Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design Re: Clueless Needing Gardening Help! 12Sep 24, 2007 9:43 pm Hi Penjay
Sorry, should have mentioned them. They are a Plants Plus franchise: Grevillea Nurseries 63-65 Railway Avenue Werribee VIC 3030 Tel: 0397413100 Fax: 0397425356 The ladies name is Maree, very friendly and helpful. You can go into the store and see samples of other work they have done. As we have just built and have a 'blank canvass' we got Maree to do a CAD design on our lot plan. Good luck with your garden Penjay Cheers, Tony Re: Clueless Needing Gardening Help! 13Sep 24, 2007 10:03 pm Hi YSSIM,
Gardening should be fun, a bit like designing your house. You get to do it the way you want it. You don't have to do all the hard work ourself, just contract it out and leave the best bits for yourself. Good luck with it Re: Clueless Needing Gardening Help! 14Sep 24, 2007 11:38 pm Pop into the botanic gardens too.
You get to see all the plants in their grown up state - be it making a mess or lots of lovely shade - just like they will eventually be. Take a picnic - chill out and be in it just like it was your home garden and then you will feel what inspires you - what plants you like or dislike be it look, texture or smell. Then slowly put in the areas close to the hosue so your not traipsing clay mud through the house. By the way - I bought a house that was built in the 70's and I got bare clay at the back door when I bought it - and that was last year So don't leave it that long to do something Steve Re: Clueless Needing Gardening Help! 15Sep 25, 2007 8:40 am Post a photo or 2........ Internal and External Building and Colour Consultant Online - Worldwide http://www.denovoconcepts.com Re: Clueless Needing Gardening Help! 16Sep 26, 2007 6:49 pm If you want some ideas / planting suggestions and DIY info then have a browse through my website:
www.solidthinking.com.au Cheers. Re: Clueless Needing Gardening Help! 17Sep 26, 2007 6:57 pm Solid Thinking….I’ve got a question for you!
I’m putting down some flag stone, possibly like the one in the photo. How thick is that roughly. And do you lay it in on a bed of sand? Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Internal and External Building and Colour Consultant Online - Worldwide http://www.denovoconcepts.com Re: Clueless Needing Gardening Help! 18Sep 26, 2007 8:57 pm Solid Thinking If you want some ideas / planting suggestions and DIY info then have a browse through my website: www.solidthinking.com.au Cheers. You were already 'bookmarked'. [sneakersss] Re: Clueless Needing Gardening Help! 19Oct 16, 2007 11:14 pm uncle_ant Hi Penjay Sorry, should have mentioned them. They are a Plants Plus franchise: Grevillea Nurseries 63-65 Railway Avenue Werribee VIC 3030 Tel: 0397413100 Fax: 0397425356 The ladies name is Maree, very friendly and helpful. You can go into the store and see samples of other work they have done. As we have just built and have a 'blank canvass' we got Maree to do a CAD design on our lot plan. Good luck with your garden Penjay Cheers, Tony Hey! I remember that nursery It used to be our local when we were kids. I even found an old werribee Shire pamphlet with an add for them in it dating back to the late seventies (or sometime round that) I haven't read all this thread yet and don't know if it has been mentioned but a great idea to work out what you want in your garden is to see what is growing well in other gardens in your area. Then visit your local retail nursery ask lots of questions. Re: Clueless Needing Gardening Help! 20Oct 24, 2007 11:03 pm Hi YSSIM.
A couple of things you'll want to think about. Firstly, how much time do you want to be spending out in the garden? I'd guess not much. Secondly is how much work you're willing to do at the beginning, because the more you do now the less you'll probably have to do later. Whilst natives are absolutely fantastic for being no-mess, no-fuss plants that don't need too much attention, like any other plant they need to be lovingly cared for when they first go in the ground, and depending on the sorts you get, they can also be really picky. If you have clay soil, you're also going to run into another problem--poor drainage. Most plants don't like what's called "wet feet", which is what they get when the water won't drain away from their roots. Rot sets in, the plant gets sick and dies and that $100 you just spent is starting to look like a waste, and the good lady wife is asking you to please explain. ; ) The fastest way to deal with clay soil is actually not to bother dealing with it at all. Get whatever ground cover you want (turf can be a pain in the backside with our current water restrictions, but there are plenty of other options) to cover your clay soil, but wherever you want to build a garden bed, simply get some topsoil trucked in and mound it up to a height of around 8-10 inches (20-25cm). That will give most plants smaller than trees enough space to develop a reasonable root system. Conversely, plants tree-size or bigger (whatever that is!) should be able to deal with the clay soil just fine. However, it will still be worth your while in the long run to use a claybreaker. Others have mentioned gypsum, but many natives will not like it. I use a liquid claybreaker, but it's currently in the shed and I'm quite warm inside in my PJs so I'll go find the name of it for you tomorrow. Essentially it's just a case of filling up a watering can and spreading it out, and then watering it in over the following days (which, depending on your ability to get up at 6am twice a week, may be hard to do with water restrictions). The bonus is that it won't burn any plants' root system and it's safe to use with natives and other acid-loving plants like azaleas and rhododendrons. One thing you might consider is checking out the plants at a large display village. They will be the kind of plants that don't require a lot of maintenance. If you take a photo and show it to someone at a nursery, you should do fine. One other thing it might be worth doing is buying a DIY soil pH testing kit and finding out what the pH of your soil is. You can pick up a manutec kit at almost any nursery for a reasonable price. If you PM me and let me know what part of Melbourne you live in, what aspect your house is in and what sort of effect you're after with your garden, I'd be happy to make some suggestions. I'm not a landscape designer, but I've learned a lot about growing plants over the last few years, and I'd be more than happy to help you out. : ) --Mike Everything I know, I learned from SBS. LATEST: Frame Complete http://metricon-mercer.livejournal.com Looking for some advice on pool surround planting. We have roughly 500mm wide garden bed around the edge of our pool. Depth of the bed is only around 250-300mm to top… 0 3971 Hi there, long-time lurker but first time posting. I've bought a house 2 and a bit years ago and last year we had some major water damage on a converted pergola area… 0 8004 Yes, unless you are in a low intensity rainfall area or the area is protected from rain. Do you have access to NCC Part 2 or can you download it? I can email you a copy… 10 12636 |