Before designing your garden or an area of your garden you need to ask yourself some questions.

Who will use the garden?  What will they use it for? 
How much work are you prepared to do?
What type of garden do you like?
What do you have already?
What features are there to take inspiration from?
How much do you want to spend?
How much can you do yourself?

A variety of people are likely to use your garden - yourself, your partner, children, visiting children, guests,  someone elderly, pets - to name a few.

The use of the garden will vary according to the time of year and who is using it.  Think about sitting/sunbathing, eating, views from the house, playing games , growing vegetables or flowers, strolling around, keeping animals.

Depending on the possible uses you may have to prioritise your garden space.  Animals and small children don't mix with delicate flowers or precious roses, not in a small garden anyway. 

Growing vegetables can definately be mixed with growing flowers.

Playing tennis or badmington may mean a large area of lawn will need to be dedicated to this.

It is important not to be too ambitious with your design. 

Be realistic about how much time you can commit, otherwise it will become a chore rather than a pleasure.

For instance 1 hour a week and you could grow some salad crops, shrubs, bulbs and have a simple water feature but possibly no lawn.

½ day per week would be enough to grow some vegetables and flowers, have a simple water feature and a small lawn.

2 days per week and you could have a cutting garden, a kitchen garden, medium sized lawns and a pond or water feature.

5 days a week - and you could have much, much more!!

There are so many different types of gardens, each one unique, but with some broad themes.

Formal - parterres, knot gardens, rose beds, lawns and herbaceous beds, bedding schemes
Landscape - trees, wild flower areas
Informal - cottage gardens
Productive - kitchen garden/potager, orchard, cutting garden
Mediterranean - gravel, lavender, olives, pots
Modern - hard landscaping, minimal planting
Oriental - bonsai, gravel, stones, water

It is important to look at what you already have.

Consider the size and shape of your plot - rectangle, square, irregular?

What existing features do you have that you wish to keep and are there any you don't like?

Orientation to the sun/shade, wind, shadows, entry/exit?

How is the garden viewed?  Can you see it from above?

What is the existing soil like?

Money has to come into the design although much depends on how much you can do yourself.

Hard landscaping can be expensive but if you can do some yourself, or rope in some friends, you can save a lot on the labour costs e.g. a small pond, laying gravel and simple steps are all possible for a competent DIYer.

For more complex jobs, such as walls (particularly retaining walls) and terraces, or difficult step arrangements, then use a specialist.

It is worth using the right materials to do a good job that will last.

Don't try to create the whole garden in one go - plan the complete garden but create it in stages for when you have the time and money available.

Buy cheap pots and paint them to match or contrast, or use sacking to tie around plastic pots to make them look rustic.  Look in the sale sections of local papers, or on eBay for old gates and fencing - they look better when weathered.

Start by creating a rough drawing of your garden and try to include the follwing information:

Size and shape, frontage of house with windows and views, surrounding features, sun direction, prevailing wind direction, height of walls, existing features such as terraces, paths, trees, shrubs and water but don't let yourself be too constrained by what is already there if you want a change.