Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Mar 16, 2011 6:38 pm Our Build - Places Fairhaven 23+ - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=28045 Our Landscaping - Belial's Backyard - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=45375 Re: Belial's Backyard - Turning black thumbs green 2Mar 16, 2011 6:50 pm Our Build - Places Fairhaven 23+ - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=28045 Our Landscaping - Belial's Backyard - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=45375 Re: Belial's Backyard - Turning black thumbs green 3Mar 16, 2011 7:10 pm Our Build - Places Fairhaven 23+ - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=28045 Our Landscaping - Belial's Backyard - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=45375 Re: Belial's Backyard - Turning black thumbs green 4Mar 18, 2011 8:33 am Just wanted to say that I've loved following your progress and looking through the entire gallery of photos you've posted in the various threads Belial It's really great to see a project right from the very (bare) beginnings to the lovely green tapestry it's becoming. Keep up the good work - both in the garden and in your posts!! I don't know enough about irrigation using pipes etc as yet to answer your question (there's not been much need for them where I'm from in Scotland!), but how will you flush the ag pipe through in event of a blockage or replace it if it's under the roots of the tree? I would think the tree would only need the additional water whilst establishing and heavy mulching of the bed around the tree would help to keep the water in the soil. If you're planting an Aussie native, then it might not need any additional water once established at all. Depending on what it is of course - some rainforest trees may need additional water once established. Our ornamental cherry is in a very free draining raised area to the side of the drive and needs no supplemental watering, but I don't know how long it's been there as it was planted by the previous owners. I've heard some good things about reservoir irrigation systems when watering small areas, like garden beds. It's like an extension to the plastic bottle method, whereby the reservoirs are buried at the correct depth for the type of plants being irrigated (say, 60cm for a tree and about 60cm away from the trunk and are buried before the tree is put in place) and then they provide water directly where needed. This means less water is used, you're less likely to over water a plant that is a bit sensitive to having wet roots and you can fill the reservoirs by hand. Though, that is the extent of my very poor knowledge on the subject!! Re: Belial's Backyard - Turning black thumbs green 5Mar 18, 2011 10:07 am Good Job Belial...loving the progress pictures. Re: Belial's Backyard - Turning black thumbs green 6Mar 22, 2011 1:56 pm +1 - you must be very happy with your work so far - well done I love Japanese Maple - that will look pretty and I don't think they grow too big. Kangaroo Paws are great - love them too! For info on our build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=43093 Built the McLaren by Dechellis - slab down 22 Feb - handover 30 Aug 2011 - and gardens finished 9 Dec 2012!! Re: Belial's Backyard - Turning black thumbs green 7Mar 22, 2011 1:57 pm Oh - and welcome to the "Green Thumb" club!! For info on our build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=43093 Built the McLaren by Dechellis - slab down 22 Feb - handover 30 Aug 2011 - and gardens finished 9 Dec 2012!! Re: Belial's Backyard - Turning black thumbs green 8Mar 22, 2011 4:18 pm Thanks Mclaren, might get some pics up of the latest work tonight which is the beginnings of our side gate now that we finally have a side fence. Oh how we enjoyed digging 3 700mm holes through roller compacted clay, with a post hole shovel. Still could be worse, hopefully we'll get the posts in tonight. Our Build - Places Fairhaven 23+ - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=28045 Our Landscaping - Belial's Backyard - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=45375 Re: Belial's Backyard - Turning black thumbs green 9Mar 23, 2011 6:46 am Next job now that we finally have a fence is to get a gate sorted so we can actually have some level of security in our backyard rather than people just being able to wander in. So first up digging post holes, the post hole shovel got us there in the end just quite a bit of effort to get down 700mm through the compacted clay, took about 2 1/2 hours to get all 3 complete. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 20110320-IMG_0630 by Belial669, on Flickr Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 20110320-IMG_0631 by Belial669, on Flickr We settled on three posts rather than joining directly to the fence, the final gates will either be a wide single or two slim doubles, which we're still working out. As such we'd prefer not to have the wait potentially hanging off the centre of the fence. Posts cut to length with caps cut. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 20110322-IMG_0683 by Belial669, on Flickr As we've used cypress posts to match those used by our fencer we also took his advice to seal the underground sections of the posts to try to stave off rot for longer. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 20110322-IMG_0687 by Belial669, on Flickr And just a couple of pics of the posts in, was too busy with the level and the rapid set to get any action shots. That and it may have been getting dark by the time we were done Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 20110322-IMG_0689 by Belial669, on Flickr Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 20110322-IMG_0688 by Belial669, on Flickr We'll probably end up with some sort of paling to fill across to the house as we decided to stay well away from the termite treatment at the base of the wall. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 20110322-IMG_0690 by Belial669, on Flickr Our Build - Places Fairhaven 23+ - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=28045 Our Landscaping - Belial's Backyard - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=45375 Re: Belial's Backyard - Turning black thumbs green 10Mar 31, 2011 12:55 pm Looking great.. gardening is hard work but you are doing so many right things from the start its looking great - cannot wait to see your finished product... Re: Belial's Backyard - Turning black thumbs green 11Mar 31, 2011 1:07 pm Lot927 Looking great.. gardening is hard work but you are doing so many right things from the start its looking great - cannot wait to see your finished product... Thanks cass, we've stalled a bit in the last few days, spent the weekend finalising the gate design, getting the steel and cutting. However unfortunately found that my skill in the welding dept is clearly lacking, my father has come to our rescue with the donation of his skills but his time is very limited at the moment so in the mean time, its a good thing i have a fair chunk of scrap to destroy in my path to enlightenment. That or take the monetary plunge on a mig which should do the job a whole lot easier. 2mm rods on 1.6mm steel is doing my head in. Our Build - Places Fairhaven 23+ - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=28045 Our Landscaping - Belial's Backyard - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=45375 Re: Belial's Backyard - Turning black thumbs green 12Apr 04, 2011 7:36 am So we haven't been completely idle over the weekend (though it would have been nice to be ) As I may have previously mentioned we were looking at a Japanese Maple for our front feature tree to go in the redgum box. So bright and early saturday morning we headed up to ferny creek to Connifer gardens nursery, they have the largest collection of japanese maples i've seen anywhere and well we have been looking . So we ended up with a Acer Palmatum 'Osakazuki' Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 20110402-IMG_0699 by Belial669, on Flickr Chosen for a number of reasons, most notably it changes from greens through to vibrant red before it looses its leaves in autumn, so we should be seeing that soon. Already the top has started to change. So newly armed with a tree, mulch Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 20110402-IMG_0696 by Belial669, on Flickr And some more 'organic' soil - which for the purposes of this is not the venerated 'certified' kind, but is the kind we can actually get delivered without the delivery exceeding the cost of the soil. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 20110402-IMG_0695 by Belial669, on Flickr Look ma I dug a hole but seriously, the hole isn't too large at that stage as it had been backfilled over the ag pipe, we've added it after looking at a few sources as a better method of getting water to the root system as well as it should attract the roots down. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 20110402-IMG_0701 by Belial669, on Flickr The tree in, no progress shots in between as it was such a pita to get out of the pot. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 20110402-IMG_0702 by Belial669, on Flickr The rest of the soil spread into the box and leveled. We're not sure if we'll add border plants but we've added the soil so we can. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 20110402-IMG_0706 by Belial669, on Flickr The tree mulch in the box, unfortunately this time it was a bit older and not quite so fresh as the last, still beats black chipbark. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 20110402-IMG_0709 by Belial669, on Flickr And just a final shot in its splendor Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 20110402-IMG_0715 by Belial669, on Flickr We're thinking about staking it higher up, as the wind has been blowing the top around quite worringly, and maybe we can get it to go a bit straighter. More updates will follow as the projects get completed, gates are underway as is the espalier orange tree. Our Build - Places Fairhaven 23+ - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=28045 Our Landscaping - Belial's Backyard - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=45375 Re: Belial's Backyard - We finally chose a tree. 13Apr 08, 2011 12:41 am Re: Belial's Backyard - We finally chose a tree. 14Apr 08, 2011 12:49 am The tree needs to be able to fall around a bit. Not too much but enough for the trunk to be able to thicken up and hold its own weight. The staking like that is a safety net of sorts. You will be lowering its centre of gravity and the whole thing will look better and be stronger. Might look a little odd just now but will look sensational in years to come Staking a tree is not a very advisable practice. One of this countries best arborists advises very much against staking. Unfortunately the growing style of nurseries doesn't lend it self to that. They grow to fit into garden centres with all them against each other and to be tall and impressive. Not strong. If you stake as planned, the tree will have a poor root system, be prone to problems, need more water, be prone to damage and falling over in time to come. By cutting as shown the tree will grow out a little wider and that is a characteristic that will look sensational on that specimen and in the yard. It will still grow higher over the years, no fear there. Should give it its best chance Re: Belial's Backyard - We finally chose a tree. 15Apr 08, 2011 2:11 pm Looks great! Beautiful colours - looks like it's meant to be there. Thanks Fu for your tips - most educational!! For info on our build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=43093 Built the McLaren by Dechellis - slab down 22 Feb - handover 30 Aug 2011 - and gardens finished 9 Dec 2012!! Re: Belial's Backyard - We finally chose a tree. 16Apr 08, 2011 3:18 pm Wow, it's looking so good!! 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: Belial's Backyard - We finally chose a tree. 17Apr 08, 2011 4:02 pm will be such a pretty tree! all the hard work is certainly paying off Harrisdale backyard finally done! Re: Belial's Backyard - We finally chose a tree. 18Apr 08, 2011 4:24 pm Anyone in Perth or Gero attempting to grow one of these is kidding themselves. Re: Belial's Backyard - We finally chose a tree. 19Apr 08, 2011 8:50 pm ours doesn't look too happy even down here. We bought the same one I think. Will see how it goes after this winter. Re: Belial's Backyard - We finally chose a tree. 20Apr 08, 2011 9:59 pm I have an mature acer in full sun too, 40 degrees and wind, Fail.... We nearly got through this year but our one hot windy day cooked it. Probably 30% golden crunchy leaves. thanks chippy! here is the back of the wall which has not been backfilled yet. Here is the same back of the wall taken from the other end, behind the steps. As you… 5 1387 It's possible but a soak well is usually much larger. Your 'soak well' only holds 424 litres when full. What is your soil type? Soak wells need sandy soils. 10 9452 Need advice on the backyard plan above. Should I excavate and cut all of the dirt to level with the house slab or semi-excavate as per photo above? Both left and right… 0 25384 |