Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Nov 06, 2012 10:11 pm Hi Everyone,
We have finished our house and about to do the Landscaping. We get a Landscaping package and looking at our neighbour's yards, i am worried!! Their grass looks awful. We have been researching Fu's soil prep and we are tight on money at the moment so was wandering how much it might cost to do the prep? I have calculated we have 100m2 of sandy front yard but i only wanted 80m2 of grass and the rest will be garden beds and gravel. Do we need to do the soil prep for the whole 100m2 or just the grassed area's? We've organised a rotary hoe and compactor so if anyone has any estimates on the following items and the amount i would need it would be appreciated - certified organic soil (Anyone have recommendations on where to get?) - Spongolite & Zeolite - Olsens green bio - Powerfeed Just a few photos of our build: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ EDIT: We are garden novices. So i apologize in advanced for being so nieve with everything gardening Re: Just finished building a house.. about to Landscape *pic 2Nov 07, 2012 8:21 am advice on where to buy is a bit tricky as you haven't said where you are. I'm guessing you might be Perth given the sandy soil and build in double brick by the looks of it. ??? Do you have to have your front yard done by a set date? If so you could just do part of it with the soil improving stuff. ( lawn area) and add soil improver in and around any plants rather than the entire rest of the garden. Not the best solution but if that's what you have to do. Well worth improving the soil and rotatory hoeing through before putting in lawn though. Don't be fooled into adding a surface layer and not mixing it through. If not save for a while. Adding the soil improvements as suggested by fu will make a brilliant difference to your garden areas and not just your lawn. You also need to consider the best lawn to use. This will depend on your climate so once again your location would help. facing east, west, north, south etc, shade... Are you planning on using plugs? or laying rolls? Using plugs or making your own from some lawn rolls could save you heaps. Of course it will take longer for full coverage. What lawn do you want? how the landscape package is spent or do you have to use a designated person and their choice of lawn etc? Does it include reticulation? If so make sure you check out the retic threads by Fu as well so you don;t end up with something that doesn't do the job and needs to be ripped up later. Re: Just finished building a house.. about to Landscape *pic 3Nov 07, 2012 10:24 am Op's sorry for some reason i thought this was a Perth forum because i've been reading so many W.A threads We have built in Baldivis W.A The landscapers have said that they have to finish the frontyard before they get paid. So I will at the least need to plant some small plants in the garden bed area's. The lawn will have to be finished so will have to be laid and retic needs to be done. I'll definitely check out those retic threads!! thanks i didn't think of that. We don't get to choose our lawn everyone gets the same. The landscapers even said that the estate has been stingy in regards to Landscaping. Also neighbours have said that the Landscapers are a bit sly. So i suppose all i can really do is make sure we prep the soil well and read up on the retic. Any idea on the cost of soil prep for the whole 100m2? Quote: Don't be fooled into adding a surface layer and not mixing it through. we have a rotary hoe all sorted Also does anyone have advice on how much to level the frontyard? We have been having trouble with installing soakwells. 4 weeks of problems! but hoping they will all be done by the end of the week so next step is to level the sand and compact. We would need to account for the organic soil and additives and then the grass. So how far down from the curb do we need to go? I'm sorry if this doesn't make sense we have no idea what to do and not getting much info from anyone.. which is why i am here Just finished building a house.. about to Landscape *pics 4Nov 07, 2012 1:40 pm I would still demand to know what lawn they are putting in and if its not a good one offer to pay extra. Or insist they don't lay it. We spent more than 1k on soil improver. I'm on my phone so don't have access to details. We did a 100 m2 lawn patch at the front here in donnybrook. We added zeolite. And spongelike. And used a rotary how to mix it through. Ours wasn't exactly what fu recommended but being down here was the closest we could get. I think we used about 6 cubic m. ( bit of a wild guess) ill check when I get home. It was delivered in around the may/ June of 2010. But we didn't lay lawn for a few months. If you want have a look through my blogspot old posts or threads in the links below for info. As it might have the amounts. There Just finished building a house.. about to Landscape *pics 5Nov 07, 2012 1:41 pm Well and truly over $1000. For soil prep though. Just finished building a house.. about to Landscape *pics 6Nov 07, 2012 2:23 pm Lawn went down oct 2010 http://wherethehearthis.blogspot.com.au ... results=35 organic soil arrived April 9 10 m2. http://wherethehearthis.blogspot.com.au ... date=false Re: Just finished building a house.. about to Landscape *pic 7Nov 07, 2012 7:10 pm Thanks for the links to your build! They are very helpful hmm i found the conditions and guidelines we signed We MUST provide: - Wintergreen roll on turf *sigh* - irrigation system is only allowed to be provided by the seller's landscaper. Consist of a six station controller fixed to wall, pop-up sprinkler heads, below ground pipe work. I don't understand why they make a restriction of ONLY allowing to have wintergreen????? I've read one thread on wintergreen and it sounds absolutely awful and would seem like such a waste to spend so much money on soil prep. My partner recently lost his job because of lack of work and we are absolutely crushed at the amount of money we still have to pay and instead all of our savings going to surviving bills. We left A LOT of things for us to do after hand over and had all the money saved! do you think maybe it's an idea to wait till we can afford better grass and do the proper soil prep then. I wander if the seller would notice us ripping up the wintergreen and putting a better turf down Also apparently the landscaper said our estate is the most stingiest he has worked for I looked up online and in 2009 everyone here got $5000 for landscaping and on our contract there is no amount stated! It must be that bad... EDIT* I just read about cutting 100mmx100mm squares of Sir Walter and placing 1m around the couch and mowing it high to smother the couch. So do you have to mow the Sir Walter high and then go around the squares and mow the couch low?? I'm thinking this may be a good idea! Just finished building a house.. about to Landscape *pics 8Nov 07, 2012 7:50 pm On my phone again. I would be wondering exactly what piping the landscaper is going to use and which brand of popups. Mp rotors are considered pretty water wise. They take longer to water an area but water better and if they need repairs the parts are easiler to get or to replace with alternative parts( fu'swords). Will the landscaper even care if you buy something else.? Who's going to care. And if you buy who wants to buy twice. Though at least you can grow it over with something better later I guess. Re: Just finished building a house.. about to Landscape *pic 9Nov 08, 2012 10:28 am I'll have to find out everything when we have a meeting with the landscaper. We had him booked a week ago but he said he couldn't come out because he saw our yard wasn't levelled and everything i suppose it gives me more time to get more informed. I was walking my dog this morning and noticed someone had a buffalo grass down. So i guess we don't have to have wintergreen! I wander how much the landscapers charge to upgrade Re: Just finished building a house.. about to Landscape *pic 10Nov 11, 2012 9:58 pm We have to have the frontyard ready and leveled before the landscaper comes to have a meeting. So just wanted to know a few things before. I'm really worried about the frontyard based on what the neighbours have said.. have calculated he must be charging $18-$20 a m2 to lay Wintergreen. Quote: base on the conversation.. you already have your designer Not sure what you mean about a designer? Here's my idea of what i want. Note it's very rough because i don't know anything about gardening but it shows the type of "area's" i wanted. Grassed, not grassed (pavers or gravel depending on prices), mulched/plant areas. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I've visited a few nurseries and so far i want a flowering plum as the feature tree & 3 magnolia little gems along the driveway. We've got the frontyard booked to be leveled tomorrow so fingers crossed everything will start flowing and i'll definitely update with pics... i should have made a building thread i have that many photos of every step! haha Re: Just finished building a house.. about to Landscape *pic 11Nov 12, 2012 5:31 pm Quote: it's kinda expensive landscape Really? We are buying all the tree's, plants and soil prep. So was hoping the gravel, mulch and grass would be covered in the landscape package which based on the neighbours is around $2500 after tax. Anyway i'm going to draw up a proper plan that is to scale before the Landscaper comes to have a look and fingers crossed we'll get away with something nice. I studied design so i guess i could figure out something within a budget. Re: Just finished building a house.. about to Landscape *pic 12Nov 16, 2012 1:11 pm Ok Thanks i'll have a look at his design.
I'm not worried about the price of the plants. Only ones i have decided on are 3 little gems and a flowering plum. Flowering plum= $70 and the little gems depending where i get and size weren't too bad. I saw small 5L ones for $20. Then the other plants will just be small ground plants $5-$10 each. I'm concerned about the price of the grass and labour. That is why i cut out so much in my design and am putting a big section of mulched area's and gravel areas that we will provide. The neighbours have just grass and the tiniest little plants in small mulched area's and their yards have cost so much to what i would expect for the cheapest lawn to be layed. Still waiting on contact from the Landscaper Hopefully can get the ball rolling and I'll pop up pics of the progress. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ This is just another representation of what i wanted. Of course the tree's wont be that big and the hedge is just a representation of plants... was just easier to draw a hedge >.< Re: Just finished building a house.. about to Landscape *pic 13Nov 16, 2012 2:52 pm What program did you use for the illustrations in your last post? I like the feature tree. I love ornamental pear trees. Build thread : /viewtopic.php?f=31&t=60288 Re: Just finished building a house.. about to Landscape *pic 14Nov 16, 2012 4:40 pm Nomie, I used Google Sketchup. I think it's free to download as a trial. I learnt to use it at Tafe and Uni for interior design but it's just something basic to quickly draw up 3D. It can be a pain in your bottom sometimes if you don't know how to use it and drawing up more complicated things.
here's a couple more views. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Just finished building a house.. about to Landscape *pics 16Dec 05, 2012 10:23 pm Looking good What garden edging are you going to use ? Building again . . with Redink Pre-start 04/12 Keys - 03/13 Finishing off. . . Painting/Floor Tiles/Carpet - 04/13 Walk In Robe/Lighting/Blinds and Moving 05/13 Gates/Front Landscaping / Pool 05/13 Re: Just finished building a house.. about to Landscape *pic 17Dec 05, 2012 10:35 pm Thanks! I'm not sure to be honest! I think i would like the cement curbing because i like the thickness and light colour for contrast but i think it's a little pricey for us until next year. I'm thinking maybe something cheap for the time being. Re: Just finished building a house.. about to Landscape *pic 18Dec 06, 2012 2:53 pm Wow! What a difference. Nice work. Build thread : /viewtopic.php?f=31&t=60288 Re: Just finished building a house.. about to Landscape *pic 19Dec 09, 2012 12:41 pm Thanks. I'm so used to seeing just sand and we've been living with just sand for a few months. It's such a shock to see it with grass and plants!!! I've used seasol, power feed, seamungus green, and mollasses and wandering how often do I use these on the garden as they establish. All I've been able to find in the search bar is application rates to established gardens. Certain areas of the grass are not looking to happy ATM. Re: Just finished building a house.. about to Landscape *pic 20Dec 30, 2012 2:02 pm Hi Annne just wondering which template you used on the google sketchup? I have just downloaded it but am a bit befuddles before I begin lol Slab Poured 30/05/12 Lower Floor Plate High 20/08/12 Upper Floor & Wall Framing 30/08/12 Roof 14/09/12 Lock-Up 13/12/12 Yee haaaaa WE ARE IN & I HAVE A NEW IPHONE Hi, I contracted a Builder to do a Garage to Bedroom + ensuite conversion (Class 1a), the Builder engaged the Certifier and Engineer and received BDA from the Certifier… 0 5022 interesting situation what happened after builder issued final invoice? did you list as defect or not does the building surveyor have any responsibility? ie. issuing… 13 46960 Building Standards; Getting It Right! Hi all, My neighbour has built his 15m long garage on our boundary. It was agreed as part of the planning permit that the wall must be in exposed recycled brick. For some… 0 10912 |