You're welcome mate.

What an excellent idea to get a guy to help you. It makes the work faster and easier. I supposed the garden bed is all done and finished by now.



So, what potted plants have you got in there? Kinda curious. By the way, pea gravel looks nice and yeah, less costly… that’s what I have in my garden.

Wow!! when i started readint this thread i couldnt stop till i fiished, fantastic work Sir Snagger!! the house is gorgoue , the furnishings superb and landscaping is awesome. You have bigger lots in Perth!

Well actually, it hasn't really had a chance to progress much further since then out the back. Those wicked storms we had last weekend took all my time up before I had to go back to work, so maybe this break coming, but that is doubtful also cos I've got my b'day to celebrate and a trip to Perth on saturday too! As for the front yard, there ahs been progress there!!! (look down )

Thanks Loshto! It's good to hear that people enjoy reading through my thread. I'm actually 200km(ish) south of Perth near Bunbury so bigger lots again

Here's a cppl of pics of last weekends effort out the front.

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Those were actually taken after the big storms that went through (thankfully no problems at my place except for my letter box falling over - it hadn't been secured properly yet), so all the rain had washed the basalt dust off leaving a nice clean, finished look! It was also far cheaper than the original riverstone look I was thinking of. At nearly $2000 that should have done both the 2 front sections there, but I used 3 and a half scoops of basalt at $25 a scoop. Bargain!!!

Just got the middle section to do now with Pea Gravel. At $70 a scoop it's a bit pricier but still, $140 - $230 is loads better than the $1000 the riverstones were going to cost!!!

I love it, looking at your pics has given me a few good ideas on what we should do with the front. It looks so very clean with such a great design. It looks like a lot of effort and thought whent into it. thank you

Ok, so I have finally gotten around to giving you an update of things. My front gate should be arriving in about a week (FINALLY!!!) but I'm still not complaining despite it being about 3 months late Whilst it was missed in the original factory batch order (I'm guessing it is coming from that other big country to our north where lots of our stuff comes from), the guy I bought it from admitted to stuffing up the original quote.....in my favour. The price he quoted me was the cheapest at about $1200 for the double gate. Apparently it was supposed to be $1200 x 2 = $2400 cos there is actually 2 gates (being a double). Thankfully, he honoured that quote and I decided not to get the refund after the original stuff up and it was reordered. Should be worth the wait I hope!!!

Also, I've pretty much finished the front yard off too now. Pics!!!

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That area took about 1 and a half scoops of pea gravel. Normally it's $70 a scoop, but having friends is handy and I got it for $100 and have some left over which I'm planning on using out the back in the garden bed (will still need more though).

As for that garden bed, I've finally installed the vertical garden (minus the actual plants and stuff).

Firstly, I dug the holes to the desired depth and positioned the veritcal garden posts in the right place and then bashed a couple of 900mm long star pickets into the ground against the posts to give it a little extra support. I did this because the garden, once filled, will be quite a lot heavier than it already is, and I don't think the posts are deep enough to give it adequate support against strong winds, even with concrete.

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Never having poured concrete before myself, I didn't know how much I would need. So here's the first 20 kg bad in one of the post holes. It clearly wasn't enough (as it was only one hole, and it wasn't very full). So whilst that set, I went off to Bunnings and bought another 3 bags.

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Whilst I was gone, I used some timber bits I had spare to brace the garden so that it didn't move and set on a funny angle. It wasn't very secure, but did the job perfectly. If it was any windier, I might've had to try a bit harder.

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Here's the last pic I have with the other 3 bags of concrete added (2 bags per hole).

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In hindsight, I probably should have run the irrigation pipes first, but I didn't know what I wanted to do with it so decided to do it later. Something you can't see is a the layer of blue-metal that I've poured into the vertical garden to form a relatively thin layer at the bottom for drainage purposes. I'm hoping that it's large enough to let the water flow out the bottom freely, but small enough to not fall out through the gap in the 2 bits of timber at the bottom and keep the soil from filtering down though it. It's also helping to keep the soil matting that forms the front barrier of the garden (behind the wire mesh) from blowing up and away from the base and getting all messed up. Will find out how well it has stood up for the last week or so when I get home on Friday. Hoepfully I'll be able to finish it off soon so I can get some pics of the finished project!

I love your front yard SS, I think I might just borrow some of your ideas

So, I've been busy...very busy lately! Busy at work with no photo's to upload, and then busy at home with no time to interwebs. But anyways, less blab, more show!

I've been quite industrious out the back with some help from my beautiful fiance (oh, did I mention I got down on one knee a cppl of weeks back? ) and have got my back garden bed irrigated and planted up ready for Spring!

The free trailer load of uber good soil that a nursery friend gave to me when I was buying the fruit trees (also got at a great price!)

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The pots that have been placed strategically between the fruit trees

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The fruit tree's in position ready to be planted

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The holes were dug deep, but not wide. I put some lawn feed in the bottom of the hole (yes I had dynamic lifter too but grabbed the wrong bag due to inattention ), added some of the good soil, the tree and more soil to bring it up to height as it was watered in.

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After leveling out all the dispaced sand around the fruit trees, Bek watered in some more of the lawn feed stuff and I placed down weed matting which I aquired from everyones favourite place (aka Bunnings). I used a knife to cut slots and holes in the matting so it could be laid around the trees.

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I also cut small slits at each ridge point in the fence so that it could be folded down into the shape of the fenceline (as shown) and held down with some of the pea gravel I had stored in the garage from when I did the front yard.

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I went along and placed the pots which contained a variety of bulbs which I ordered from Scoopon a few months back. Yes I know they should have been planted in Autumn, but I'm slack and don't mind too much if they don't come up this season. I originally planned to have the pots irrigated by placing a pipe up through one of the drainage holes, but forgot. So I just cut a slit into the weedmat, put in the drip line and ran it up to a dripper on a spike in the middle of each pot. All the fruit tree's also have drippers at their base.

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All that was left to do now was go along and finish covering the weed mat with the rest of the left over gravel from the garage, which ran out when I was nearly finished. I ended up running back to the nursery and got half a scoop for $20...something they don't normally do Just enough to finish it off and level it up with the brick edging. I've saved a cppl of bucket loads as I still have more pots to do for the alfresco area and will use it in them.

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The fruit tree's from left to right are Blood Orange, Golden Delicious Apple, Tahitan Lime, Plum, Meyen Lemon and a Gala Apple. All normal tree's (not dwarfs as originally planned). This is because apparently normal tree's produce better fruit and will take a few years to get to a significant size anyway, especially if they are pruned to within reach height. Looking forward to seeing them all flower and fruit! I've got 3 pots on the alfresco which I have put the Basil into one of them, and will be putting the Corriander and Parsely into as well (I think we rushed the Basil but hopefully it survives) and some smaller pots of the same design which have taken the rest of the bulbs from the Scoopon order. The Cherry Tomato and Chile seedlings I have growing I'm going to get some upside down hangers for...eventually!

Looking great Sir Snagger... Must have been the day to upload as I've just managed to do some of mine as well

BB

wow you are full of great ideas might have to borrow a few

Thanks folks. I'm looking forward to finishing the pots off and getting some colour into the place.

Congrats on your engagement and your plantings ... are you going to espalier them as they are so close to the fence?

Why thankyou Mclaren! You'll have to explain what "espalier" means though as it is not in my realtively good vocabulary!

Never mind, I had time to do the research myself http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espalier

Looks interesting. I'd consider doing it in the future, but not this time round. I'll just be happy with a healthy garden that can provide a bit of colour and shade in spring and summer. I might consider trying espalier in the future, but somewhere where I know I'm going to be living for a considerable amount of time. This place is probably only going to be home for between another year -3. After that, Bek and I would like to start fresh in a home of our own, not just of my creation. She hasn't had the chance to build yet and really, really wants to! I'm not sure what our house is going to look like though, as we both have very different tastes in designs, colours and textures. Her is more traditional and old styling while I am very much a fan of modern and simplistic. It will certainly be an adventure!

Just wondering how your ag pipe held up with all the winter rains??...
We are wondering what to do now...polyprop or ag!!

From all the times it rained when I was watching (which were quite heavy at times) it coped quite well. If it did fill up and overflow from the drains, it just went into the garden or on the lawns. Quite happy with how it went. I think the key is just do a bit more than what you think is needed to get the result you want and it'll cope just fine.