Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design Re: dry creek garden 2Nov 07, 2010 12:39 am My brother and sister in law just won "Garden of the year" in Alice Springs. They completely redid their back yard levelling everything and recreating what is there now. All the trees planted are from tube stock and they created a dry creek bed running through the entire thing. I think it is supposed to emulate the Todd river given it is dry most of the year. The garden is incredibly fabulous and inspiring. Below is a pic of what they achieved. You can just see the dry creek in the foreground, but it is basically just river sand (presumably from the Todd) with some locally sourced stones spread occasionally throughout the edges of the bed. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: dry creek garden 3Nov 07, 2010 7:21 am And some more pics are here: http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2010/09/27/3023005.htm This is an amazing garden (just when I thought I prefer formal gardens ) My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: dry creek garden 5Nov 07, 2010 11:02 am Lex And some more pics are here: http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2010/09/27/3023005.htm Thanks for that. I hadn't come across that story before. I can't find any good clear pics of the creek, but is essentially the pathway through the garden. The garden beds are slightly raised on either side of the creek. It works really well, although can be a bugger to push a full wheelbarrow through...if you are built like me that is Re: dry creek garden 6Nov 07, 2010 7:31 pm Something as big as this (award) is bound to make a story! Anyway, I thought I saw more pics on the site this morning But, I have a heartache ... I am in love with this garden!!! It is just magic. Love the thin tall silvery grasses swaying in the breeze ... and just imagine the smells!! Ah ... My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: dry creek garden 7Nov 07, 2010 10:15 pm swaying grass is sexy IMO 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: dry creek garden 9Nov 09, 2010 11:48 pm In native gardens they can become much more than a formal plastic look garden. They will develop micro eco systems and there will always be something happening to capture your attention. Birds and skinks and cool insects. Not only do they make for a better environmental option with little to zero watering needed but they also provide a sanctuary away from the online world and routine of day to day life for you. They will open your eyes to so much! Re: dry creek garden 10Nov 09, 2010 11:54 pm I'm so booking you to come do my place Fu..lol if you do travel.... Kodiak Data Cabling onFaceBook Consult*, Design and Installation Data, TV, Home Theatre/ AV Cabling, Multi Room Audio, IP CCTV and Door Intercoms Ask for a Quote. *DIY DATA Cabling Is Ilegal Re: dry creek garden 12Nov 11, 2010 3:52 am Nice garden. Fu Manchu In native gardens they can become much more than a formal plastic look garden. They will develop micro eco systems and there will always be something happening to capture your attention. Birds and skinks and cool insects. Not only do they make for a better environmental option with little to zero watering needed but they also provide a sanctuary away from the online world and routine of day to day life for you. They will open your eyes to so much! So true isn't it? Even though mine has been ravaged during 2009 I still get honey eaters, small bell birds make an occasional visit (damn lurps), I have noticed a small wren rushing though from time to time (rushing to avoid the larger honey eater and local pigeon bully mob). There are insects here most people don't know about such as plecoptera and water midge, damsel fly larvae (munching up the mozzie larvae) and others. During the day it gets quite busy with the traffic of visitors, some you can set your clock to - the honey eater as he does his rounds. The pond is providing a mass of green mulch (water fern) and is also feeding us Vietnamese mint and floating coriander held in rubber play mats from Bunnings. The pond will be 5 times bigger soon so I can get some fish going, I have 3 types of Callistemon on the grow in pots so I can bring them up quickly, I have 3 types in already. Native Frangipani (In flower provides a narrow tall cover) A Ruby wine Callistemon with yellow tips (Just flowered) Pea flower everywhere (WA ones are still in bloom, Vic ones past a month ago) Cut leaf daisy around the base of most shrubs (Mint bush, Thryptomene, Geralton wax (x 2), Trigger plants growing in suburban Melbourne struck from seeds (hope to create a clay tolerance). Grevilia everywhere, on the ground, in the sky, along the fence. 7 flowering trees (or variations of Mertaceae / tea tree / paper barks / shrubs / trees) 2 snow gums, stunner's they are with white / grey / purple / orange / pink / yellow / green bark when wet. Red fleshy parts and rubbery waxy tough leaves that droop in long cascades. 2 endagered scoparia (Stunning bark which is now pink rusty red, soon green then white in winter - lerps love em but the gums love seasol, strong Eucy scent in hot weather that fills the air at night and especially when it rains) Corea x 3 Erica x 8 Flax Fringe Lilly Lilly Epacris impressa Boronia Myoporum Lomandra Dianella Callistemon Rounded Noon-flower Prickly moses Kangaroo grass Goodenia pinnatifida Hardenbergia Chamelaucium 'Purple Pride' Scaevola Eremophila x4 Clematis Eutaxia obovata Thryptomene Verticordia chrysantha Banksia, The taller Coastal variety which along with gums and the calistamons will be sculpted into a front yard / hideaway with a quiet bush feel and a pond you can dip yourself in. Get yourselves some Geralton Wax, a few Callistemon, Thryptomene, some tea tree, pea flower and some tough silvery wattle then stick em in a vase! I also have succulents growing (Orange, Pink, Deep crimson, Red, Magenta, Yellow) and Dianthus along with fruit, citrus, grape and giant Jasmine (for the chimney) and pots full of veggies. Rocks + Tall grevilia, Scaevola, cut leaf daisy, Verticordia all growing in big clumps = win! Re: dry creek garden 13Nov 11, 2010 3:13 pm I know this is about a dry creek garden, but I noticed that TDLs filled with water when it recently rained... if you lined the bed with some sort of liner (plastic?) would it retain the water better/longer? Is this a bad idea? I dug out a water hole under our front tap (so I can fit the bigger watering can under there) which is lined with a mix of small and large (20 - 50mm) tuscan rock, but if it fills when it rains it is gone in a matter of hours. I'm now wondering if I should expand my current water hole to make a bit more of a "creek bed" in the front garden bed (it's only about 5m x 3m) so the water will flow to the deepest spot (away from the tap), and possibly retain some of the water a bit longer... Second Time 'Round Re: dry creek garden 14Nov 11, 2010 10:20 pm Water held in a liner would turn anaerobic very quickly. Bacteria will feed on nutrients and detritus (plant matter) and the water / soil would have that pong to it like a swamp. Its not harmful and not a big health risk it just smells. The water needs to move through it constantly to oxygenate the substrate. Algae and bacteria would create anoxic conditions. Re: dry creek garden 15Nov 12, 2010 11:02 am From here... http://www.gardeningaustralia.com.au/ http://www.gardeningaustralia.com.au/up ... utplan.pdf http://www.gardeningaustralia.com.au/up ... ection.pdf As a result of this young leaders work http://www.joshbyrne.com.au/ Re: dry creek garden 16Nov 12, 2010 11:05 am Also have a browse of this talented fellas website for inspiration http://www.phillipjohnson.com.au/ Not sure if you have seen To Do Lists thread which features his backyard dry creek Re: dry creek garden 17Nov 14, 2010 5:00 am You really have to be careful with nutrient loading. Any fertilizer at all into your water and it will kill everything in it. Your runoff cannot originate from a highly composted garden bed or anything similar. Maybe I am being negative about it but frogs and ponds are all fine until one day they are all dead from a simple dose of Maxicrop or an application of compost. Standing water does not gel well at all with any nutrients. Just my 0.02 cents Re: dry creek garden 18Nov 15, 2010 9:41 am I know what you mean about the nutrients/stagnant water. My aim wouldn't be to have a pond - maybe some sort of semi-permeable liner that will help the water stay there longer but still enable it to slowly drain (over a period of a few days). I'll have to look into it further. Fu - Those gardens by Philip Johnson are great! Second Time 'Round Re: dry creek garden 19Nov 15, 2010 10:58 pm depends what composts. Cert organic composts that have no odour and smell right should be fine where as manure based composts or ones that are on the pong will not. Many like Mushroom compost can be a problem or composts that have lots of things added like chook poo. The rest are fine. Re: dry creek garden 20Nov 16, 2010 5:26 am True in most cases. Heavier 'woody' compost would be fine so long as the plants were there to catch the loadings. First_Timer_Ray I know what you mean about the nutrients/stagnant water. My aim wouldn't be to have a pond - maybe some sort of semi-permeable liner that will help the water stay there longer but still enable it to slowly drain (over a period of a few days). I'll have to look into it further. One way would be to drain around the hollow underground and place the liner well above the aqueous land. Another would be to mound a non permeable rim and then use rocks and landscaping to bring it back into a hollow that the eye will see. Kuranga Nurseries do this well with their winter frog ponds. A deep hollow lined underground surrounded by wetland plants and rockeries separated by high pathways from the garden. No nutrient loads at all and lotsa frogs. It's possible but a soak well is usually much larger. Your 'soak well' only holds 424 litres when full. What is your soil type? Soak wells need sandy soils. 10 9106 DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair Ditto 3M Claw, expensive but best thing I've used to date. I put two of the 11kg ones in for a 12kg mirror on the wall, and its been great for 4 years now. 4 2162 |