Jacquie Lund bought her home in Battersea, South London, because of the oak tree in the garden. “The garden was the key selling point for me,” she says. “The house is very well positioned, but most important was the huge oak tree which conceals all the houses behind. There are plenty of clever things you can do with a house if you are prepared to spend the money, but you can't create a tree.”

Lund has now put her home on the market. “I buy a new house once every seven years or so,” she explains. “I do it up and then sell it and move on.” The house, which is on the market for £1.195 million, has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a study, two receptions and an enormous kitchen and breakfast room with doors opening out on to Lund's “secret garden”.

“The garden is part of the house,” she says. “I've extended the kitchen and breakfast room, and the whole thing opens up, so that when you are in the kitchen it feels like you are sitting or working in the garden. It is magic in the summer.” In spite of its strong selling value the garden is small and low-maintenance. “The planting is quite unpredictable,” Lund explains. “It feels a bit overgrown, which I like.” She adds: “I get help, but only once or twice a year. Although I enjoy working in the garden, I certainly don't pretend to be an expert.”

Her experience - of falling in love with a garden rather than with the bricks and mortar to which it is attached - is not that unusual. “A garden can be just as seductive as a house to prospective buyers,” says Randle Siddeley, of Siddeley Landscape Design. “They might fall in love with the garden as much as they might the house itself. One lady I know bought a property merely because she fell in love with the cherry tree in the grounds.” A garden can be just as much a status or style symbol for the owners of the property, Siddeley says. “Russian buyers, for example, love to see water features, all the latest design features and a very slick design.”

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The financial value of a garden is difficult to determine, but agents say it can be significant. “If you have a big house with a smallish garden, it could affect the ultimate price achieved by several hundred thousand,” says Justin Knight, of Bective Leslie Marsh. “A 2,500 sq ft house with a 25ft garden might get up to £1.7 or £1.8 million on a good street. If the same house had a 50ft garden it could go up to £2.25 million.”

The right garden sells a house, but the wrong one can deter potential buyers. Gardens that require a great deal of maintenance, for example, will appeal only to the most green-fingered of house-hunters. Size is an issue, too. “Of all the reasons potential purchasers give for not wanting to buy a property, ‘the garden's too big' is one of the hardest for a seller to understand,” says Charlie Comber, a partner at the estate agent Hayman-Joyce. “But the objection demonstrates how important it is that a property's garden suits the buyer's needs, as well as the house itself.”

There is not much you can do about the size of your garden, but presentation can help. “If you're long on land, consider turning manicured space into low-maintenance space with trees, long grass and wild flowers,” Comber says. “If outside space is restricted, work really hard to make the most of every inch.”

Should you spend a fortune redesigning your garden if you're putting your property on the market? Commercial developers certainly think that outlay on green space is money well spent. “Developers are now spending a lot of money on the design of outside space, recognising the importance of creating an attractive, usable and relaxing environment outside the main building,” Siddeley says. “They might spend £200,000 to £300,000 getting the gardens to look right.” For private homes, it is a more difficult question. Robert Bailey, of Robert Bailey Property, a property search company, says: “It depends where the house is and the size of the garden. A large garden almost sells itself. Making it very ornamental and pretty can be detrimental, because most people who want a large garden have young children and therefore green, open spaces are the ideal thing for them to play in.” If you are trying to appeal to the family market, it may be worth trying to create compartmentalised areas. “Football should be out of sight of, or at least distant from, a quiet sundowner,” Comber says.

But if you have a city-centre pad with just a small patch of greenery, a designer garden can help to sell your property. “Clever use of mirrors and ornamental arrangements of flower beds can enhance a garden massively, so long as there is still a reasonable-sized space to sit out in,” Bailey says.

Nicholas Ayre, of the property search firm Home Fusion, agrees. “If you've got a tiny little patch in Chelsea, go nuts,” he says. “It's not just about plants, you need to think about lighting, irrigation, sound systems - treat the garden as a room. It can be worth spending a lot of money.” However, he adds a caveat. “Doing up a garden is a bit like doing dental work. There's no point getting one tooth done if all the rest are rotten. So have a look on either side at your neighbours' gardens - if they are full of junk, then there's not much point spending a great deal of money making your garden look fantastic.”

Even if you do not wish to spend a lot of money on your garden, you should at least spruce it up before putting it up for sale. “Estate agents advise sellers to dress their homes for viewings,” Siddeley says, “and in the same way people should dress their gardens.”

Market gardens

The gardens at Syon Lodge, Isleworth, a 1770 Grade II listed house, include rockeries, fountains and loggia. (£6.95million, knightfrank.co.uk )

Whitewood, Cobham, Surrey, a six- bedroom home, has 1 acres of gardens (£1.795 million, knightfrank.co.uk ).

Shelgate Road, London SW11, has an impressive pond in its garden (£1million, douglasandgordon.com ).

York Mansions, Prince of Wales Drive, London SW11, is a three-bedroom flat with a garden designed by a Chelsea gold medal winner, Philip Nixon (£999,995, aylesford.com ).

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