Best laid plans

Winter, when things are quieter in the garden, can be a good time to sit down with pencil and paper and plan projects for the year ahead. Jess suggests a few questions to ask yourself when considering your own garden makeover

Watch the garden: how does the light move across it throughout the day and the seasons? Noting this helped us plan seating and planting.

What do you want the garden to give you? Think about how you want to use your plot. If you love entertaining, think about a dedicated cooking area that keeps the chef at the centre of all the fun.

Don’t default to a lawn. If you don’t love the idea of one, it’s not compulsory. Consider wider borders, a mini orchard or dense planting for a secret garden feel.

You do you – no-one else pays the mortgage! If you love something, and want it in your garden, give space over to it.

Think about wildlife. We left a patch of nettles and long grass at the back of the plot and selected plants that would feed birds and pollinators. Nature has paid us back in a garden bursting with wildlife.