Alison Marsden, Gardening by Design

Extracts from Garden User Questionnaire

Garden User Questionnaire

Functional Must Haves

These are the more or less boring but practical things that you may have to fit into your garden somewhere.  It is always better to plan them in from the start.

Who will use the garden and for what?

Include children, elderly or disabled people, the whole school football team…. And indicate a desire for entertaining or for wildlife watching etc.

Who will maintain the garden and how much time will be devoted to this?

Nice to haves

This is the good bit!  List out the features that all the garden’s users would like to have.  Try to keep realistic given the size of your garden and your budget but it is important not to second guess at this early stage what is and isn’t possible.  Inexperienced gardeners often underestimate what can be achieved in even a small space.

Think about ‘definitely not’ things too but keep a fairly open mind and you might surprise yourself with the result.

Garden Look and Feel

List out words and phrases that could be used to describe the look and feel of your desired garden.   Do not worry that your list may appear contradictory if it includes ‘colourful’ as well as ‘restful’ for example.  There are many ways of combining effects across a garden and not just ending up with a mess.