How to Sketch a Landscape Plan
By
The National Gardening Association,
Bob Beckstrom,
Karan Davis Cutler,
Kathleen Fisher,
Phillip Giroux,
Judy Glattstein,
Mike MacCaskey,
Bill Marken,
Charlie Nardozzi,
Sally Roth,
Marcia Tatroe,
Lance Walheim, and
Ann WhitmanThink of your landscape plan as a tool to help you get a handle on the price tag of your project, establish your priorities, and make sure that all the separate parts of your landscape — the barbecue pit, a meditation pool, the kid’s area — are present and accounted for. Transferring dreams to paper requires more than a little imagination, but with some practice on perspective, you can tell whether your plan is an aesthetically-pleasing one.
In order to draw your plan, you may want to pick up some large-size paper, a pencil, and an eraser. More complicated drawing tools help you keep your lines straight and maintain consistent sizes for the elements of your landscape. (Alternatively, you may want to invest in a computer landscape design package.) Consider using graph paper, which has a printed grid of squares that makes transferring real-life elements to a flat piece of paper much easier. You can, for example, transfer your measurements to the graph paper using a 1-foot to 1⁄4-inch ratio — a 1-foot-long line in real life covers 1⁄4 inch on graph paper. If necessary, tape sheets of graph paper together, so that your plan fits.
Before you can start adding your wonderful new landscape features, you have to map what’s already there. Here’s how:
Measure the lengths of all edges of your property and draw the outline of your yard on paper.
Taking measurements is a pain in the neck, but you’re far ahead of the game when you get estimates for what this new design is actually going to cost. Measurements eliminate guesswork and give you the confidence of knowing that your plan will work.
Invest in a 100-foot tape measure to avoid the frustration of marking off 12-foot lengths and adding them up to get a reading on your 400-foot side boundary. Enlist a helper when you’re ready to measure to make the job go quicker. If you have the original map of your property, skip the measuring and trace that. No need to reinvent the wheel.
Measure and draw in the outline of your house.
Be sure to place the house exactly where it sits on your lot.
Measure and add any outbuildings that currently exist.
After that, draw in other elements and show their locations in relation to known measurements.
Measure and draw in whatever paving is already in place and that you want to keep.
Don’t assume that the right angles and parallel lines that are formed by walls, fences, driveways, and property lines are always perfect. Verify the distance between objects with as many measurements as you can.
Measure and draw existing fences, big trees, hedges, perennials, vegetable gardens, and any other current features you want to keep right where they are.
Indicate the precise location of a tree trunk or plant by measuring the distance from it to two known points, such as two corners of the house.
Go to your local copy shop and run off a half-dozen or so copies of your base plan.
Gardening Glossary
annuals
Plants that complete their entire life cycle within one growing season. The plant germinates from seed, grows and blooms, and then produces seed and dies.
Gardening Glossary
biennials
A plant that take two growing seasons to complete its life cycle. It germinates and grows leaves and stems in the first year; produces flowers and fruit (seed) in the second, and then dies.
Gardening Glossary
bolt
When a plant flowers or produces seed prematurely.
Gardening Glossary
cold frame
A wooden or concrete block box in which you can grow plants or hold dormant during the cold winter months.
Gardening Glossary
cole crops
A family of vegetables, including broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, and Brussels sprouts. They thrive in cooler weather.
Gardening Glossary
complete fertilizer
Any fertilizer that contains all three of the primary nutrients, N-P-K (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium). Phrase is based on regulations governing the fertilizer industry. Does not mean that the fertilizer literally contains everything a plant needs to thrive.
Gardening Glossary
deadheading
The practice of pinching or cutting off spent flowers
Gardening Glossary
evaporative-pad humidifier
A humidifier in which fans blow across a moisture-laden pad that sits in a reservoir of water.
Gardening Glossary
harden off
The process of acclimating plants grown indoors gradually to the brighter light and cooler temperatures of the outside world.
Gardening Glossary
hardiness
The ability of a plant to survive is called its hardiness.
Gardening Glossary
humus
A stable end product of organic-matter decomposition that's believed to increase microbial activity in soil, improve soil structure, and enhance the root development of plants.
Gardening Glossary
Bacillus thuringiensis Bt
An effective bacteria that attacks only the larvae of caterpillar family insects. It is safe to other insects, animals, and humans.
Gardening Glossary
macronutrients
Mineral nutrients that plants need in the largest quantities: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sulfur.
Gardening Glossary
mulch
Organic or inorganic material placed over the surface of soil, usually directly over the root zone of growing plants. Used to conserve moisture, kill weed seedlings, modify soil temperature, provide attractive covering to garden beds.
Gardening Glossary
organic matter
Once-living stuff like compost, sawdust, animal manure, ground bark, grass clippings, and leaf mold (composted tree leaves). Used to enrich soil and improve soil texture.
Gardening Glossary
perennials
Any plant with a life cycle of three or more years. Herbaceous (non-woody) perennials include flowering plants and herbs, mainly. Woody perennials include trees and shrubs. Longevity depends on the plant and growing conditions.
Gardening Glossary
pH
The measure of soil's acidity. Soil with low pH means it's too acidic; soil with high pH means it's alkaline. Most plants grow best in soil with a pH value between 6.5 and 7.2. Neutral soils measure 7.
Gardening Glossary
photosynthesis
The process through which plants take nutrients from the air and from the water in the soil to produce sugars that fuels the plant's growth.
Gardening Glossary
primary nutrients
Nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium are the three nutrients plants need in the largest quantities.
Gardening Glossary
root crops
Plants with edible underground roots such as onions, carrots, beets, potatoes, turnips. Most root crops are cold-weather crops.
Gardening Glossary
self-blanching
A type of cauliflower with leaves that naturally curl over the head and exclude light. Requires cool temperatures for leaves to curl effectively.
Gardening Glossary
sets
Small onion bulbs, about 1/2-inch wide, that were started from seed the previous year. Grow onion sets with the pointy end up.
Gardening Glossary
side-dressing
The act of adding a small amount of fertilizer around or "on the side" of plants after they're growing.
Gardening Glossary
succession planting
Planting small, 2-to-4-foot patches of plants every two weeks throughout the growing season so that you can harvest a crop over an extended period of time.
Gardening Glossary
thinning
The act of cutting the least robust seedlings in your garden to give the healthier plants more room to grow.
Gardening Glossary
vining crops
Crops that grow on vines, such as cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, and winter squash. They usually require support (staking, trellising, etc.) to keep them off the ground.
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