Starting over

Nick Bailey continues his garden transformation journey, with tips on choosing and positioning the key features

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Part 2: How to create the backbone for a great garden

Several years ago I moved to a new home with a mature established garden. It had many good qualities but needed a major revamp in order to suit my needs.

In this three-part series, I'm sharing how I rethought my garden so you can do the same with yours. Breathing new life and style into an established plot is a relatively simple process, as long as you follow a logical set of steps.

Last month I started with an initial assessment of the site, so now I'm looking at choosing and positioning all the various elements that you might want in your garden, to ensure a cohesive, attractive and practical design.

No matter the shape or size of your garden, breaking it up into different spaces can make it feel bigger, more interesting, more alluring and more dynamic. Even just splitting a smaller space into two will add to its character. Dense vertical elements such as fences, trellis, hedges or walls are ideal for defining spaces, but it's also possible to partially visually divide spaces. For example, a simple row of timber posts or a pergola can create a sense of spatial division without fully blocking the view.