What to buy first for a garden makeover

Measure the space, and the way in

Two things decide a garden project before any of the planting does: how much of each surface there is, and whether a tonne of anything can reach the back of the house.

• The area, by section rather than as one number — a lawn, a bed and a patio are three different quantities.
• The access route for materials: side gate width, steps, and whether a pallet can be left somewhere legal and dry.
• Where the sun actually falls, at the times of day you use the garden.
• Which existing plants, trees and surfaces are staying.
• The levels. Anything paved or decked has to deal with them, and they are what a photograph hides best.
• Where power or water would have to reach, if lighting or watering is part of the plan.

Access is the constraint easiest to leave until delivery day. Bulk materials are sold by the pallet or the tonne with no reference to your side gate, and the difference between a drop on the drive and a barrow run through the house is a weekend of somebody’s life.

Hard work before soft

• Structure

  Clearing, levels, paving or decking, and anything needing a route in for materials. Noisy, dirty, and best finished before anything delicate is in the ground.

• Soil and planting

  Compost and soil improvement before plants, and plants before they are competing with building work for the same space.

• Living with it

  Furniture, pots, lighting and a BBQ or firepit. All of them want a finished surface to stand on, and none should arrive before there is one.

Decide where outdoor lighting is going before the surface is finished, even if the lights themselves are a later purchase. A route planned on paper can still be moved; one added afterwards means lifting what you have just laid.

The lines with a season attached

Plants are the part of this list least able to wait for your schedule: the season decides when they go in, and the rest of the list waits on you instead.

Planting windows

Plants have a proper time of year, bare-root stock in particular. A bed that is not ready yet is a reason to delay the planting, not to plant anyway.

Bulk deliveries

Soil, compost, paving and decking arrive heavy and all at once. Book them for a day when there is somewhere to put them and someone to move them.

Weather

Groundwork stops for rain and frost, so a garden schedule needs slack that an indoor project does not.

Furniture

A line with a clear season to it, and one of the easier things here to postpone to a later stage.

Hire, divide and wait

Hire rather than buy

The tools a garden needs once — a breaker, a turf cutter, a chipper — are hire items. Buying one is a decision about the next ten years, not about this project.

Plants from other gardens

Divisions, cuttings and self-seeded plants from people you know are already suited to local conditions, so a gap in a bed is a reason to ask before it is a reason to buy.

Pots you already have

Containers are easy to accumulate and easy to buy again by accident. Count what is behind the shed before adding any.

What can wait a year

Lighting, a firepit, and the last third of the planting. A garden is allowed to be finished in stages — a planted bed changes while you wait in a way the other lines do not.

Open it as a plan

Everything above works on paper. If you would rather keep it on your phone — with each line carrying its own price, priority, notes, deadline and a link to the thing you found — the iPhone app ships a Garden template that starts you with a 8-item checklist instead of an empty project.

1. 1Add a project
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   In the app, tap the + control in the centre of the tab bar. Its accessibility label is “Add a project”.

2. 2Start from a template
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   The “New project” sheet opens. Use the “Start from a template” row rather than typing a name into an empty project.

3. 3Pick Garden
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   Choose the “Garden” chip. The sheet says how many starter items it will add and pre-fills the project name, which you can edit here.

4. 4Create project
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   Tap “Create project”. The project opens with its checklist already written, and every line is yours to rename, delete or re-prioritise.

Garden is the chip in the template picker. The project name arrives pre-filled as Garden makeover, and that part is yours to change before or after you create the project.

What the Garden template starts you with

Suggestions, and this is the template with the fewest compulsory lines on it. It sets no priorities, because in a garden the order is decided by access and by season rather than by the list.

• Plants & shrubs
• Compost / soil
• Garden furniture
• Pots & planters
• Tools
• Decking or paving
• Outdoor lighting
• BBQ or firepit