Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all our visitors! We're looking forward to helping you create the garden of your dreams in 2016.

Get your makeover ideas down on paper now and you'll be well placed to get going as soon as the weather warms up. Your first task is to measure the space and draw it to scale: then fill it with the plants and features you've always wanted. Here are a few tips to help your design come to life:

Draw floorplans for benches, sheds and compost bins to scale and cut them out, so you can move them around on your plan.

Make paths a minimum of 60cm wide for access - the width of a wheelbarrow. Main paths should be widest – 90cm is ideal.

Create focal points wherever you have a view: in front of benches, at the ends of paths and outside windows, for example.

Screen off eyesores like oil tanks, washing lines and neighbouring buildings with trellis fences.

Limit your hard surfaces to just two or three well-chosen materials throughout the garden, to unify the design into one satisfying whole.

You'll find the materials and plants you need in your garden centre, where the staff will be happy to help you with your decisions. You can also compare garden products online.