The "Design your own Garden” course is intended to provide an introduction to the design principles and practical skills needed to enable learners to design all or part of a garden.

The course is aimed at those enthusiasts who would like to gain a better understanding of how to design or re-design their own garden and wish to gain the skills needed to help them achieve their goal.

During the course students will be taken through the end to end process of designing a garden, including evaluating a site, measuring up a garden, defining the garden ‘brief', understanding the principles of design, the use of colour in a garden and the selection of the right plants and hard landscaping to achieve their goal.

The course is run by a local qualified RHS medal winning garden designer who will share her first hand experiences of designing and building gardens .

Who is the programme for?

The course is tailored to those enthusiasts who have a keen interest in wanting to design or re-design their own garden and wish to gain a better understanding of how to achieve their goal.

What is the programme about?

The course provides an introduction to the principles and practical skills which are needed to design a garden. The course will provide:

o An understanding of how to evaluate the design potential of a garden

o A set of basic surveying techniques needed to measure up a garden space and locate key garden features

o An overview of the key garden design principles including style, the use of colour and perspective.

o A review of how key periods in the history of gardens have influenced current garden design.

o Insight into selecting the right plants for a garden and choosing the right landscaping materials.

o An introduction to drawing techniques needed to lay a design out on paper including scale drawing and plant / landscaping symbols.

Teaching Style / Activities

The course will include;

o Some classroom based lectures

o Class room based small group activities, discussions and reviews

o Outdoor practical activities – measuring up and evaluating a site.

o Basic drawing techniques for a design (scale drawings and use of standard plan drawing symbols)

o ‘Voluntary homework / research for those that want to do it!

Entry Requirements

No specific qualifications are needed – a keen interest in gardening and in learning about garden design would be an advantage.

Are there any resources to obtain?

It would be useful for the course and for any design work undertaken afterwards to have some basic drawing equipment including:

o Pencils & erasers

o A scale ruler (1 to 50 scale) is recommended and if required can borrowed from the course tutor.

o A pair of compasses (to draw arcs and circles)

There will be some outside group practical work to evaluate a garden and to measure up a garden area on campus. Sturdy footwear should be worn to comply with health and safety requirements for this session along with appropriate warm/waterproof clothing as required.

The tutor will provide on loan all of the surveying equipment required and any other drawing equipment needed. (This equipment will be returned to the tutor at the end of the course).

About the Tutor

Marion runs her own garden design company, having graduated from Lackham College with an HNC in Landscape and Garden Design. She currently lectures at Lackham in Garden Design and Garden Design History, speaks at local garden clubs and societies as well as designing and building gardens for clients. Marion was awarded an RHS Silver Medal in 2008 for her ‘Aqua Libra' show garden at the Malvern Spring Gardening Show.