The design package consists of:

1. Garden plan
2. Plant list and additional notes
3. 12 Garden Makeover knowledge files
4. Support

1. Garden plan

From the information that you send me, I draw the garden plan on A3 paper. The scale I choose enables the garden details to be labelled clearly. If the garden design is very intricate then I show more details on further sheets. Any hard landscaping is within the capabilities of an average do-it-yourself person.

The design is a hand-drawn outline plan (not a blueprint) - see the example below:

One of our garden plans, with Garden Makeover knowledge files

© Alec Scaresbrook

On the plan, each plant group is numbered and cross-referenced with a plant list.

With the plan, I give additional information on dimensions of the various features, such as pond dimensions (length and width or diameter), lawn dimensions, patio dimensions, width of any path, width of any archways and so on. These dimensions are suggestions and do not have to be followed precisely.

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2. Plant list and additional notes

Plant list

With each plan I include a plant list using botanical and cultivar names, plus some details about the plants.

For example:

The position number refers to the number on the plan.

There are many thousands of different plants in cultivation that I could choose from for a planting scheme, but a lot of these are quite difficult to track down. So I choose plants that are readily available from good quality nurseries by mail order, and that may also be available at your local garden centre. I recommend suppliers who are renowned for their quality. They aren't always the cheapest, but in gardening, money buys you growing time. You need plants that will thrive and quickly give your garden a mature feel, not ones that will fade away and need replacing later.

Additional notes

I also include recommendations for landscaping materials in general terms (e.g rustic arch, larch-lap fence panels, natural stone effect paving) rather than specifying a particular manufacturer, unless there is only one product available. In this way, you control the quality and cost of the various elements for your garden.

The delivery charges from stockists outside your area may take you beyond your budget, so in practice you are often restricted to one or two manufacturers in any one area. The best approach is to obtain the relevant catalogues from your local DIY outlet, builders' yard or garden centre and make your selection from their ranges, with the advantage of being able to look at the items to check that the colour or texture etc appeals to you.

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3. 12 Garden Makeover knowledge files

These knowledge files are a key part of the Garden Makeover package, containing the why's and how-to's necessary for you to create your garden.

The contents are concisely written to share with you the solid basics of good landscaping and good gardening that were instilled in us when we trained to be practical horticulturalists.

Knowledge files:

1. Starting from scratch
2. Weed control
3. Preparing the ground for planting and sowing
4. Buying garden plants
5. Pruning - general principles
6. Water gardens
7. Wildflower meadows
8. Wildflower gardens
9. Lawns - creating and caring for them
10. Climbing plants
11. Bulbs, corms, rhizomes & tubers
12. Container gardening

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4. Support

The knowledge files (listed above) cover the essential topics for establishing a garden, but as gardening is such a huge subject, you may have unanswered questions. Hence Garden Makeover support:

• E-mail us directly with any queries relating specifically to the design for your garden.
• Join the free Gardening UK forum. You just need a Google account (free) to do this. Add your gardening comments and questions here for us or other members to answer.
• Look at our Gardening Masterclass website, which is run in conjuction with Gardening Makeover. We are building Gardening Masterclass into a one-stop site for everything concerning gardening, starting with our illustrated how-to features to help you with the basics.