Doing up my Front Garden

Doing up my front Garden.

When i first moved into my house i didnt realise the amount of heat that came off the pavers from yard.
I say yard, because it wasn't a garden to me at all.

I found out a year or so after buying the house, that there was a lovely lawn under those big concrete pavers. Hence i never won the fight of grass growing between the cracks..
I also found out it was still being reticulated from under the pavers.

So the first chore was pull up all the pavers..
Find the Reticulation, and redirect it so its not waisting water.
Get rid of the Grass roots and build a new front fence.
( the old one was falling down).

I have attached a before and after pic here...

The items I used:
Midland brick - , Litewall
Crushed Granite
Rake, Shovel, Gardening Shears, Trowel, Wheel barrow.
Mulch / Manure, 4 different types, To build my sand up to soil standard.
Mushroom, Cow, Worm castings, Bark Medium size.
Black poly pipe and fittings ( spray nozzles for retic).
Small amount of concrete for Archways.
Archways.
Plants.. Franchipani, Agapanthus Dwarf, Daisies,

Step 1 Working with what you already have.

The first step to everything i do that is major is sitting down and working out what i have first.
And getting it down on paper, all the points that stand out, Good and Bad..
Making a hand drawing on a scrap bit of paper and shuffling ideas around.
In this case...
It was what structures and plants do i want to keep ,
And what structure & plants need to go... etc

Also over time i collect images off the net and put them in a folder,
I guess this is similar to cutting out images from a magazines and scrap booking ideas together.
So i go though my folders if something strikes me, i play with the image in paintshop group them together to get the inspiration.

It might take me months or even a year before i find what i like and what really sits well with me, As something like this that is major, i don't want it to be a whim or phase I'm going though.
So when i make up my mind, i have all the information in front of me.

I started with the fence First.

Comments

[garyrowl]

Yes the wisteria is great, I used to have a humdinger but had to leave it behind, great pix.

[captain Jack]

what's the approximate cost of the stone used for the wall?

[ALadyDragon]

The small retaining walls? ... The main circle garden bed was about $700.00 AUD , 3 High so you can sit on it. The other edges were $400.00 AUD, only 2 high and i brought seconds which saved me heaps more.. wish i knew that the first buy i made.. The first lot included a pallet of straight and a pallet of corner blocks. These mixed together gave the bend of the circle. With a few corners left over the second buy had just 2 pallets of straights. I guessed on the quantities i needed.. Knowing i was going to do more later. but it seems to work out well. The main front fence was my main experience... And i did that first before anything else... i was quoted around the $5k to $7k mark by contractors... Finally got mate rates and due to friend of a friend... which meant other sacrifices.. like time delays and some details but got it at $3000.00 AUD

[ALadyDragon]

This month i will be looking at infills for between the Stone Pillars.. I have time off work to go check out some styles and prices... and do some major shopping around.

[bepartial]

One of the best, yet simplest in design, makeovers I've seen here. Very well done. I have taken some of your ideas and am in the process of incorporating them in my final pre-design. (I say pre-design because I always change in the middle of a project.) Nicely done.

[ALadyDragon]

Thanks Bepartial. Because of my back problems I wanted to keep it easy and simple. Most of the time i had a milk crate near by in case i needed to sit down for a minute or two. I'm so proud of what i have been able to achieve.. Something simple that works. And on a tight budget - i still sit outside and watch the flowers grow. :) When you have done yours.. Give me a poke.. I'm still designing my backyard.. Too many ideas rushing around my head... But i have planted a wattle and two banksia trees as a starting point.

[Tymar.]

Wow This is Awesome.

[ALadyDragon]

Thank you so much. Its taken a while but little by little it came together.

[eetzel]

The wisteria on the arch is very pretty