would make the greatest difference.
Your priorities might include:
Creating an outdoor entertaining area
Improving the connection between the house and garden
Introducing greater privacy
Resolving difficult levels
Improving drainage
Making the garden more accessible
Reducing maintenance
Creating better year-round planting
Adding an outdoor kitchen or fire feature
Making a new-build garden feel more established
Renovating an older or poorly planned landscape
Try to distinguish between essential requirements and features that would simply be desirable. This helps create a more focused design brief and allows the available investment to be directed towards the parts of the garden that matter most.
For an explanation of how a complete project develops, read about Kirman Design’s garden design and build process.
Garden Design and Landscaping Costs
Understanding likely costs is an important part of planning a garden transformation.
The price of professional garden design and landscaping depends on much more than the garden’s overall size. Access, existing levels, demolition, drainage, ground conditions, retaining structures, materials, planting and specialist features can all significantly affect the investment required.
Two gardens with similar dimensions can therefore have very different costs.
Our guide to how much garden design costs explains:
What professional design fees may cover
Why different projects require different levels of design work
How surveys and technical information affect fees
The difference between concept and detailed design
Why professional design can reduce uncertainty during construction
How the design process supports more reliable project planning
When considering the wider construction budget, allow for the complete project rather than pricing only the most visible elements. Ground preparation, drainage, foundations, soil improvement, waste removal and site access may not be exciting, but they can determine how successfully the finished garden performs.
A realistic budget should also include a sensible contingency for unforeseen conditions or agreed changes.
READ ABOUT GARDEN DESIGN COSTS
Do You Need a Garden Designer?
Not every garden project requires a complete professional design service. However, professional input becomes particularly valuable when several elements need to work together.
You may benefit from employing a garden designer if:
You are planning a complete garden transformation
The garden has significant changes of level
You need to coordinate paving, walls, steps and planting
Drainage is a concern
The garden is overlooked
You want to improve access
You are introducing an outdoor kitchen or water feature
The garden needs to relate closely to an extension or renovated house
You have several ideas but cannot make them work as one coherent garden
You want technical information that landscapers can build from
You are making a substantial financial investment
A professional design should address both appearance and function. It needs to consider how the garden will be constructed, drained, planted, maintained and experienced throughout the year.
Kirman Design offers a coordinated garden design and build service, allowing the original design to remain connected to the project during construction.
Preparing for a Garden Design Consultation
A consultation is more productive when you have thought about your priorities beforehand.
You do not need to arrive with a finished design. In fact, it is often better to remain open to possibilities that may not yet have occurred to you.
Before your consultation, consider:
What do you like and dislike about the existing garden?
How do you want to use the garden?
Who will use it?
Do you entertain outdoors?
Are children, pets or accessibility important considerations?
Which views should be retained, framed or screened?
How much maintenance do you realistically want?
Are there plants, trees or features that must remain?
Are there known drainage or boundary issues?
Are you planning other building work?
When would you ideally like the garden completed?
What level of investment are you considering?
Photographs of gardens, materials and planting you like can be helpful. They do not need to represent one exact style; they help the designer understand your preferences and identify recurring ideas.
Property plans, extension drawings, topographical surveys and drainage information should also be provided where available.
Advice for Difficult Gardens
Some gardens need more than a decorative makeover. Practical problems must be understood and addressed before the space can become attractive and enjoyable.
Poor garden drainage
Standing water, waterlogged lawns and saturated borders may result from compacted soil, heavy clay, inappropriate levels, insufficient drainage or water arriving from neighbouring land.
Effective solutions depend on the underlying cause. Installing a drain without understanding where the water comes from or where it can lawfully discharge may simply move the problem elsewhere.
Our guide to garden drainage explains the issues that should be considered before work begins.
Sloping gardens
A slope can make movement, seating and maintenance difficult, but it can also create opportunities for views, terraces and interesting changes of level.
The design needs to consider:
Retaining structures
Safe and comfortable steps
Accessible routes
Drainage
Soil stability
Construction access
The relationship between different levels
Planting suitable for slopes
Read our advice about designing and landscaping sloping gardens.
Overlooked gardens
Privacy is rarely solved successfully by placing one very tall object directly in front of a window.
A more considered approach may combine trees, layered planting, pergolas, screens and the careful positioning of seating areas. The aim is to interrupt important sightlines without making the entire garden feel dark or enclosed.
Explore our guidance for overlooked gardens, garden privacy and garden screening.
Clay soil
Clay soil can retain nutrients and support an excellent range of plants, but it may also drain slowly, compact easily and become difficult to cultivate.
Successful design on clay soil may involve:
Protecting the soil during construction
Avoiding unnecessary compaction
Improving soil structure
Selecting plants suited to the conditions
Considering drainage alongside planting
Avoiding cultivation when the soil is saturated
Read more about designing and planting gardens with clay soil.
North-facing gardens
A north-facing garden is not necessarily permanently dark. Light levels vary according to the garden’s length, neighbouring buildings, boundary heights and seasonal sun angles.
Good design can make use of areas receiving morning or evening light while selecting planting and materials that work successfully in shade.
Explore our advice for north-facing gardens.
New-build gardens
New-build gardens often have limited planting, compacted ground, poor soil, awkward boundaries and a lack of privacy.
The garden should also respond to the architecture of the new home and the way doors and windows connect with the outside.
Our new-build garden advice explains how a featureless plot can be transformed into a more established and personal landscape.
Choosing Materials and Garden Features
Materials and features should be selected as part of the wider design, not as unrelated purchases.
A paving material might look attractive in isolation but be unsuitable for the property, exposure, intended use or surrounding finishes. Similarly, a pergola, water feature or outdoor kitchen needs to be positioned and proportioned properly if it is to feel integrated into the garden.
Paving and hard landscaping
When selecting paving, consider:
Relationship with the house
Colour and texture
Slip resistance
Frost resistance
Joint width and pattern
Threshold details
Drainage
Cleaning and maintenance
Edge and step details
Installation requirements
The quality of the foundation, drainage and installation is at least as important as the appearance of the paving itself.
Outdoor kitchens
An outdoor kitchen should be designed around how you intend to cook and entertain.
Consider access from the house, shelter, smoke direction, working space, seating, lighting, utilities and the relationship with the rest of the garden.
Explore Kirman Design’s approach to outdoor kitchens.
Water features
A successful water feature should contribute to the atmosphere and structure of the garden.
Important considerations include:
Scale and position
Sound
Water movement
Visibility from the house
Lighting
Access to pumps and filters
Water loss
Winter maintenance
Safety
Relationship with surrounding planting
Read about our garden water features.
Garden lighting
Garden lighting should reveal the design rather than flood the whole space with light.
A restrained scheme can improve safe movement, highlight planting and extend the enjoyment of the garden after dark.
Find out more about professional garden lighting design.
Planting Advice
Planting should be chosen for the actual conditions within the garden rather than for how a plant looks in isolation.
Before developing a planting scheme, consider:
Soil type
Drainage
Sunlight and shade
Exposure and shelter
Mature plant dimensions
Seasonal interest
Maintenance requirements
Wildlife value
Relationship with the architecture
The way different plants work together
Structure is particularly important. Trees, hedging and shrubs provide the framework, while perennials, grasses, bulbs and ground-cover planting introduce seasonal detail.
A good planting scheme should provide interest at different times of year and allow enough space for plants to mature without constant intervention.
Kirman Design’s planting design service combines horticultural knowledge with the wider garden layout so that plants, materials and spaces work together.
Advice About Landscape Construction
The quality of construction beneath the finished surface has a major influence on how the garden performs.
Professional landscape construction should consider:
Appropriate excavation
Stable sub-bases
Foundations
Retaining requirements
Drainage
Falls and finished levels
Thresholds
Material specifications
Movement and expansion
Below-ground services
Safe step dimensions
Soil protection and preparation
Construction tolerances
Long-term maintenance
A quotation should be assessed by more than its total price. Check what preparation, specifications, disposal, drainage and finishing work have actually been included.
An unusually low price may indicate that important work has been omitted, underestimated or left insufficiently defined.
Garden Maintenance and Aftercare
A newly completed garden is the beginning of a process rather than the end.
Plants need time to establish, and even a carefully designed low-maintenance garden requires appropriate care.
During the establishment period, particular attention may be needed for:
Watering
Weed control
Plant supports and ties
Replacement of failed plants
Lawn establishment
Mulching
Formative pruning
Monitoring pests and diseases
Cleaning paving and garden features
Maintaining lighting and water systems
Maintenance requirements should be considered during design. A garden that demands more time, knowledge or physical effort than the client can provide may not remain successful.
Where included within a project, Kirman Design can provide aftercare and maintenance guidance tailored to the plants and materials used.
Garden Advice for North West England
Gardens in North West England experience varied conditions.
The region includes sheltered urban gardens, exposed rural properties, coastal locations, elevated sites, heavy clay soils and areas with high rainfall. Advice that works in a dry, sheltered garden elsewhere in the country may not always be suitable here.
Successful gardens across Cheshire, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and the Ribble Valley need to respond to their particular microclimate and ground conditions.
Local considerations may include:
Prolonged wet weather
Heavy or compacted clay
Exposed west-facing sites
Coastal winds
Frost pockets
Limited winter light
Poorly drained new-build soil
Run-off from neighbouring land
Existing mature trees
Rural wildlife pressure
The right response depends on the individual garden. Local knowledge helps turn these conditions into part of the design rather than treating them as an afterthought.
When General Advice Is Not Enough
Online guidance is useful for understanding possibilities, but it cannot replace an assessment of your own property.
Professional advice is particularly valuable where the project involves:
Structural retaining walls
Significant level changes
Persistent drainage problems
Listed buildings
Protected trees
Planning restrictions
Complex boundaries
Shared drainage
Major construction
Electrical or gas installations
Accessibility requirements
A substantial financial investment
In these situations, decisions should be based on reliable site information and appropriately qualified professional input.
The information in this advice centre is general guidance. It should not be treated as property-specific structural, electrical, legal, planning or drainage advice.
Explore Kirman Design
Find out more about:
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the advice on this page suitable for every garden?
No. The guidance provides a useful starting point, but every garden has different ground conditions, levels, boundaries, access and planning constraints. Important decisions should be based on an assessment of the individual property.
Can Kirman Design provide advice without designing the entire garden?
Consultation and design-only services may be available depending on the project and location. Contact us with some initial information and we can advise which service would be most appropriate.
When should I contact a garden designer?
Ideally, contact a garden designer before making major decisions about paving, levels, drainage, structures or individual features. Early involvement allows the whole garden to be considered together and can prevent one decision from limiting another.
Should I contact a garden designer before starting an extension?
Yes, where possible. Considering the garden alongside an extension can improve floor levels, thresholds, drainage, views, access and the connection between the house and outdoor space.
Can Kirman Design advise on drainage problems?
We can consider drainage as part of the wider garden design and landscape construction process. Complex drainage, structural or legal issues may also require specialist investigation or professional advice.
Does Kirman Design work throughout North West England?
Yes. We work across much of Cheshire, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, the Ribble Valley and surrounding areas. Contact us if you are unsure whether your property is within our working area.
Need Advice About Your Garden?
If you are planning a garden transformation and would like professional advice about design, construction, planting or a difficult site, tell us about your property and what you would like to achieve.
Include your location, a brief description of the garden, photographs and any relevant plans. A member of the Kirman Design team will review the information and contact you to discuss the most appropriate next step.
Telephone: 01942 604976
Email: info@kirmandesign.com