Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Jan 11, 2010 7:35 am Well we have officially started our landscaping journey! Over the past weekend (which was H-O-T!!) DH, myself in small amounts ( ), our FANTASTIC neighbour (who we have only known for about 5 months) and some 'professionals' have prepared the site for turf. We hired a dingo guy (he was the only one who could fit through our narrow side (870mm) and he was fantastic! Loved a chat, but was cheap and got the job done. He first removed all the excess rubble from the front/backyards and cleared it. He then had us add in our gypsum, organic soil activator, the new organic soil/sandy loam mix we ordered from Soilworx (7m3 was PERFECT!), zeolite and Olsens Green Bio and he rotary hoed everything and then levelled it out for us. This took all day Saturday and everyone was buggered at the end of it. Poor DH had training in the morning and then had to come home and help too! Yesterday I had Paul from Just Water Savers come out and help me set out the grey water underturf dripline. This was FANTASTIC, I highly recommend Paul and the guys at justwatersavers.com.au - they really know their stuff! I got a home water bowser thingy which is like a big purple rubbish bin that is connected to my washing machine and then automatically uses my washing machine water to go through the dripline to the front/backyards and deliver water at the roots of my lawn and also to my gardenbeds. I also have the option of connecting a hose/sprinker to the wheelie bin and using the grey water through that too. My system was pimped up a bit due to me having mainly lawn - I got 2 seperate filters and a bigger and better pump, I also paid Paul to stay and help us set up the system (which was fairly quick) - the whole thing including over 400m of Netafirm dripline, the rubbish bin setup and Paul's time cost me around $1300 cash - money well spent in my opinion. I was going to be charged nearly $3000+ for a water tank which wouldn't have provided me with nearly as much water. The system for the time being has been layed on top of the site we prepared on Saturday - because the soil is mainly clay and also due to the extreme heat we are pretty sure the soil is going to sink/drop down a bit before the turf is layed next Saturday so we are waiting to see what happens first, but we will then be required to dig some little channels for the dripline to sit in and perhaps add a small amount of extra soil over the top as Paul recommended the dripline be about 5cm under soil. My mum was so impressed with the system as were all my neighbours, Mum is now getting the wheelie bin set up for our garden - she doesn't have turf. My neighbour has Paul coming out to his place too If the dirt etc was too clog the dripline (which is unlikely) there is a special flush out thing on the bin that allows you to connect a mains hose to this pump thing and it gives a quick high pressure flush through the entire dripline to clean it all out. The 2 filters last forever and only need cleaning once a month or so even less at times. So before the place looked like this: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ And now so far we have this: Insome of the photos the ground isn't exactly level/flat, as I mentioned before we are giving it a few days to settle before we bring in more soil/compactor/rake etc...the grass will be layed on Saturday so more pics then! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ And this is my water bowser set up: Scuse the location of the hole in my laundry role with the pipe - DH didn't measure correctly and we were a bit out but oh well Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The boys (DH and my neighbour) also got the front and side merbau fences stained and are hoping to paint our side fences in the coming weeks! My karma ran over your dogma Re: The journey begins.. 3Jan 11, 2010 8:05 am My goodness ! That looks sooo impressive bel congrats on doing the research & finding this great idea BTW, you've found gold in the form of your neighbour - that's just wonderful Built the Eden Brae Cambridge 34 Family with Boston Corner Facade Re: The journey begins.. 4Jan 11, 2010 8:10 am Thanks for posting that, Bel - especially the pics, I'm a visual person... We've been thinking of doing a similar thing for our garden beds, but I wasn't quite sure how it all went together. Now at least I have an idea. Grey water is definitely the way to go. Tanks are great, but pointless if you don't get any rain. The washing machien is ALWAYS going in my house though, and I bet yours is the same. Re: The journey begins.. 5Jan 11, 2010 8:13 am That's awesome!! You should be so proud of giving this a go yourselves, well done!! With the grey water system, do you know how much it would cost w/out Paul's assistance and how much garden area you have covered with it? Oh and I take it this is the company you told me about? '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: The journey begins.. 6Jan 11, 2010 8:18 am Thanks Sue and Southies I am just so thrilled all the dirt will soon be gone!! It is very impressive, all our neighbours were coming across to peek and were captivated! Paul was happy because it could be some potential new clients for him As for our neighbour - I honestly cannot say enough nice things about him, his wife and his little girl. They are just so nice. When DH was at training, 'B' showed up at 7:00am and was setting up everything, rolling out a tarp, removing fences, wheelbarrowing loads of soil....he was here both days (his only days off) from 7:00am - 6:00pm. This is the same neighbour who is building our deck for us - for FREE Of course he says he doesn't want anything but little does he know we have some great stuff for him up our sleeves He is a dead set legend ETA - Just saw your post Kek, yep we do atleast 2 loads a day - DH's training stuff just stinks if it isn't washed straight away, Paul worked out the figures and lets just say we are using a heap of grey water! The garden bed set up is great, would probably only cost around $600 for the entire setup maybe less, the water bowser/wheelie bin on its own is about $480 and then you would need the netafirm dripline (Paul and his company are working with netafirm to take their garden bed dripline to the USA - he said it has revolutionalised grey water use in Australia) I would give him a call, I did to begin with and he spent an hour on the phone just trying to work out the cheapest and best way to get grey water into my gardens. He is so not a salesman, just someone who is generally interested in gardens/greywater. Lisa - I hoped you would see this post! Yep this is the system I was telling you about. I think Paul charged me $150 for his time (was meant to be 3 hours, but due to our dingo guy running behind he ended up staying for 6 at no extra charge Our backyard area is 8m deep x 16m wide and our front yard area is about 5m deep x 10m wide (but a circular shape) all up it is about 160m2 - and we used 400m of dripline. If you ring up Paul he would cost it all up for you (no sales pressure either ) I would say about $500 for the wheelie bin set up and then maybe $200 or so in dripline - maybe $700? Not 100% though My karma ran over your dogma Re: The journey begins.. 7Jan 11, 2010 8:31 am Thanks for the info Bel....one more question: I assume there's a diverter switch of some kind so that if it's been raining heavily for days, you can have the washing machine water just go out through the usual waste system? I saw those purple bins at a local nursery a few monhts ago, and was really impressed by them.... Re: The journey begins.. 8Jan 11, 2010 8:39 am Yep In the picture of my laundry you can see the black and grey pipes next to my washing machine, I can simply un-hook those and put the water straight down my laundry troph as originally occured. Or I can turn the other systems valve things (techincal terms here ) to off and still collect the grey water but not use it directly on the lawns - although they do recommend not storing grey water for 24hrs + Ours is all automatic, so I do a wash and it automatically delivers water to my lawn, there is a little float in it at the bottom which automatically stops the system when there is no more water so that I don't burn out the pump/filter. I can also, however, hook up the hose/sprinkler to it and use the grey water that way and turn the dripline off. I will probably do this when establishing the lawns so I can hose the top as well to establish the root system. Alternatively I can also turn the front yards driplines off and only have the backyard going and vice versa or have them both going at once. Oh and the wheelie bin has a locked lid and key so no accidents with kids My karma ran over your dogma Re: The journey begins.. 10Jan 11, 2010 9:28 am Wow that is looking so good. Love how it's all laid out so neatly, ready to have the next step completed. I can Imagine it all lush and green so very soon. Congrats on taking this on. Re: The journey begins.. 11Jan 11, 2010 10:16 am Thanks Bel! As you know, that's the kind of setup I want to have but I also want to be able to connect a rain water tank to it all which should be easy enough. wow maybe only $200-$300 for the irrigation bit, that's awesome! So good to see it all done like that! '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: The journey begins.. 12Jan 11, 2010 10:25 am That is a great way of starting your landscaping Bel, and wow to get that many people to pitch in and give up their time is fantastic. I bet you will be glad to see the end of the sand. Re: The journey begins.. 13Jan 11, 2010 12:42 pm Thanks again everyone! I am SO thrilled it is all finally happening!! No probs Lisa - I'd give them a call and just ask to talk to Paul, he would be happy to talk to you about something to suit your needs. I know he said most people DIY, he offered to come out to us because a) we aren't that handy with technical things and b) he has a friend that lives near us apparently It was really easy enough to do, he had a nifty little hole puncher thing which he punched in the dripline every 30cm or so and you then just need an extra person to help unroll the rolls of dripline and clip them in. We also had garden beds one put in but they all connect to the one system. The filter cleaning and washing machine set up is pretty basic too so I think you would be fine to do it yourself Southies - I was nearly not going to do it because I thought it would be way too $$ but am glad we did. Paul did mention that alot of people get it done in existing lawns you just need a trencher thingy to dig out thin lines in the existing grass to put the drip line into. Our neighbour asked him to come and quote his yard and he said about $2200 to do it to his existing lawn with the complete wheelie bin set up.... My karma ran over your dogma Re: The journey begins.. 14Jan 11, 2010 1:08 pm Great setup haywgl, i have a gravity greywater system and it gives me heaps of water for lawn so i could only imagine pumping dripline will get you great results. As you noted, you will need to use the sprinklers/hand watering option when you lay the turf and for the following weeks till the roots shoot down. So store up the water! Did you go with EZ? Re: The journey begins.. 15Jan 11, 2010 1:21 pm Thanks BeatrixKiddo! I'm glad your setup is working well that gives me hope. Paul was pretty confident I would have the greenest grass in the street We couldn't get any EZ, the turf suppliers all said it would be available for another month or so and we really needed it to lay it now while my husband has weekends off so we had to go for our next best option which was Buffalo Palmetto, hoepfully it is just as good. TDL and Adrian B seem to have had good results with it Sorry Fu My karma ran over your dogma Re: The journey begins.. 16Jan 11, 2010 1:23 pm haywgl TDL and Adrian B seem to have had good results with it Sorry Fu I'm really happy with mine...must post latest photo... ...and even though I used evil brick edging (Fu... ) the edges are easy to control. mmm....donuts Homer Simpson 1956- Links: Site Costs Ready Reckoner | H1 Addiction Medical Advice | Château TDL: The Backyard Re: The journey begins.. 17Jan 11, 2010 1:41 pm You will have no probs with the palmetto. On the greywater, when hot, i may occasionally ask the wife to take a longer/extra shower than normal while i might water different parts of the garden... Re: The journey begins.. 18Jan 11, 2010 2:15 pm WOW Bel, that looks so impressive and such a great idea Looking forward to seeing the grass laid It is great when you have such kind neighbours around Re: The journey begins.. 19Jan 11, 2010 3:36 pm BeatrixKiddo You will have no probs with the palmetto. On the greywater, when hot, i may occasionally ask the wife to take a longer/extra shower than normal while i might water different parts of the garden... Hehehe I figure I'll be doing more than 1 or 2 loads of washing a week once I get my system up and running '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: The journey begins.. 20Jan 14, 2010 8:02 pm More work done in the past few days!! The driplines have been covered in soil and semi-levelled out in preperation for the turf, the compactor is booked for Saturday same day as the turf so it will be levelled out further then.... This is the basic area of lawn the timber around the edges is just to set out the garden beds where we will be planting some 'Pittos' Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The cubby spot with walkway which will also be decked - the kids are dying for this to go up! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ This area will be decked, it goes down the side of the house and will join up with the alfresco decking but probably a step down. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ My 'pittos' that I brought online. I thought they would be a bit bigger than this but doesn't matter they will grow Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Next pics should show a lovely green lawn! My karma ran over your dogma Any advice on how to ensure the kit home granny flat that im thinking of buying will get council approval. The kit home companys wont release plans without a deposit and… 0 7222 DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair Please help me to answer this question , it will help me a lot as i can go to buy confidently with your recommendation: I want to put synthetic turf in our backyard for… 0 5542 How long is a "long period"? For a few weeks, it should be ok. It also depends on the area you live in...I would let your neighbours know that you will be away too and… 1 28576 |