Garden appraisal checklist

How to assess and understand your garden for planning, design, planting and wildlife

My mind is starting to look ahead to next year with plans to transform new areas of our garden, a site appraisal is the essential first step

As an experienced landscape designer, I’ve appraised gardens all over the UK to assess them before planning any changes, including our own garden. Follow my advice below for assessing your outdoor space with a site appraisal and it will give you the foundation to make the right decisions for everything in the future, from planting, food, landscaping, personal use and importantly, wildlife.

A site appraisal is the essential starting point for any change to a garden. This is the step before you get into the main details of a design, these come after the appraisal in the second more detailed step called the survey.

The aim of an appraisal is to record every important bit of information about how the garden is now. Even if something like a shed is planned to be removed, note it down now in the appraisal for reference. If you’ve never done a site apprai…