A garden is a living organism and is divided into three basic design parts: The backbone or skeleton, the meat or space fillers and lastly the skin makeup (the pretties).

Most gardeners get it wrong because everyone wants the ‘pretties’, but forget about the back­bone of a garden that determines the look and feels throughout the year. Despite having the most amazing ‘pretties’, if your form is wrong, nothing will look good.

To start with your garden design you will need a few things. Have a look at the gardens that you find to be beautiful or inspiring, something that touch your soul in some good way. Com­pile a list of ideas you would like to include in your garden – take cuttings from your favourite garden magazines.

Then take a photograph of the area you want to design. Take a printout of the photo and a marker pen – start sketching the shapes and sizes of the plants you want to use onto the photograph. Look at the shapes that already exist around your home and copy them into the picture as well.

Look at the shape of the bigger trees and shrubs that form the basic backbone of your garden, sometimes some good tools from your local hardware shop can help to en­hance the shape of shrubs and trees by just removing some unwanted branches or pruning away the shrubs into a more appealing form and shape.

Now, when all the unwanted materials are removed, you can move to the next step – preparing the garden for the growing season and future planting. Begin at the bot­tom – soil is the foundation of success in your garden. Try to avoid weed killers and too much fertilizer. Compost is by far the best, work a lot of compost into the soil to prepare it for the next grow­ing season.

Prune back all the shrubs to renew their growth and to get them into shape again, also take out the ones that do not fit and either move them to where they will work, or move them to the dustbin.

Roses also need to be pruned back at this time – the hand method works very well – prune back 2/3 of the plant and keep the main five branches for new growth.

The correct tools are always an advantage when it comes to any job, the same applies to garden work. Remember, from irrigation to spades and forks and pruners, Agrinet can assist you with all the tools your customers might need. Always sell trusted equipment that is supported by good service to make your life easier.