The Plotting Shed

How do you work out what type of garden you need or want and what does having a contemporary garden really mean? Are you choosing style of garden you have by basing your decision on a  misconception?

What is a contemporary garden anyway!

Support the Show - Thank you
PlantPlots.com
Watch our videos
facebook.com/plantplots
Pinterest/PlantPlots

Making the most of your garden is not about packing lots of interest into a garden.  Adding 'designer features' or finishing touches won't make the best use of the small space. WHY; well its all about knowing which parts of the garden are useful and which aren't. The useful areas are for you to occupy, the unused parts host everything else. If you only fill those areas of the garden YOU would never utilise - the usable space is automatically maximised ...

How to maximise space in a small garden

Support the Show - Thank you
PlantPlots.com
Watch our videos
facebook.com/plantplots
Pinterest/PlantPlots

Garden sizes have been shrinking over the decades and many gardens are now not much bigger than a large room! The problem is we still occupy the same amount of space; it just feel we are being squeezed into a small garden! How to solve the problem of making a garden appear larger and feel bigger than it is - simply affordably and without being a garden design expert.

How to make a garden feel bigger

Support the Show - Thank you
PlantPlots.com
Watch our videos
facebook.com/plantplots
Pinterest/PlantPlots

How to Design a Garden around problems you can't change!  Garden design would be SO much easier if gardens didn't throw curveballs in the mix! So what methods can you use to create a well designed garden when you can't solve certain problems like a really awkward shapes, concrete paths, boring sheds, or overbearing trees.  At PlantPlots we try to find ways that make gardening easier for everyone. Visit our website today - you won't find another gardening site quite like ours!


PlantPlots - making gardening easier; all you need is a garden!

Take a look at our brilliant design book too: I Want to Like my Garden by Rachel McCartain. 

Support the Show - Thank you
PlantPlots.com
Watch our videos
facebook.com/plantplots
Pinterest/PlantPlots

The Plotting Shed kicks off the 2021 season with a podcast on the theory of garden design. But because Rachel always aims to make gardening and garden design as easy as possible. This podcast will not bamboozle you with designer speak! - If words like form, function, balance and proportion leave you scratching your head- then listen in.  Rachel will help you work out what design means so you can walk outside in your own garden and work out what you need to do to make your garden better.

PlantPlots - making gardening easier; you just need a garden!

Take a look at our brilliant design book too: I Want to Like my Garden by Rachel McCartain. 

Support the Show - Thank you
PlantPlots.com
Watch our videos
facebook.com/plantplots
Pinterest/PlantPlots

Part 2 of a 2 part podcast detailing the steps you can take to un-muddle your garden.  Over time many gardens evolve and morph away from the original layout and design, so what easy steps can you take to bring order and gorgeousness back!

Read the post associated with this podcast

Support the Show - Thank you
PlantPlots.com
Watch our videos
facebook.com/plantplots
Pinterest/PlantPlots

Part 1 of a 2 part podcast detailing the steps you can take to un-muddle your garden.  Over time many gardens evolve and morph away from the original layout and design, so what easy steps can you take to bring order and gorgeousness back!

Read the post associated with this podcast

Support the Show - Thank you
PlantPlots.com
Watch our videos
facebook.com/plantplots
Pinterest/PlantPlots

Formal Gardens, what are they and how to create  fabulous formal designs in small back gardens.

 Good garden design is all about making your garden a place YOU ENJOY being in. And the great thing is - it doesn't have to be expensive either. For more simple practical affordable garden design ideas visit plantplots.com. 

We really do make gardening easier

Support the Show - Thank you
PlantPlots.com
Watch our videos
facebook.com/plantplots
Pinterest/PlantPlots

There are 3 basic elements when designing a garden border.  View the designs from the podcast
What makes it stand out from it's surroundings
Concentrating on the off season more than the summer flowering and
Joining the borders of the garden together using similar but not identical elements.

Create a garden that is full of life. Download our free garden border planting plan that attracts lots of bees and butterflies. Buy our amazing garden design book so you can create the most fabulous garden that's good for you and good for the planet

'I Want to Like my Garden' by Rachel McCartain buy on Amazon today

PlantPlots: We Make Gardening Easier

#gardendesign #planting  #plants #landscaping #smallgardendesign #designideas #backgardenideas #howtogarden #moderngarden #lowmaintenancegarden 

Support the Show - Thank you
PlantPlots.com
Watch our videos
facebook.com/plantplots
Pinterest/PlantPlots

and how to ensure the garden is not only a functional usable space but is also a well designed and attractive place to be in too as well.

In this episode Rachel discusses the transformation of a small suburban garden, that needed access to the shed but that needed to provide a welcome escape from the hustles and bustles of modern life.

See the transformation

Read her amazing book  'I Want to Like my Garden'  (available in eBook and paperback) 

Support the Show - Thank you
PlantPlots.com
Watch our videos
facebook.com/plantplots
Pinterest/PlantPlots

Dealing with a shallow sloping garden is relatively easy, but you have to be bold.

The garden must take on the slope and first and foremost provide a practical solution to the contours. You simply can't sit at a sloping table - the wine glasses will topple over! Some landscape levelling has to be done, site the main seating area in the nicest part of the garden and work from there.

How will you get there and then what will you look at. Use plants that are tall and skinny, but open and light, to fill the vertical space but not use up horizontal space.  Read more

For lots more utterly brilliant practical and affordable design advice visit plantplots.com

OR you could buy our amazing best selling book   'I Want to Like my Garden' - it really is a garden changer!

Support the Show - Thank you
PlantPlots.com
Watch our videos
facebook.com/plantplots
Pinterest/PlantPlots

2020 has been an absolutely rubbish year. Lockdown has meant more time stuck at home staring at the garden fences.

So here are 5 simple changes you can make that will make your garden more interesting.  Just in case there's another lockdown!!

For lots more brilliantly simple garden design advice read my amazing book  'I Want to Like my Garden' - it really is a garden-changer! 

Support the Show - Thank you
PlantPlots.com
Watch our videos
facebook.com/plantplots
Pinterest/PlantPlots

then it will always be better!

Garden design is not about creating amazing show stopping gardens, it is more about solving problems so the garden works to your advantage.
And the best time to plan is when the garden looks it's worst!  if it looks good on a bad day, think how much better it will look on a good one!

Read my amazing book 'I Want to Like my Garden' by Rachel McCartain - it will help you make your garden better.

#smallgardendesign, #gardenplanning, #gardendesignforbeginners, #gardening

Support the Show - Thank you
PlantPlots.com
Watch our videos
facebook.com/plantplots
Pinterest/PlantPlots

We underestimate the cleverness of trees. Find our what trees are really capable of (and the butterflies and bees too); it will change how you think about your garden.

A 'not to be missed' podcast - this really is a revelation!

Trees talk to each other
Trees need their sleep
How do butterflies taste
Bees can do mathematics!

Support the Show - Thank you
PlantPlots.com
Watch our videos
facebook.com/plantplots
Pinterest/PlantPlots

I have always been a lover of garden mirrors. Mirrors are a great design tool, available in every shape and size, but mostly because; a well placed mirror in the garden can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary!

What's so great about garden mirrors?

Mirrors have 4 main functions in any garden, 

• To reflect sunlight into dark spaces
• They add depth to a garden
• Mirrors can be used to help hide uglier objects
• The mirror itself is a piece of artwork or garden sculpture.

Read the article

For lots more fabulous garden design advice that really helps you make your garden better - take a look at our book: 'I Want to Like my Garden' by Rachel McCartain (it's really good!) 

Support the Show - Thank you
PlantPlots.com
Watch our videos
facebook.com/plantplots
Pinterest/PlantPlots

Garden design does not need to cost thousands, look like a show garden or involves rebuilding the entire garden.
There a a few simple rule that will help even non-gardeners redesign their garden so it looks better and becomes a more enjoyable place to be in.

For more design advice written you could buy our book 'I Want to Like my Garden' by Rachel McCartain is available in paperback or as ebook. It really is a garden-changer!

https://plantplots.com/rules-of-garden-design/

Support the Show - Thank you
PlantPlots.com
Watch our videos
facebook.com/plantplots
Pinterest/PlantPlots

There are thousands of articles devoted to designing gardens, but very few column inches devoted to designing front gardens. The front garden is the most visible part of the house, yet many homes have gardens crying out for some TLC. Designing a front garden is not simply creating a miniature version of the back garden, it needs a completely different thought process.

Simple Practical Garden design helping YOU make YOUR GARDEN BETTER

Buy our amazing design book  'I Want to Like my Garden' by Rachel McCartain available at Amazon today

PlantPlots: We Make Gardening Easier

https://plantplots.com/beginner-garden-design/starting-design/solving-design-problems/designing-front-gardens/

Support the Show - Thank you
PlantPlots.com
Watch our videos
facebook.com/plantplots
Pinterest/PlantPlots

It's actually quite a difficult question.  As a garden designer, I have always felt this is an overlooked question. We get too caught up in how the garden should look and what design features to include.

But if you don't ask the question - you won't know the answer, and that will mean your garden doesn't and can't do the right things for you!

For lots of great garden design advice - visit plantplots.com OR buy my book I Want to Like my Garden by Rachel McCartain

Support the Show - Thank you
PlantPlots.com
Watch our videos
facebook.com/plantplots
Pinterest/PlantPlots

Why would you want to buy a book about gardening in the summer!  Because it is the time you use your garden the most; so it is the absolutely the best time to read a book about how to make the most of your garden.

I Want to Like my Garden by Rachel McCartain

Support the Show - Thank you
PlantPlots.com
Watch our videos
facebook.com/plantplots
Pinterest/PlantPlots

2020 is turning out to be a historic year, a seminal moment, a pre 2020 and post 2020 line in the sand where we compared how we did things then and how we do things now.
Covid19 has forced change upon us, but the climate was also forcing us to rethink our habits - and in terms of gardening this is a big one - watering.
Why do we water our gardens and should we be?

Visit PlantPlots.com

I Want to Like my Garden by Rachel McCartain

Support the Show - Thank you
PlantPlots.com
Watch our videos
facebook.com/plantplots
Pinterest/PlantPlots