Landscaping a new house (Sydney)

yvonneh · Feb 22, 2015 9:18 am

Starting a new thread to lead off my home building thread which can be found here:
viewtopic.php?f=31&t=69682

I've already posted on my blog about my landscaping thoughts, pergola thoughts and our courtyard plans but since this is a new topic area with different people let me give you a bit of a background in this post.

We're building in Sydney in an established suburb - Peakhurst which is in the St George area with Sekisui House. We are on a battleaxe block which is over 1000 sq metres. We have a filtered view of a creek to the rear of the block which is due west. Fortunately it's filtered by lots of lovely trees!

Our house has a courtyard which faces North to capture sun. We had this finished in concrete so we could use it immediately as the Western side is going to get a deck... but that would take a while to build. Our block slopes 'down' from the front of the house to the rear of the house and we've built on bearers and joists so the rear of the house is about 2 metres from NGL.

OK so a few pics:
Plan:
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Courtyard:
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Driveway from garage (shows the slope):
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So basic planning/thinking about our landscaping:

Front Yard
Productive garden (chickens, fruit trees, some square foot raised garden beds)

Courtyard
BBQ area and outdoor area in winter.
Around the corner an aquaponics vertical wall (northern wall)

Backyard
An 'infinity' deck with possibly some under cover component
Mainly natives to blend with the reserve

Online Gardener AU · Feb 25, 2015 12:24 pm

Hi there,

This really is a blank canvas! The concepts that i think you should look at are;
- Softening the house and the fence around property
- Creating function/practical areas based upon the layout of the house and the most appropriate use of the garden
- Creating some features that are viewable from windows inside house
- Putting together a congruent planting scheme based upon what will grow in the area, your specific site and what planting style appeals to you.

Good luck.

yvonneh · Feb 25, 2015 1:41 pm

Thanks Online Gardener -- yep all stuff we need to think about

We'll definitely be putting in some greenery or something to look out at from the windows esp those on the south side.

deluded · Mar 04, 2015 8:55 pm

the build thread and landscaping thread are like chalk and cheese ...

hope you'll get more input from others ... didn't realise how steep it is to the garage ... must be used to your progress photos from up top.

1 thing that comes to mind is drainage... especially during those torrential downpours. will it catch enough to prevent flooding

will your garden beds and the soil be good enough or will you need to remove and replace with descent amount of top soil? .... (that's one for the professionals to comment)

i can see that I'll be planting a lot more after council approves OC with my current plans

yvonneh · Mar 04, 2015 11:07 pm

Haha I gotta start somewhere!

Lots of drainage will be added in and camber on the driveway

Will definitely be adding good topsoil.

Yeah will need to add some more thinking to this thread

yvonneh · Mar 08, 2015 5:43 pm

Can anyone tell me if this is a pear or apple tree? Or the graft plant? It looks like it's coming from the root stock...

We went out to try and buy some bamboo which is tall and clumping but we were told to look to ebay or "the more expensive" suburb nurseries!

Found some options which include 5m tall plants so will probably get a few of those to get some screening. Gracilis. They were around $150 per 'pot' at 5m which seems reasonable given small pots are around $50!

If anyone has a good source that delivers to Sydney let me know!

We are also open to other species of bamboo as long as it's non invasive and reaches at least 5 metres height. We're trying to shield ourselves from our neighbours:

yvonneh · Apr 06, 2015 6:15 pm

So we have been thinking about the trees and fruit trees we have already and the ones I want to augment the ones we have already. I've made sure any of the new fruit trees are ones that I actually eat and enjoy eating.

So the ones I have currently are (all in pots currently):

Bamboo x 2 types
Pear (maybe - not sure if it's actually still alive!)
Apple
Peach
Persimmon
Custard Apple
Black Sapote
Avocado
Papaya
Acema Smithi x 4
Japanese Maple x 2

And the list of fruit trees I want:

Lime/lemon - I may just get both
Mango
Custard apple (another one)
Fig (adriatic white)
Mandarin (Imperial) - there was one for $12 at Aldi today but I just couldn't bring myself to buy it yet!
Peanut Butter tree (yes they exist )
Ice cream bean (yep these too!)
Macadamia Nut bush
Pear (if the other one isn't still going

I still have a back up list of others but I better get the first priority ones going!

trixee · Apr 06, 2015 9:08 pm

That's quite a list you have going. You must really like custard apples!

I'd love a macadamia tree, are they big?

Via Tapatalk.
viewtopic.php?t=72683

yvonneh · Apr 07, 2015 12:52 pm

Hey Trixee - no it's just a bush! So easy to fit in. I should update the list so it doesn't say tree

I love custard apples. And Persimmons. Prob my two favourite fruits.

trixee · Apr 07, 2015 7:10 pm

In that case I'm definitely getting one! I love persimmons too but am told they're a bit tricky to grow.

We've currently got a fig tree, blood orange, lime, bay, lemongrass, dwarf nectarine, curry leaf, and various herbs and chillies. I've forbidden hubby to buy any more fruit trees until we move!

yvonneh · Apr 07, 2015 10:57 pm

I haven't outlined the smaller plants we have

But I'm being good for now as I keep hearing ads for plant sales

What sort of lime tree do you have? I'm torn between tahitian and kaffir. Can I use kaffir limes like normal?

trixee · Apr 07, 2015 11:24 pm

We've actually got a half and half lime tree - it's half tahitian and half kaffir! Got it as a gift, you can probably search a few nurseries for one. We mostly use the tahitian side so have reduced the kaffir stems to only a couple.

yvonneh · Apr 07, 2015 11:43 pm

That's brilliant. Yeah was thinking a fruit salad tree. But then we have enough space we can actually have them as separate plants!

PVBuild · May 01, 2015 8:05 am

I can't wait to have a beautiful garden that I can plant fruit trees in. Love your list, its going to be amazing once its completed; definitely waiting for pics.

As far as limes go, we use the standard or tahitian lime tree far more than the kaffir, occasionally we'd use the leaves but the limes are reasonably ornamental.

yvonneh · May 01, 2015 8:18 am

Thanks pvbuild. I think a normal or tahitian lime is what we need then

. The kaffir can wait for now.

I seriously can't wait to start pottering in my garden.

monalisa · May 02, 2015 9:27 pm

Love your list of fruit trees yvonneh!

I also want us to plant a few....we will have a reasonable sized outdoor area - at least 400sqm!

yvonneh · May 02, 2015 10:07 pm

thanks monalisa!
I love the idea of growing my own food. I love sites like daleys fruit trees and end up earmarking all these trees I want

don't get me started on seed 'catalogue' sites!

shazaw · May 03, 2015 11:14 am

You have papaya on your list. You can grow papaya easily from seeds... I have a few papaya trees in my backyard. You can come by and dig up if you like. It's about 1.5m tall. Most of my plants will be gone with demolition. The one Ican't dig up.

yvonneh · May 03, 2015 5:44 pm

Hey shazaw when are you doing your demo? I may be interested in any fruit trees you don't want

yvonneh · May 03, 2015 5:48 pm

I posted on my blog but really should keep this up to date too or have it die a terrible death but here are a couple of pics of inspiration for my landscaping plans:

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This is for the courtyard which the plan is based on this:
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