4. Consider your starting point

Open your eyes and examine what you are beginning with. What is your plot like now? Big, small, bright or shady, wet or dry... will it be possible to turn your space into a paradise that you love? Be realistic and you will be happier in the long run. In reality, you won’t fit a garden of stepped terraces, complete with a hundred dancing fountains, statuary and acres of clipped parterres behind your three-bed semi in Blanchardstown.