How to design a garden when you're not a garden designer | The Impatient Gardener

Please do a whole series on the process and installation of this garden. What fun to work with a creek and bridges.

As a seasoned gardener, I think the newbies would find it interesting to see all the steps... How you clear the existing vegetation; how you prep the soil and how you lay out all your selections, as well as plant. Also, Erin, I love that you have a drone. What type do you have...have you answered that question 15 times already! Thanks for sharing!

For my customers, I take a photo of the area (along the side of the house, across the front porch, etc) I then upload the photos to my laptop and via Photoshop, delete what's there and cut/paste photos of the plants I suggest. That way, the customer can see what the end result will be. Many don't know the names of plants, so if I walk around pointing, "Hostas here, with ......" - they have no idea what I'm talking about. It also helps me to adjust the look, if what I suggest is not in their budget, and I need to go with less, or with other plantings. I take the photos around noon, so I have some idea of what the light track is through the day (shadows, shade).

I would love to see more on how you are designing any area of your yard.

Yes! Please share more of this journey as you move through each step in your process. The light bulb went on for me when you mentioned “circuitous” garden space...there is a resident garden that strikes a chord within me but couldn’t pinpoint why. Now I know it’s because it is circuitous and you can move completely through and around the garden to enjoy it from every angle. Oh now I’m on a mission this Spring! Thank you! 💚🌸

Super fun! I totally hear you. I’ve been listening to that niggle in my head with the soon to be veggie garden and finally listened. Love your tactics and your truthfulness. Humble coupled with huge talent is a killer combo. 👍

Yes I would like to see more of your designing. I have been thinking of doing so changes in my yard and need more ideas.

Yes, I would love to hear more about garden design. Color choices, textures, etc. Can’t wait until spring to see your new project get underway.

Yes, definitely more design videos. I like your style of explaining things and that you are a "regular person" who designs in her own yard. Thank you!

“I’m not a professional and I don’t play one on YouTube” hahaha the level of self awareness in this statement is inspiring hahaha

I know this video is a year old but I loved the content! I am in Minnesota and I started a couple of new garden spaces last fall and can hardly wait for the snow to melt so I can get planting! The info and steps you provided are such a great help to my thinking and planning process. I have my graph paper out and ready to start sketching! Thank you for sharing this great video...I am glad it popped up!

Hey I totally put dahlias and canna in my naturalistic garden and they make everything else look better. The canna leaves really made my grasses pop. Screw convention. 🤛🏻

Really interesting, especially how losing a tree can totally change a particular part of the garden.

Thank you Erin. This has been very helpful info for me. Designing a garden space has always been a big challenge for me due to a lack of experience, confidence and indecision. But I’m learning and starting to get past all of that. Thanks again for the tips.

Yes, more design ideas. Thank you for stating you are not a professional. So helpful for a beginner Gardner who is stuck on ideas on how to design a garden.

I’m so glad you did this video! You validated every step I took in my “blank slate” back yard last spring! Complete newbie with a vision in my head, lots of goggling and introducing myself to my local garden center guys as “the crazy newbie gardener” ( we are all well acquainted now). I would love to see you do a video on how to “reshape” or “expand” an existing space 😳

Love this video! I appreciate that this is a video about a very large garden project. Most videos I see are smaller projects but it's nice to look at the garden on a larger scale.

Yes! I would love to see every step of the process!

Yes! Very interested in this topic. Like hearing your thought process. I like how you let things unfold to a certain extent, while still having a general concept. I struggle with perfectionism, and well, gardening is sooo imperfect! I like the idea of breaking things down into manageable projects, but struggle with what to do first. I think I need to take pencil to graph paper and just get something down. But first off to Pinterest as you suggested. Great idea to rope in ideas that swirl in your head. Would love more videos like this!

YES! I want to see more, and follow this process with you, and learn from you. Thank you for your videos.