[casper]

My new garden isn't a bad size, it's a bit over grown at the moment and the job of clearing it all is a bit daunting, unfortunately the garden does not work for us just now, although there is a nice pond which I would like to keep, My husband would like a lawn instead of pebbles which is has, what is the best way to consider a design, would i be better to add features such as border and beds etc then consider lawn lastly, my husband says to focus on it section by section, i would like to get a couple of vegetable beds in, I dont want a uniform garden like i have had before, I want a natural looking working garden, any ideas or pictures of gardens with vegetable beds would be helpful as I am not very creative, I will add a picture of my garden tomorrow 

[fatcat1955]

Write down the things you want most from your garden and plot these on a piece of paper . Work the bed's (flower or veg) around this, remembering what plants like sun/shade etc. Do not overfill your garden as the plants will grow out as well as up. A lot of book's will tell you to wait a year to see what you actually have plantwise. Another good tip is to look in your neighbour's gardens to see what plants thrive in your area.

[compostqueen]

Borrow some design books from the libary. I know they contain some fantastically unattainable for normal folks gardens but you do find lots of ideas from them. I found I kept borrowing the same book time and time again and in the end my husband bought me a copy.  From photos you can visualise what can work in your own garden, and understand some of the tricks of design to make your space look longer, wider, narrower etc.  It's good fun actually

The Crocus website is a good place to visit too and that helps you with plants for your design and it tells you what plant associates with what, type by type, colour by colour. It's really useful and it helps you with the layout of the plant on your chosen site

Visiting gardens, or snooping over fences and walls, is good fun too.  I like the Open Gardens days and there's bound to be some near you later in the year.  You can check out the ones near you on the National Gardens Scheme

[casper]

Ah thank you, I wasn't sure if this sounded a soft question, because you would assume a person would know exactly what they want in their garden to look like, but thanks to your answers I have been given more to consider so glad I asked