Planning a Garden Design: Where to Start
The Mistake Most People Make
Most gardens in Ghana go wrong before a single plant goes in the ground — because they start with planting instead of planning. Someone clears the plot, lays some grass, plants a few shrubs, and within a season the lawn floods, the beds wash out, and the space never quite works. The fix is almost always the same: start with a design, not a digger.
A garden design is not a luxury or a drawing for its own sake. It is the difference between a space that works and one you keep paying to repair. Here is how to start properly.
Step One: Decide How You Will Actually Use It
Before any plant or paving is chosen, answer one question honestly: what is this garden for? The answers shape everything:
- A space for children to play needs open, hard-wearing lawn.
- A space for entertaining needs a paved or hardscaped area, lighting, and seating.
- A low-maintenance space for an owner who travels needs robust planting and irrigation, not a fussy bed that dies the first dry season.
A good garden design starts from how you live, not from a catalogue.
Step Two: Read the Site Honestly
A real design responds to the actual plot, not a fantasy of it. The things that matter most in Ghana:
Where the Water Goes
This is the single biggest factor. In the rains, water has to go somewhere. A design that ignores drainage produces a garden that floods and a lawn that rots. Groundwork and drainage come first in any serious build.
Sun and Shade
Carpet grass (Axonopus compressus), Ghana’s standard lawn grass, is one of the few that tolerates partial shade — useful under our many trees. But full deep shade still won’t grow good lawn, and the design has to account for that rather than fight it.
Soil and Levels
The slope and soil of your plot decide where paving sits, where beds drain, and where water pools. A survey reads this before a plan is drawn.
Step Three: Get It on Paper Before It Goes in the Ground
A proper design produces a layout — lawns, beds, hardscape, irrigation, lighting — and an itemised quote, so you see both the garden and the cost before committing. This is where the inexpensive changes happen: moving a path on paper costs nothing; moving it after it is paved costs a great deal.
Step Four: Plan the Build in the Right Order
A designed garden is built in sequence: groundwork and drainage, then hardscape, then irrigation, then lawn and planting, then lighting and finish. Skipping ahead is what produces the floods and the sinking patios. The design-and-build process exists to keep that order honest.
Start With a Plan
We survey your space, understand how you want to use it, and produce a clear design and an itemised quote — before anyone digs. Book a design consultation: +233 27 000 0844.