Landscape gardening can transform the space around your home into useable and enjoyable space for all the family. Have you looked in envy at some of the wonderful gardens in your area, admiring the design, plants, flowers and trees and then wondered if you too could have a similar garden? Have you then decided that it would be far too expensive or too big a job for you? If so you may want to read on.

Designing a fully landscaped garden used to be the domain of professional gardener but today it is relatively easy to purchase low cost garden design software that even those new to their computer will find easy to use. It is even possible to find free garden design software on the Internet, such as "Showoff Virtual Designer" available for download at www.showoff.com which uses photos of your chosen space and incorporates images of many different items to produce an image of your plan immediately after completion and even projections of how it will look in years to come.

The Internet is a wonderful source of gardening information, so, if you are stuck for landscape gardening ideas just browse through the many sites and pick up a few hints. You will find forums an endless source of free help and advice, willingly given by professionals and keen amateurs. You will begin to realize how great these forums really are when you have designed your garden and are trying to decide which are the best plants to opt for and which are most suitable for your area.

Right, now that you know that there are endless gardening resources and that there are plenty of people eager to help, you will need to get started. Obviously the starting point is the space itself, take a look at your garden and do a quick sketch/plan then take photographs it at various times of the day, morning, noon and early evening. Remember to take shots at ground level and from higher up (an upstairs window will be perfect but take care). You will need to mark out the compass points and slopes on each plan and also from which direction the sun is shining throughout the day. This information will help you decide on where to place certain plants or items of garden furniture - there is no point placing an area for sitting in a space which rarely gets the sun, it is far better to place it in a place where the sun shines at the time of day in which you are most likely to be in your garden.

Take a close look at the surrounding gardens, take notes on which plants are growing well and those that are failing as this will help you to choose the best ones for you to use. Also make a note of any surrounding trees, large trees create shade and can have heavy demands on water but a small tree will be less of a problem for at least a few years. Also note if they are deciduous or are evergreen, deciduous trees lose their leaves in winter so you will need to clear them up, if you have a pond or pool you will want to protect it to prevent fouling but also, if you are planning your design in the winter, you may not be fully aware of the amount of shade a tree will create in the summer.

Now that you have all the information on the environment you can begin to list your expectations. What will you want from your garden? Will you want one which is low maintenance or will you want to enjoy working in it? Will you want a pond, pool, spa or other water feature? Do you have children or grandchildren that will use the garden, if so you may wish to provide a play area but you will, above all, have to ensure that the area is 100% safe covering any water etc. Place all your needs in a list with the most important first.

You now have the basic building blocks for your design. Carefully draw out a plan, try do it to scale, and include your home with all windows and doors (you wouldn't want a bushy planting, garden shed or gazebo blocking your view). You can now set about adding all the items you want, it is wise to create small cutouts of your plants and furniture (to scale) so that you can manually move them around the workspace to see what fits best. It is best to make several different designs which you can then compare and discuss with other family members. Remember to consider how each will look from windows from all rooms which look out onto the space.

Now you have the basics to get you started in landscape gardening so what is stopping you from getting started on your garden design?

Eric Johnstone has been a landscape gardener, specializing in outdoor lighting, for 15 years and writes for a small number of gardening sites in his spare time.