Designing Front Gardens

First impressions really do count, yet the front garden is all too often the poor relation of the back, where we spend much more of our time. However, an attractive and well-planned front garden is a real asset, giving a warm and welcoming face to your home.

Finding the Right Style

Whatever the size of garden, try to match its style to that of the house. A smart town house calls for a neat, formal garden with a symmetrical layout, containing low clipped hedges and strongly architectural plants. On an estate of modern houses, the planting can be more informal, but still within a structured design. By contrast, a country cottage demands an informal and colorful style, with lots of flowers and low-growing plants spilling out onto curving paths.

If you are not sure where to start, walk round the houses in your area and see how your neighbors have tackled their plots. Then browse through some well-illustrated gardening books to see how you might develop ideas you like.

A Path to the Door

The path is usually the main element of a front garden. Be sure to make it wide enough -- the minimum practical width is 60 cm (2 ft), but it will need to be 1-1.2 m (3-4 ft) wide if plants spill over the edges.
The wide range of materials for paths includes tiles, paving slabs and brick paviors. If possible, choose materials that echo the color of the house in order to create a harmonious impression, or at least make sure the colors will not clash. The surface must be reasonably smooth for easy walking, so avoid any lumpy material such as cobbles. But very smooth surfaces such as stone and concrete slabs are unsuitable, as they become dangerously slippery in the wet.

Design the path to take a reasonably direct route to the front door, although it need not be an absolutely straight line. Make it diagonal or slightly angled in a formal garden, or curving in an informal design. Avoid making the angles or curves too severe, as visitors will then ignore the path and simply take the shortest route to the front door, the practicalities All paths must have a firm foundation of hardcore that has been packed down with a plate vibrator to a thickness of 80 mm (3 in). Add a 50 mm (2 in) layer of sand if using paviors, or a 25 mm (1 in) layer of mortar for slabs or tiles. When laying the path, check for levels: take care to avoid leaving any dips where water could lie and form dangerous icy patches in winter.

Front Garden Storage
The front garden often has to fulfill a practical role by providing convenient storage for rubbish bins and bicycles. Tuck unsightly bins behind a screen made of trellis clothed with plants or ready-made ones of willow or bamboo, but make sure they are no higher than necessary, so that they do not call attention to themselves. As well as protection from the weather, bicycles also need secure storage -- a low, wooden or metal shed is the best solution.