Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Dec 08, 2011 2:12 pm Hi, Thank you for your time in reading my post and for any assistance you may provide. I want to create a small native garden in our front yard in the North Lakes region. It is a small front yard, so the actual garden is only 3 x 2.5 metres, which takes up most our available land (except for pathways, driveway etc - not including the council property) The garden is sort D shaped using 100mm garden edging wood. The flat part of the D is closest to the house – see attached images. Soil type: It is a new house, so the soil is barren looking clay (no ph test conducted yet) – I have downloaded a lot of information about preparing clay, so will begin to dig in compost add mulch etc soon – I would like to attract frogs, so not so sure about gypsum or other products. One thought I did have about this digging is that potentially, I may create a large pool of undrained water under my added soil (I don’t want to create a sleeper height raised bed though). The property does drop from left to right at least 10 cm across the front, so drainage issues could be lessened with some thought. We are approx 100 metre away from a creek, but at least 10-20 metres or more above it. Choice: I guess, I am wondering what sort of native shrubs will grow well in this clay soil that is specific to the north lakes area. I am looking for an attractive (non crowded) garden with the following: Types of plants: • Native Bird attracting plants • Native Frog attracting plants • Exotics/cacti – non spikey Placement:• Considered placement of the plants – similar to aquariums – small at front, larger at rear. – actually, I have no idea if this would look right and your advice would be appreciated. Size: • Ground covers • Small shrubs 50cm-1m • Medium shrubs up 3m max Also, I would like to put a plant in spot where it appears the water mains pipe may reside underneath/nearby – I wanted to put a 1-1.5 metre shrub there. This seems like a stupid question, but is there any plants that could be put into this region without causing major issues? – I am not looking for a yes/no answer here, but others’ experiences would help me decide whether I should or not. I look forward to your advice/discussion. I don’t have any images with the new edging there, but can supply tomorrow or early next week. I hope you enjoy the rest of your week, Regards Alf Built Hallmark Home in SE Queensland - modified Flair 181 - no A/C: n/e orientation - 9 foot ceilings - copius insulation - loads of windows - fresh breeze - home... Re: Native Garden design query - clay soil North lakes SE/QL 2Dec 08, 2011 2:24 pm Hi all, stillworking on getting the photos online. Regards alf Built Hallmark Home in SE Queensland - modified Flair 181 - no A/C: n/e orientation - 9 foot ceilings - copius insulation - loads of windows - fresh breeze - home... Re: Native Garden design query - clay soil North lakes SE/QL 3Dec 08, 2011 2:29 pm http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc429/alfabeet2011/frontofhousephotforgarden.jpg http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc429/alfabeet2011/landscapeatfrontcopy.jpg Built Hallmark Home in SE Queensland - modified Flair 181 - no A/C: n/e orientation - 9 foot ceilings - copius insulation - loads of windows - fresh breeze - home... Re: Native Garden design query - clay soil North lakes SE/QL 4Dec 08, 2011 2:33 pm HI all, not sure how to make the pickies visible online, but the links to the images in the above post work. Regards Alf... Built Hallmark Home in SE Queensland - modified Flair 181 - no A/C: n/e orientation - 9 foot ceilings - copius insulation - loads of windows - fresh breeze - home... Re: Native Garden design query - clay soil North lakes SE/QL 5Dec 09, 2011 9:37 pm My suggestion Alf is to look at the native vegetation in the local area. get a list of native plant names from the council maybe as well I went outside once. The graphics were alright, but the gameplay sucked! Settlement:22nd June Slab:27th August Frame:16th Sept Bricked:21st Oct Roof:24th Nov Linings HANDOVER23rd March! Re: Native Garden design query - clay soil North lakes SE/QL 6Dec 10, 2011 2:59 pm You need a canopy. You need low shrubs and you need grasses. Do a search on frog ponds because I have posted a fair bit on them. Many frogs will sit in shrubs rather than in water. They need protection. They need height. Also have a marshy section to the pond. That allows smaller toadlets and very small frog species to have a home. Your soil, is fairly easy. Lots of zeolite. Orgainic composts. Gypsum is fine but is only effective in a limited number of clay types. It is also very slow to act and will take around 3-4 years to have much effect. Dolomite of lime maybe a better option if you seek the quick short term fix in a bag. The great part will be the composts you add. They will have an ability to break clay better than anything. The little critters in it will do so much work for you. They willbe by far you best investment. Have a look for the local reveg nurseries near you. Maybe enquire with the wildflower society near you. Re: Native Garden design query - clay soil North lakes SE/QL 7Dec 11, 2011 8:50 pm Hi if you are looking for something online have a look at this place: http://www.yuruga.com.au/stock-lists/ http://www.yuruga.com.au/yuruga-info-sheets/ If the plant you are interested in does not have a pic just copy n paste the name into google images Re: Native Garden design query - clay soil North lakes SE/QL 8Dec 19, 2011 2:09 pm hi all, Thanks for your responses... I wan't aware that anyone had responded to my post, for some reason, I don't get notifications anymore (will check my details/spam inbox). I tested the drainage during the week, and it took about 48 hours for the pool of water to disperse. I figured that if I dug into the soil, I would create a pool and that this pooling would drown most plants I wanted. I didn't know what to do really, so over the weekend, I bought some garden soil and dumped it over the clay... WIth the garden edging, it is between 10 and 20cm deep mound, not too deep but it will drain well i guessed. I will look for plants that grow well in clay, but are not to water hungry. Thanks again, Regards Alf. Built Hallmark Home in SE Queensland - modified Flair 181 - no A/C: n/e orientation - 9 foot ceilings - copius insulation - loads of windows - fresh breeze - home... Re: Native Garden design query - clay soil North lakes SE/QL 9Dec 19, 2011 3:44 pm Hi all, I am having second thoughts...my yard has looked crap for so long, I just wanted a change out there... If anyone has tackled the clay pool problem before, please let me know... I am willing to shift the layer of soil I put down over the weekend to do it properly. If I was to eliminate the pooling problem, what would you suggest? - How far should i dig? - How could i create drainage - ag pipe or rock drain The issue I have with drainage is that any ag pipe or chanels would have to go onto the council property, towards the road. While I am sure this would be ok, the opening would probably look not so good in the front yard. - how could i make this less conspicuous, while still functional? Any assistance would be appreciated... Regards Chris... Built Hallmark Home in SE Queensland - modified Flair 181 - no A/C: n/e orientation - 9 foot ceilings - copius insulation - loads of windows - fresh breeze - home... Fig Landscapes has produced an e-book and native plant index, available for purchase from their website. It's a great resource, full of inspiration and tips. Another… 1 12172 We used a smaller qld builder who went bankrupt about 12 months after completion of ours. It was a shame as they were good and relatively cheap and I would have used… 3 4618 I've dug some footings to embed a post anchor into. My holes are around 450mm deep which I'll put a 200mm stirrup into. The bottom of these holes seem firm enough. … 0 3294 |