Design a garden, start to finish

This walkthrough uses the sample site, so you can follow it without a file of your own.

1. Open the sample site from the start panel, then Surface › More › Landscape workspace.
2. A terrace. Hardscape › Paving: click four corners on the flatter ground, ReturnEnter. In Properties set Falls to To a drain and click near one corner. The arrows show water running to it.
3. A retaining wall. Hardscape › Wall along the uphill edge of the terrace, ReturnEnter. Read its heights in Properties; type a Top to hold it level.
4. Steps. Hardscape › Steps: click below the wall, then above it, ReturnEnter. Properties say how many risers and whether they fit.
5. A path. Hardscape › Path from the steps down the slope. If it is steeper than its limit, Properties say so and the plan marks where.
6. Trees. In Plants, search olive, choose it, Plant and click two or three places. Press EscEsc.
7. A planting bed. Search lavender, choose it, Bed, click its corners, ReturnEnter. In Properties, choose rosemary on the left and Add a plant; set the shares.
8. A hedge. Search box, Hedge along the boundary, ReturnEnter.
9. Check the grading. In Grading checks, tick Slope analysis and Flow arrows and ponding. If water ponds against the terrace, add a Swale round it.
10. Irrigation. Place a Point of connection, a Valve, a few Heads over the lawn and a Lateral pipe from the valve through them, then Check the system….
11. The schedule and the sheets. More › Plant schedule… (save it as XLSX, or send it to TakeoffCraft), then More › Landscape sheets… › Make the PDF.
12. Save the project: everything is in the one file. More › Export landscape IFC gives BimCraft the plants and the hardscape.

See The Landscape workspace for every tool.