Plan your gardening projects over three years, which also spreads the cost. In the first year, the main stock and spring bulbs can be planted to establish the overall garden layout. Before taking a trip to the garden centre or reaching for the nearest spade, the first thing that must be done when faced with a new garden is to work out what direction the plot faces because plants that thrive in a sunny, south facing garden will whither away in a damp, north-facing spot. Once you have established the aspect of your garden, the next step is to find out what soil type you will be working with. If the soil is sandy, it will have a light texture and lack nutrients, so it needs to be improved with humus, in the form of spent mushroom compost, manure or leaf mould.
Clay soil is made up of particles, smaller than sand grains, that cling together.
Digging humus into clay soils breaks up their compact texture allowing air into the soil which promotes plant growth and is good for drainage . The soil then needs to be enriched with nutrients. Manure is a type of humus which is good for improving soil texture, but the belief that it is a source of plant food is an old wives' tale. The alternative for the ecological gardener who shuns chemicals is to grow plants belonging to the pea family, known as legumes, which have nodules on their roots that fix nitrogen. Producing green manure by growing legumes and digging them back into the soil is another way of adding nitrogen.