where do i begin to lay a gravel garden

i personally would use some sort of marker first to make lines of where things are going to go, also have a drawn up plan too. then start at the back and work your way forward to the house. that way it stays tidy and not all trampled on whilst your bringing things in and out

before and after pictures are a must have

would be great to see what you do if you dont mind sharing them with us all

x x x

Hi Kaththemat... by gravel garden do you mean one of those wonderful Japanese zen type gardens? Or an area of your garden where you will plant shrubs etc. and then gravel around them, bit like a scree. If the later I'd just do it organically - but then B and I did most of our garden without any sort of plan :-) I remember a garden designer friend visiting when we were in process of creating a raised bed, and, therefore, a sunken area, she was horrified that we had not planned it all out! Mind you she cooks totally for recipes and I just 'do my own thing' Think about the effect you want to create or achieve, consider the aspect of the garden - i.e. does it get a lot of sun, mostly shade; what are you looking for as and end result... aside from something low maintenance :-)
Keep talking to us so we get a clearer idea (or at least I do - grin)

dont forget to put a membrane down to stop the weeds. you can get this from any diy store

Nstress beat me to it.
Yes, if you want gravel to stand pots and pretties on, then cover the soil underneath with black membrane. It's not expensive and will keep the weeds down.

If you're planning on doing what Moon Grower says, you can still lay the membrane. Then cut slits in it to plant your shrubs and then lay your gravel around the planting.

If you don't do this, you will have a nightmare keeping up with the weeds poking through and spend a fortune on Pathclear, lol.

Gosh yes do put the membrane down - making sure to overlap the sheets if needed, otherwise the weeds will have a field day.

Thank you all so much for your advice. I am starting with the side garden which gets sun most of the day and would like it to be a tranquil area to sit on an afternoon. I dont want high maintainence as I am planning all of my gardens for an easy life when I retire (9 years time.....but it may take that long to sort out the gardens!). I was thinking of pots with oriental/asian flowers in to display. So any ideas would be greatly welcomed. Its a lovely day today, so we are making a start of digging up the flagstones and removing all the debris.....guess it is a start! Thanks again and I hope to become a "proper" gardener with help from you all!

Well, you could start with pots of lilies. They come in both Oriental and Asiatic plus others.

Acer trees are lovely in pots too.

For more japaneseee/orientalish, you could have pots of azaleas but remember that these must go into ericaceous compost as they're acid lovers.

I'm sure you'll get plenty more suggestions.

My penny worth: I got my membrane from the local builders merchants, sooooo cheap!

I would plant a couple of ornamental grasses, too!

did an area in work last year where we covered it with double layer of membrane from pound shop. cut slits and planted shrubs and gravelled the rest of the area. we have a raised border to keep the gravel in the right area.
the weeds have stayed away so far.
did an area in my garden without the membrane and got weeds galore.
redoing the garden again now with a double coating of the membrane to make sure.

Thanks again for your suggestions, I did not even know that the pound shop sold membrane but will certainly have a look. It is still too cold here to start buying plants but at leat we have moved some rubbish from the garden and hope to get cracking soon. Will post some pics when i can.