Make, Create and Grow

I’ve been trying to hold off until the front yard is completed to post a complete job, but it’s just taking a little longer than expected, so thought a little post explaining the process would get me through!

We are still working away on the front yard. We have been making garden bed and mulching out the front slope as we get enough cardboard to do sections. We’ve used over half of the mulch delivery (15m3), which has been a big job moving it by wheel burrow from the bottom of the hill (thanks Louis!). Collecting cardboard from family and neighbours has been an adventure in itself too. It becomes a time consuming job to pull all the tape and glue etc off the boxes, but I’m trying to embrace to easy jobs.

This is the eastern side of the house. We decided to put a pathway with decomposed granite instead of grass between the house and garden bed. It’s less mowing and maintenance overall. Louis built a basic frame from pine palings to help hold the deco in place. We haven’t compacted it down with a machine or anything, just some stomping down by foot, well see how it goes!

We also put in a garden bed that will be a mini food forest with mostly citrus trees, likely dwarf varieties. We layered cardboard and just mulched over the top with forest mulch. I am waiting for the grass and weeds to die – no idea how long it will take, maybe a month or 2. I’m hoping my approach works. The idea is to leave the soil as undisrupted as possible, and also to leave as much of the organic matter there. Basically a bit like composting the weeds back into the ground directly?  I am noticing nut grass growing through already though, it seems to be pushing through the cardboard and mulch. Im trailing a few areas of thicker cardboard, but in the mean time we’re just pulling it out by hand and hoping we can eventually suppress it!

This is the garden bed along the top of the retaining wall on the south side of the house. It was planted with natives already, but they we just getting lost amongst the weeds and grass. I’ve got some grevilleas, melalucas, a banksia, old man salt bush, a purple pea bush, salvias, and a few others I can’t remember. I’m terrible with the proper name for things too. I put them in to try and get them growing for a bit of privacy for outside our bathroom window but didn’t have the soil or mulch or make a proper garden bed. I’m surprised they even managed to survive this far! We have used the same technique of layering cardboard to suppress the weeds, and mulching over the top. It was more time consuming having to fit the cardboard around the existing plants, and means there is obviously a small gap in the cardboard – which weeds and grass are already taking advantage of trying to poke through. We’ve just been pulling these out by hand as they pop through, hopefully, over time they are smothered out as the natives get bigger.

This is the front and southern side of the house. We (Louis!) has just laid 70m2 of turf. For anyone interested we used Empire Zoysia. I have a few little garden beds around the entrance, and will have a pathway from decomposed granite to join the front door, driveway and the feature steps down the front yard.

I’m working on plant selection for the little gardens by the entrance. I’d love a crepe myrtle feature tree, then a few natives around it. I’m thinking lots of flowers to continue the native cottage garden I’ve started down the side of the stairs.

I’m really excited to see this area transformed. I had the stairs put in when we had the original earthworks completed, about 10 months ago. I didn’t have a plan for how to tie them in much, I just saw a picture of rock steps and wanted them! I planted them with natives for a rockery cottage garden look, and when they were blooming in Spring, it was amazing!

This front slope has been a pain to maintain – whipper snippering the grass and weeds. Louis is sick of it, which was the driver of making this front section our priority project! We will lay cardboard and mulch over the whole area, and eventually plant it out quite densely, with more natives, more tress than shrubs though. Louis is also working on a little hand built stone wall along the edge between the driveway and garden bed which is looking amazing so far. This will be a huge transformation to the front yard.

So now, to get some edging between garden beds and turf, finish the deco pathway and mulching of the front slope. Then of course planting plants!

I think that’s about it for where we’re at with the front yard project for now. I can’t wait to see it finished, then I’ll be waiting for all the plants to grow to maturity!