Our lifestyles have changed considerably since our parents, and even more so than their parents. We want to accomplish more, see more, experience more and generally ensure that our life is expensed as spontaneously as our buying habits.

With this change in ideology, our priorities shift and what our parents may have defined gardening as is no longer the benchmark for how we garden. We have garden tools now. Loads of tools. We no longer need to turn compost with a fork and some elbow grease. We just rotate the handle. And we certainly won’t be raking up the leaves this autumn as we either don’t have deciduous trees because we turned them over to conifers, palms and grasses, or we have a Cyclone Rake to do it for us.

As you begin to plan out your garden design this is one question you will need to keep in the back of your mind. Marrying up your lifestyle with your dreams of a beautiful garden is better done at this stage than when you’re halfway through your first landscaping feature.