Thinking About Doing Up Your New Garden? Read This First
16th Jul, 2026How To Design Your New-Build Garden
Summer is the perfect time to design your new-build garden but many homeowners aren't sure where to start with their garden.
When is the best time to landscape? How important is budget? To help answer these questions, we spoke with award-winning garden designer Kirsty McLean from Garden Design Scotland, who has been designing Scotia Homes' Showhome gardens since 2009.
"Good planning is the secret to creating a garden you love. "
Is there one Scotia Homes project that stands out for you, and why?
That's a hard question as there's been so many of them that I've enjoyed, but I'd say Park View, Kintore. A very simple design that's easy to look after. It's contemporary but it fits perfectly within the great architecture in the whole development. As soon as I started the project I thought, I know exactly what to do with this!
When is the best time to carry out garden works?
I'm going to switch it around and say that there's a worst time... Obviously in the depths of winter, you have the challenge of low temperatures meaning concrete work can't be done, as well as the increase of rain and wet weather. Ideally, sticking to outwith winter where possible.
How can homeowners make the most of their new garden?
Good planning is the secret.
Understand orientation of the garden, what the soil is like, what direction the wind comes from, and how you want to use it.
Then when you approach whatever it is you want to do with your garden, your going to do it with confidence. Preparation is everything.
How important is budget when planning a garden project?
Don't let your budget limit your imagination.
If you've done your research and planning, there will be elements of that plan that you can hang onto whatever your budget is. You just then have to be a little more imagination on how you achieve it.
What are the current trends in garden design?
Current trends are quite interesting as they are the complete opposite from what we'd seen previously.
Everything used to be very formal, contemporary and structured. But now, I think it's much more naturalistic. People are focusing on what fruit and vegetables they can plant aswell.
Materials that are more popular now are wood and stone.
What advice would you give any homeowner feeling apprehensive about starting the garden?
We're kind of going back to the beginning- it's all about planning. You'll feel more comfortable knowing you've done research and planning.
- Take your time to plan
- Work out where the sun sits
- Figure out how you'd move around the garden
- How do you enter the garden
- Don't rush
Take your time, research it, plan it, and you'll be fine.
