Where Do You Start When Planning a Garden or Landscape?

The information in this article applies to Turkey. Garden planning starts with the plot's limits. Unless the implementation zoning plan says otherwise, the front garden is at least 5.00 m and the side and rear gardens at least 3.00 m^[1]. Your garden is the area left around the building by these setbacks (bahçe mesafeleri); the purpose, the split between lawn, planting and hard surface, and the path of water are chosen within this area. The table below gives the seven steps and the basis of each in order; PAİY stands for the Planned Areas Zoning Regulation (Planlı Alanlar İmar Yönetmeliği).

1. Read the plot's limits first

The setback shows how close the building can come to the plot boundary. The front garden is the part between the building's front facade line and the road side of the plot; all gardens facing a road count as front gardens. Unless the implementation zoning plan says otherwise, the front garden is at least 5.00 m and the side and rear gardens at least 3.00 m^[1]. In a building with more than four floors, including basement floors above ground, the side and rear gardens increase by 0.50 m for each floor above the fourth (this increase does not apply on the side of the plot adjoining a park area)^[1].

These values are written on your plot's zoning status certificate and in the plan notes; if the plan gives a different distance, that applies. Setbacks also limit the building's footprint; we explain this calculation in our TAKS and KAKS article.

2. Choose the purpose

Start landscape planning not with the size of the area but with the job the garden will do. Will the garden be a place for children to play, a seating and dining area for guests, or a simple, low-maintenance green frame? Our advice is to write this priority in one sentence before you measure the area. That sentence decides the split between lawn, planting and hard surface.

3. Divide the area between lawn, planting and hard surface

• Lawn: an open, continuous surface for play and rest. It needs regular watering and mowing.
• Planting: beds of trees, shrubs and seasonal plants. They give shade and a privacy screen; the trees the regulation requires also go here.
• Hard surface: parts covered with stone, concrete or paving, such as paths, terraces and seating areas. This is where the garden's circulation and use happen; it needs no mowing or watering.

The Landscape Area Planner divides your total area into these three components. The starting ratios of the tool's preset layouts are: Low-Maintenance 20% lawn, 15% planting, 65% hard surface; Balanced 45%, 25%, 30%; Green-Heavy 65%, 25%, 10%. These are not regulation values but the tool's starting point; you can adjust the hard-surface ratio yourself in the tool.

4. Solve the path of water and the slope

In Trabzon, rainfall is spread across the year. In the data of the Turkish State Meteorological Service (Meteoroloji Genel Müdürlüğü) for the Trabzon station (1927-2025), mean monthly total precipitation is lowest in July at 36.6 mm and highest in October at 113.4 mm. Even in July, the driest month, there are 7.66 rainy days on average^[4]. That is why where water flows in the garden is solved before the size of the lawn.

Our advice: slope the terrace and lawn away from the building, and show on the site plan the point where water leaves the plot and where rainwater will be connected. For the path of water coming off the roof, see our roof pitch and rainwater article. A rainwater collection tank belonging to the building and outside the main structure is not included in the footprint^[2]. If an irrigation system is installed in the garden, the regulation takes drip irrigation as the basis. Plants are chosen from species that need little water for the region and climate and suit drip irrigation; if there is a rainwater tank, its water is used first^[3].

On a sloping plot, the garden is not built as one flat surface; it is divided into terraces. We explain how water is drained behind the retaining wall that holds the level difference between terraces in our retaining wall article, and the terrace layout in building a house on a sloping plot. In gardens more than 0.50 m below or above, and on top of retaining walls, a guardrail at least 1.10 m high from floor level is mandatory (Art. 38/1)^[1].

5. Calculate the number of trees

Under the regulation, on residential and residential+commercial plots (and also on tourism, education, worship, health and sports plots), one tree is planted for every 30 m² of the setback areas left outside the building's footprint on the ground. If the plot is not suitable for planting trees, the same number of trees is planted in an area reserved for public use in the plan and found suitable by the municipality^[1]. The tree calculation is part of the architectural design, together with the parking and shelter calculations^[3].

Example: if the building sits on 150 m² of a 500 m² plot, 350 m² is left outside; 350 / 30 = 11.7. The regulation does not say how the fraction is rounded; have the municipality that will approve the design confirm the number. Our advice is to place the trees in the planting areas and on the edge of the hard surface that needs shade, and to leave the choice of shade-tolerant species for the north-facing part that stays in shade all day to the landscape architect.

6. Place the garden wall and garden structures

The garden wall may not exceed 0.50 m in front of the building's facade line on the road side and 1.50 m behind the road facades; a railing not exceeding 1.00 m in height may be built on top. For a building whose levels are taken from the road, the 0.50 m is measured from the top of the pavement; for a building whose levels are taken from natural ground, from the natural ground level at the plot's road boundary (Art. 43/1)^[1].

On sloping roads and land, the wall is stepped at the top. The regulation says this for cases where the top of the wall rises at most 1.50 m above the pavement (tretuvar). In very steep and dangerous places, the relevant authority decides the form to apply (Art. 43/2)^[1].

In front, side and rear gardens, arbours, pergolas, ornamental pools, children's gardens, building entrance bridges and garden layouts for play or sport may be built. The condition is that they do not create an enclosed space, are open on all sides, have no floors and are not independent units or annexes (Art. 23/4)^[1]. Building a pergola, bower or arbour is not subject to a permit (Art. 59/1)^[2].

Arbours, pergolas, canopies, ornamental pools and open pools not exceeding 20% of the garden area are not included in the footprint or the total floor area. The condition is that they are not independent units or annexes and are not integrated with the main structural system. Garden walls and retaining walls are not included in the footprint either (Art. 20/8-b and ç, 22/1-a)^[2]. With the amendment of 1 July 2026, the parts within this 20% of pergolas and ornamental pools built in the garden as landscaping and not integrated with the main structural system were also excluded from the 30% cap on areas outside emsal (Art. 5/8)^[2].

7. Work the garden into the architectural design

The regulation defines the site plan (vaziyet planı) as the plan showing the building's position on the plot, the garden layout, open parking and parking entrances, and the building's approach distances and levels^[3]. The site plan and the tree calculation are part of the architectural design. A landscape project, on the other hand, is added if the relevant authority requires it, depending on the character of the settlement and the building, and is prepared by landscape architects. It does not have to be submitted at the permit stage; it must be submitted and approved within one month after the permit approval (Art. 57/2, 57/5 and 57/15)^[3].

The terrace level, the entrance path and the retaining walls are set together with the building's levels. If these decisions do not go into the site plan during the architectural design, the garden is squeezed into the space left once construction is finished. You can find the whole order in our checklist before building a house.

Common mistakes

• Thinking about the landscape after construction is finished. The terrace and paths get squeezed into the leftover space; level differences require new excavation and walls.
• Building a high garden wall on the road side. In front of the facade line, the wall may be at most 0.50 m and the railing on it at most 1.00 m (Art. 43/1)^[1].
• Forgetting the guardrail in a terraced garden. In a garden formed by a level difference of more than 0.50 m, a guardrail of at least 1.10 m is mandatory (Art. 38/1)^[1].
• Not calculating the number of trees. One tree is required for every 30 m² outside the building's footprint (Art. 23/6)^[1].
• Enclosing the pergola. A pergola with closed sides creates an enclosed space and falls outside the conditions in Art. 23/4.
• Sowing lawn without drawing the path of water. A lawn laid where water flows and collects becomes unusable.

Next step

Note the setbacks on your zoning status certificate and the area the building will occupy on the ground; these two numbers give the number of trees and the garden's real size. You can see the rough split in the Landscape Area Planner. If you want the garden drawn together with the building, send us your plot details; we usually reply the same day.