How to design and create a planting bed

You may be the greatest gardener in the world but nothing is as intimidating as designing a garden. This is because successful garden design takes a lot of time and planning along with certain skills which can make gardeners reluctant to tackle it, however, we’re here to give you a helping hand, providing a step by step guide to designing a ‘planting bed’.

Designing a planting bed requires a certain amount of skill and ‘vision’. Look at plants you have previously grown in your garden, this should give you some idea as to which plants thrive in these conditions. If you wish to use different plants or flowers, then make sure you are able to grow them within your garden. You may not have the right soil, sunlight or water for growth. This needs to be checked to make sure you aren’t wasting your time trying to grow plants that won’t grow, making your planting bed less attractive.

When planning your planting bed, make sure you plan to scale. The last thing you want is to overgrow your planting bed with lots of plants which will outgrow their area. If you’ve already got an area ready for your planting bed, measure it up and make sure you are clear on how many plants you can fit in it. If you haven’t yet created your area, then you can think about the plants first and create your area around those.

You should also plan your planting bed around other structures in the garden and your house in general. For example, you may own a large country house and your garden should represent this. For example, you could plant roses and traditional flowers within your planting bed. A small bungalow on the other hand, may be better represented by an informal planting area with small plants which means it would need to be more accurately planned. Drawing it up to scale can also be helpful – see this excellent example of a planting plan by designer Sophie Dixon.

As well as the actual space of the planting bed, you should also consider the height and width. Do you want the planting bed to be low and manageable, or perhaps you want to cover up the fencing behind it with taller plants. Either way, this needs to be a consideration when designing your planting bed.

Whilst we suggested using plants you have grown before, try ‘mixing it up’ a bit with more unusual plants and different plants in your bed. This could simply be using a number of different plant varieties, or it could be using more unusual plants.