Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design Re: 1st Home Owner- Beginning Gardener 21Feb 22, 2011 9:10 pm Glad you only had to wait 30 mins!! Will look out for pics Re: 1st Home Owner- Beginning Gardener 22Feb 27, 2011 5:55 pm Hey guys, I uploaded all the photos https://picasaweb.google.com/1042921188 ... 7167622274 have a look! I gave decriptions and codes to all the garden sections... Made me realise just how much work there is to do! The garden has not been kept very well and we have to fix that. Please let me know any suggestions! Re: 1st Home Owner- Beginning Gardener 23Feb 28, 2011 8:41 pm It's too cold to type in my house at the mo, so will try to make this short (yeah right) Okay, so looks like you have the following distinct areas you want to work on: (1) The front area (G5-10) (2) The grass area, stretching from out the front of what looks like hardstanding and bed G1, through to the side fence bordering your neighbouring, where the existing paved area is (3) The existing paved area and the beds around it (G3 & 4) where the path is (4) Where the veg beds will be (5) Your mum's garden You want: Defined garden areas & beds Scented, practical plants Decking Clear Pathways Edible produce To sort your grass out A nice front garden Okay, I can make some comments and suggestions that you will hopefully find helpful. Remember though, this is your garden and it should mirror your personality and needs, not anyone elses. So, take what I say into consideration, along with everyone else who will reply (we like pics!), then use the info to design your own space First thing - don't dump all the tree branches and clippings etc. Hire a mulcher!! We did that with ours and got loads of mulch for our garden. Now got another pile of stuff that needs mulching, but will need to dry out for a while as there's vines in it. Front garden: You've said before that the front doesn't get much light but the back gets loads? I still don't know where you are btw and can't really suggest plants until I know, otherwise you’d only blame me when they died The front has existing gums, lots of paving & bricks and it slopes down towards the house (do you have an issue with water running down it? What drainage do you have to protect the house?). You want to keep the agaves there, but to be honest, if they don't get much light you could do with moving them out from under the gums. They'll do better elsewhere - don't look to be struggling right now though! Front gardens are generally the first thing visitors see when they come to your house. It's all about presentation and first impressions. You want this to have grasses and simply mulching it and adding grasses, sedges(e.g. lomandra species) and plants that will do well under gums (e.g. orchids) would keep the beds balanced and give you a good frontage. Perhaps the addition of a few nice looking rocks and some plants the look good drooping over them. I would suggest you relay the paving out front so you're less likely to trip on it if the gum roots are lifting it. Would solve the issue of the concreted in house blocks, but you can always plant around and in them to disguise them The Grass: For the bare patch, read Fu's turf thread (it's a sticky, so stays at the top of the landscaping forum) and don't worry with wiki. It's good for info, but too many cooks spoil the broth sometimes, or so they say. Don't spend too much money on your grass - Fu's tips will ensure you don't need to! For your drying green, if you do add paving around it, try to make sure it's porous to let the water through so it doesn't pool. I've pulled down clothelines in the past grabbing them when I've slipped on wet stone! Stepping stones and mulch will work and you can then plant around them. This would be a good use for the mondo grass. The existing paved area: You want decking and this would be the place to put it, you could even continue the decking by having a decked path. This would look great if the beds around it are heavily planted. You could even add a small water feature to attract wildlife. Would give you the feeling of seclusion and you could listen to your budgies chirping. As this area is overlooked, you could put up a trellis fence to block the neighbours view and grow your passionfruit up it (Nelly kelly do a grafted black passionfruit vine that is readily available from Bunnings etc and does well in the southern half of Australia - assuming that's where you are!). If this area gets lots of sun, I would use the existing birds of paradise and agaves in this area as part of the planting. Some agaves are frost tender and need full sun to thrive. You could even pot some up for use on the decking area. Plants look better when planted in small groups, usually of at least 3, so don't split the agaves up whatever you decide Your frangipani will fit in with that theme, seeing as it's a tropical plant. It will like full sun to be at it's best though and will need protection from frost (if you get those!) and hot winds. They also don't mind being pruned, so a good choice for around a patio area or near paths (the roots of the native frangipani aren't invasive - I don't know if this is what you have though) - you get the benefit of a beautiful plant without it taking over. Need to take care on the pruning though as they flower at the ends of the branches and these usually need to be a couple of years old. So, if you want lots of flowers, you need to prune some of the plant one year and some another I would use the treelopper mulch here too rather than gravel. It will keep them cool in summer and warm in winter. As always, there are numerous frangipani posts here, but you can find lots of info on google because they are so popular. The only reason to use gravel is if you need a hardwearing surface that doesn't need replacing often (a path) or it's for purely decorative purposes. Everything benefits from the treelopper mulch For the veg area: Is it north facing and getting lots of light? You'll need it with the trees around. If so, it will be grand. Raised beds will be needed because of the slope I would think, so good idea. Oh, try your hand at espalier for your fruit trees - the lemon especially. You'll be able to fit more in,they'll get more light to them producing more fruit on smaller plants and this will help cover up your fence There's a few threads on this, so have a search. As for the Jacaranda, do you not like them, or is it casting too much shade? Most people on here are keen to have it, but I don't really know anything about them - other than that they're pretty! Though, if you've pruned it that much (looking at pic 15 there can't be much left!!), it's not going to survive anyway By plants that are good for mosquitos, I presume you mean ones that they don't like? There are many that are claimed to be good, but whether or not they work are all a matter of opinion. There have been threads on this before and you can also check out http://www.parracity.nsw.gov.au/live/my_home/plants_and_animals/mosquitos, which provides the most useful information I've come across on mosquitoes. I refer to it often as we're infested with them here! Hmm, what else…? Thin strip down the side of the drive - gravel & sedges or mondo grass is pretty much all I can suggest. You could plant some orchids here or wahlenbergias depending on the light & moisture levels etc. You can spray the ferns with roundup or zero if you want to kill them off, but as they're coming through from the neighbours, better to dig them out. Pic 22 - that looks like a coprosma repens on the left (mirrorbush) tricky to dig out and will keep coming back if you just cut it down. You may need to drill & fill (i.e. drill some holes in the trunk and inject with zero or roundup). May take several treatments, so you'll probably want to dig it out. We've got some that keep regrowing and are being dug out now. They produce berries which are very tasty to birds and you'll find seedlings popping up everywhere! Re: The tall spindly plants - they look like dragon trees that grew tall and spindly. They're not something you can grow against a wall & staking is not always the option (plants need to be able to move around in the breeze to get strong). You can twist them into interesting patterns if you'd gotten them young enough though. And er, that's the height of my knowledge (not even sure that's what they are!) To give you specific info re: plants, it would help to know where you are (unless I missed that somewhere...?) and what aspect each of the areas in the photos are (i.e. north, south, whatever). You could add this info to the comments on your pics if it's easier? Also, I'm going to be doing a thread soon on our own existing garden areas which are about to be planted up. We've been planning these for quite a while, so have done lots of looking into native Australian plants and, in particular, those indigenous to where I live in the Dandenong Ranges. Anyway, there might be some info in there that you might find useful. It will likely be a couple of days yet though as I'm wrestling a toddler and baby on my own this week! My hands have frozen into claws Re: 1st Home Owner- Beginning Gardener 24Mar 01, 2011 12:58 pm Kerry, Thank you so much for your Reply! I love the ideas you have given me and I have printed off the email =) the back of my house faces east. with the front facing west. The jacaranda was ok... but was getting too big and was causing that area of the garden to be unaccessible and useless. Im on the Central Coast of NSW =) I love the idea of screens with Passionfruit growing up them! Beautiful =) And mondo grass along the side of the garden sounds great! I will look at the lawn tips! We do have an issue at the front with water... the driveway is completely covered in moss... there is a drain at the garage door and we have never has any water go pass this but sometimes the water travels right down the side of the house and pools out near the front door =( Love the idea about the drying green, will do a section that has small tiles and either pebbles or grass in between. Love the visualisation of the deck... Sounds beautiful, if we could raise it up a little, we wouldnt have to worry about tree roots lifting it up. we have a jacaranda on the other side of the house thats staying =) Re: 1st Home Owner- Beginning Gardener 25Mar 01, 2011 3:23 pm Quote: Im on the Central Coast of NSW =) Does that mean you don't normally get frosts or excessive humidity, but do get cool winter temps? That would mean that the Jacaranda would probably have shaded the area of the planned veggie garden if you hadn't decided to take it down (not sure how close they are from the pics). The hardstanding where the bins are will get some shade at the hottest part of the day and the existing patio area, where we're talking about decking, would get full sun - unless there's a tree providing shade (the palms would be at the wrong side I think). From the moss on the drive comment, you obviously don't get too much light at the front - I would definitely move those agaves. Once my girls go to bed, I will have a think of possible plants that fit your 'theme' for front and back. Might be able to come up with some veggies you could grow over winter too - there won't be many probably Re: 1st Home Owner- Beginning Gardener 26Mar 03, 2011 8:16 pm Thank you Kerry F =) I dont think I will have the veggie garden ready until coming into summer... The way my life is going right now I will be lucky to survive until summer lol... one bad thing keeps happening after another... - step son had croup last night and I spent the entire night/day in hospital... on a day that I should have been staying home to study for a test I have tomorrow... yay! But getting those beds organised and the areas tidied up is my main effort right now..... Cant even think about gardening stuff atm... I have had about 3 hours sleep so far and have to get up early for my test tomorrow... Re: 1st Home Owner- Beginning Gardener 27Mar 03, 2011 10:10 pm Hi I've really enjoyed reading this post and seeing your photos Your garden has a lovely tropical, secluded feeling to it which is great, even if you want to tidy it up quite a bit. Compared to the grey sand pit we have you're doing well You can always tie in the pebble/tropical theme using stone statues/wall hangings etc, rather than having them in the garden ~*~Moved in on the 16th April 2011~*~ Re: 1st Home Owner- Beginning Gardener 28Mar 06, 2011 7:34 pm Hey guys! So I did a bit of gardening work today!! Ive uploaded pictures - https://picasaweb.google.com/1042921188 ... 58/GArden# I started my little Bali Garden and did G1 up properly! I love how it looks! Im probably going to move those agaves again to the front of the house and put down some red decorative grass or something but for now they can stay there. I was moving the mulch in the back little garden bit and realised that the rock wall at the back was being completely covered by mulch!!! So I used that for G1 and am waiting till i do G3 before I move the rest! I have also found to my horror a lot of Curl Grubs!! Right where I want to put my veggie garden! And im hoping to grow grass in that area too! So next weekend im going to load up on some pesticides and nuke the f****s I began my little bali garden! That was a bit harden than i thought... G4 has a big shrub thing that I had to remove... and that thing was dense! I had to sit there for an hour and dig underneath it... cutting all the roots until I evenually got it out. I re-planted the 2 frangipani's and gave them a little circle of mulch each and a big soaking. I will get a little buddah to sit on the stump thing there and line it all with pebbles (keeping a circle around the base of the trees for mulch) So that was my adventures this weekend! Next weekend im going to remove some of the leaf and twig piles that i have... and then attack G3 - because we are getting the buddies in 2 weeks and I want it nice and clear for them =) Happy Gardening =) Re: 1st Home Owner- Beginning Gardener 29Mar 07, 2011 1:28 pm Wow on the pesticides!!! Hope I wasn't too late in saying that, but you should be really, really wary of using chemical pesticides. Check this link out instead as it has some good suggestions for dealing with them. Note the molasses popping up again http://www.sgaonline.org.au/?p=116 I have come across the ocassional scarab beetle larvae lately when clearing areas that had everlasting daisies. They all had 6 legs so were removed and chucked in the garden bin. The area was then heavily watered with a combination of molasses, seasol and water, with a few drops of Earth Choice dishwashing liquid. Earth Choice is the detergent I always use and it has no phosphorus at all. Remove the grass thats in the beds your frangipanis are now in and mulch that whole bed to 10cm deep, keeping the mulch away from the stems. I know you want pebbles in there eventually, but it's more important to improve the soil for the moment, so good fresh mulch to break down now and then you can put pebbles on top if you still want them. Didn't get a chance to look up plants for you, but you can try having a look at this site and get some suggestions for yourself: http://plantthis.com/plant-selector.asp Keep going and make sure you read through the posts from Fu Manchu on turf preparation and the growing vegetables for beginners thread. PS - hope your stepson is feeling a lot better. My little girl had croup last year when I was pregnant with her baby sister and she wasn't well at all! Re: 1st Home Owner- Beginning Gardener 30Mar 08, 2011 6:00 pm Hey, Havent done anything about the pests yet... am waiting for the weekend. I had a look at your link and will make sure I check out some organic ways of killing them off.. Re: 1st Home Owner- Beginning Gardener 32Mar 09, 2011 11:57 pm A sterile soil and garden will make for a bloody big headache and high maintenance as well as opportunity for other imbalances to occur. All normal with any garden. Hopefully it was natural fresh tree lopper mulch, the most fertiliserwise and waterwise mulch available (also the cheapest). 10cm is an ideal thickness and yes that goes against what many may have heard from even well known Horticultural personalities. WA studies have shown that 10cm is the ideal workable and effective layer of mulch. That is irrelevant of soil type by the way. Re: 1st Home Owner- Beginning Gardener 33Mar 09, 2011 11:58 pm Little circles of mulch will have very little effect on the plant or soil health. An area of 1m around is ideal to a thickness of 10cm Re: 1st Home Owner- Beginning Gardener 34Mar 10, 2011 12:00 am The leaf and twig piles should go straight back onto the garden. return all that organic material back to your soil. Don't throw away such an important commodity for your soil Hi there, We’ve recently had plans approved to add a 1st storey addition to our existing house for a growing family in Sydney. With the current cost of building… 0 4297 Hi VK, Think it's worth investing time in an Owner Builder course to equip you with basic knowledge on Australian Building Industry and its regulations. Also, I suggest… 11 23054 |