Think about what you want /don't want.

eg Do you want easy maintenance, a lawn, flower beds,patio,decking,pond etc.

Do you want a naturalistic look or something more formal. Do you prefer curves or staright lines. How much time can you spare each week to look after the garden

What kind of plants do you like? Are you happy for it to be mainly a growing season garden or must it have interest all year round.

How big are the beds if any. This will limit what you can/cannot plant.

Check our magazines,gardening/garden design books.

When you've done all that and more you'll be in a position to create a brief either for a garden designer or to do it yourself

I started by looking at loads of photos on here and got inspiration. At the same time make notes on the type of garden you have - soil type, pH, drainage, sun hours ask what can you do with what you have or go radical and get quotes for proper full on groundwork.

Your budget will be a factor as well as what you are starting with.

Visit gardens, see what you like growing together. Make a note of what grows well in your neighbours' gardens. Start gradually get the main structure in first, then visit the garden centre each month so you get a continual show until the Autumn.

When I see a client for this purpose, the first thing I ask them is what they want to do in the garden - eat? barbecue? sunbathe? hang out washing? sandpit or play area? Area for compost? Bin storage?
Next, look at what's out there - are there any trees or very mature shrubs you want to keep? Measure up, length, breadth and note where the things you want to keep are on your bit of paper. Now transfer this to squared graph paper, allowing a foot or a yard or metre per square, mark, in pencil, the position of plants you want to retain.
Now work out which way the garden faces, where the sun goes, where it doesn't, and then decide on the best places for whatever activities you want to carry out in the garden, such as a paved area for table and chairs, etc.
And then, and only then, do you think about what plants you need or would like, starting with shrubs to give a skeleton, whether they're appropriate for the conditions, whether they go well together, when they flower, etc., etc.

its well worth drawing a basic picture of an overview of your new garden to .