The Making of a New Garden: In the Beginning...

Sometimes whenever I find myself looking back at our old posts and notice the ones we have written pertaining to the ongoing koi pond project, I also find myself thinking that there's actually more to this project than just the pond, much more than we have portrayed so far. It is true that the majority of the work of the entire project is the pond, and it is the main focal point of this area, but to ourselves we have always regarded that what we are actually undertaking is the construction of a new garden. It just so happens that the most demanding aspect of it is the building of the pond. But as I've just said, there's more to this area than the pond alone....

Yes, a new garden. And the story begins in the middle...

Often we are asked what our plans are, what we wish to achieve and what we intend on doing. Or if we just go along and make decisions along the way. Yes we do modify a few things as we go along, adjusting what needs adjusting in order to proceed. However the vast majority of what we have done is in accordance with the plans and designs we created prior to starting the project. The garden has been designed and most of the technical aspects had been worked out before we started.

I suppose I should have started, before we featured any aspect of the project on our blog, by showing the plans and sketches of the new garden. Most of these sketches were made on paper, a few were made on the computer but using basic programs rather than sophisticated design software. So how come I never featured these plans before? The answer is just I never took the time to scan these paper sketches until recently hence only featuring them now. 

And it is through these plans and sketches that we are able to show how this new garden began: how we gathered our concepts, ideas, and design to come up with the final plan of what we are undertaking now. It is an insight to what we are doing and a glimpse of what we're trying to achieve.


The Making of a New Garden: In the Beginning

So why is it a new garden? For the following reasons: It is a new annex to our existing garden; the plot was a total blank canvass, there was nothing in it but a lawn; and more notably the design is a departure from the overall theme of the rest of the garden, embracing a more modern and contemporary look but keeping the exotic planting.

There has been a lot of thought process involved and several facets to the project that it would be better if I present each facet through a series of posts that will appear on our blog over the next few weeks. This is so I can explore each facet much better and be able to discuss smaller portions rather than a single post

And to start this series here are some of the sketches, drawings, and plans of the New Garden:

Preliminary Sketches of the Layout

Another preliminary sketch of the layout

Once we decided to go ahead with the project the first thing we needed to do was to decide on the layout of the new garden. The key elements of the garden were first considered and several layouts were have been considered. The sketches above show some of the ones we have considered first.

The First Breakthrough

After lots of consideration we arrived at the preliminary final layout of the new garden. This was before we started any work to the plot and have yet to find out what other things we need to adjust once actual work has commenced.

The Final Layout

A few weeks after we started work on plot we came up with this final layout of the new garden. You can see at the top and bottom part of the sketch our neighbour's gardens in relation to ours, as well as the structures and plants on their property in relation to what we will be building.

Designing the Koi Filtration House

One of the preliminary sketches of the Koi Filtration House, including some technical details to be considered.

The Third Raised Bed and Water Feature

It took us ages to decide on the design of the small water feature beside the third raised bed, much more so than the Koi Pond itself! A preliminary sketch of one of the designs considered.

Any paper will do! 

Sometimes when you get a surge of ideas you need to sketch it with whatever paper is on hand. Above is another design considered.

Streamlined and Simple

With a small geyser fountain with sandstone tiling to the edges of the pool.

Structures in relation to each other

When embarking on any project it is helpful to create several sketches to help you visualize how some of the structures you are building will be in relation to each other. Above is a personal guide on how the filtration house will look like in relation to the pond. The pergola above the pond is not to scale.

The sketches and drawings above are just an introduction to the story of our New Garden, the beginning. I'll try and give a bit more insight into our thought processes on how we came up with the designs, the options we had, and the decisions we've made so far in the future instalments of this series. These will explore the design of the garden, the planting scheme, an insight about size of the pond, the little water feature, sources of inspiration, and much more.

Tag along on our journey to our New Garden, even if we had started the story in the middle!

Mark :)

Posted in: Pond build