How to read a courtyard before you plant

Find the water

After rain, see where it stands. A puddle beside a downpipe is a common place to dig a bed, and the bed then rots. Move the planting out of the splash, or leave a gravel strip there and plant beyond it.

The tap should be within a hose length of any new tree. If watering means carrying cans through the house, the calendar will fail in August. Write that down before you choose a variety. A plant that needs a bog does not belong in a court that is dry for six weeks, and a plant that hates wet feet does not belong in the hollow by the pipe.

Push a spade in

Dig two holes the depth of a spade, one near the house and one in the open. Town yards often have a thin dark layer over brick, lime, and fill. If you hit rubble at a hand's depth, a large tree will sulk. Herbs and a shrub can still do well if you build the soil upward with compost.

Do not stack soil against the damp-proof course of the house. Do not assume a bag of potting mix spread two centimetres deep has changed the ground. The layers are also drawn on the about page, because this is the ground the studio plans for.

Measure what is already there

A tree is not a weed because it is untidy. Note the trunk, the lean, and whether the crown shades a neighbor's vegetables. Keep a sound tree that does a job. Do not plant, and do not keep by default, anything that will outgrow the fence.

Walnut is the usual regret in a small court: the crown and the roots are too large. A forest spruce sold as a small holiday tree becomes a wall of shade. A tree that already leans over a roof is an arborist's question, not a planting opportunity. The studio will say so on a visit rather than draw around a hazard.

Leave a path

Someone has to reach the bin, the meter, and the gate with a bag of groceries. Draw that line before you draw a bed. A plan that blocks the daily walk will be walked through, and the plants will die in the shortcut. The same rule applies to a guesthouse: luggage has to pass, including in the rain.

Plants that usually fit, and plants to question

These are starting points for Moldova's continental seasons: cold winters, late spring frost, and dry heat in July and August. They are not a promise for every yard. Match them to the sun and the soil you just looked at.

Often workable in a town court

• Quince, which takes heat and modest soil better than many softer fruits.
• Sour cherry on a rootstock that will stay pickable.
• Apple on a dwarfing or semi-dwarfing rootstock, with a stake where the rootstock needs it.
• Grape on a wire, which is an old solution for a warm wall and a small width.
• Cornelian cherry, currant, or raspberry along a fence if someone will prune.
• Thyme and sage in a drained bed, and mint only if it is boxed in.
• A linden or a field maple only when the court is honestly large enough for the crown.

Think twice

• Walnut, large willow, and a forest conifer in a small yard.
• Early apricot in a frost pocket. Blossom and a cold April night do not mix.
• Mint in open soil. It will take the bed.
• A large rose collection if nobody will deal with disease and you wanted low fuss.
• Anything sold as "dwarf" without a named size at ten years. Ask for the size, not the adjective.