garden resurection

[Kev Y.]

I realise this will have absolutly NOTHING to do with construction techniques or anything fancy but hey....

Over the past three to four weeks I have been working on "beautifying" and adding "Privacy" to my back yard..

Started off rotory hoeing approx 36m of fence line (back and side) to about 300mm deep and 1.6m wide (some places it gets to 2m in width)

Boxed it with 45x125 treated pine "sleepers" then back filled with 7.5 m3 of screened top soil.

Next came the planting, because I want privacy, I have used 3 dozen petostrumn's (sorry phonetic spelling) planted about 1.2m apart. In the is also several species which will grow 5 - 6min height and 3m in width.

Also to add some colour to the yard I have planted 2 maples can not remember the name, start of with green folige which turne red as autumn approaches, and something called a "golden robinia"

As well as all this planting, I cleared a "heart shaped" weed patch some one planted long ago and returned it - hopefully - back to grass.

Attached are a few pics of the project to date.

At present I am applying 4m3 of 14mm pine bark to the top of the graden bed as mulch... I think I will need a bit more to finish

[Shedhand]

Hmm..got me thinkin' brudda. Maybe I can give that project to SWMBOATT to keep her out of my hair while I supervise the extension.
Looks great mate. Can't wait to see it in 12 - 18 months time.
Cheers

[Ashore]

M8 dont forget the most important plants , chillies, oregano, bay tree, marjoram , mint, basil, paresly, thyme, rosemary and shallots as for the last buy a bunch from coles etc plant them and cut them off 25mm fron the ground and use this as they will grow back for reuse again and again

Rgds

[namtrak]

Looks great, and will look great!! I reckon in about 12-15 months you could top-up the mulch with a different type of mulch (bovine, opine, equine leavings) and then top with pine mulch after about 6 months and your plants will boom!!

May want to get a little round-up along that outside edge to slow down the kikuyu finding it's way in!!

[LineLefty]

Are you screeding your mulch!!!!?!?!

[chromis]

Golden Robinia? Is that Robinia Pseudoacacia?

Robinia do not have a spectacular colour with climate change. I really like them but most people consider them a weed because they can send suckers out metres away from the main root system. In a small environment this can be an issue.

[Kev Y.]

LineLefty, nope, just doing it by feel, have been applying it by the bucket load, and then using a leaf rake to spread out further, I appear to be getting a coverage of between 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 inches, which is not too bad for the first application.. that and the beds is raised in the centre, where the main planting is..

chromis NOW you tell me:eek: :eek: :eek: , the robinia is in the foreground in pic 4, as you can see its a golden yellow

[chromis]

Well you got lots of room for one but just letting you know they can send out huge suckers that pop up everywhere. I really like them. Beautiful lime green leaf (partly yellow depending) in summer with white pendulous flowers. You can actually eat the flowers. An old italian guy told me he used to eat them when he was a kid and proceeded to show me. There's also a pink/white variety which is really pretty. And the "Mop Top" which is a dwarf variety that people trim into a semi-topiary shape.

They grow really fast if you want some instant results.

[chromis]

PS.

The pittosporum, what species are they? The tenuifolium species is worth a look if you like the pittosporums...Light green foliage with a silvery sheen, kind of small oval (ovate) shaped leaf. Kind of dark/blackish stems. Grows about 4 to 5m high but you can trim them back into a manageable size. People sell them as a screening plant but I think they are better plannted in front if a more dense screening plant (here and there), to break up harsh lines of a formal screen. Unless of course you want that kind of look.