My garden maintenance area is finally well under way. After years of moving temporary compost bins around as each section of the garden was landscaped they have now taken up their final residence behind the kid’s cubby house.

This is one of only two sections left that still need to landscaped. This area will eventually cater for our vegetables and aquaponics setup but will most likely be the last area completed. We’re still researching the whole backyard aquaponics deal and are noticing many others are starting to take it up – so we can learn from their successes and mistakes.

This maintenance area will be kept out of view by the kid’s cubby and I plan to use the roof from their play house as a water catchment zone for some rain barrels.

These barrels will hopefully store enough water to keep the compost moist enough to breakdown quickly. And, to save space they will sit just above the compost heaps on a specially-made platform.

The other area left to be landscaped is this one below.

It’s where my temporary compost bins have stayed for the past year or so and as you can see there’s a large pile of prunings yet to be shredded.

This area is next on the To-Do list. It will be our Tropical Rainforest garden consisting of bamboos, palms, bromeliads, mosses and cannas. It will have a waterfall and pond taking up most of the space and at the opposite end will contain a large 10-seat spa – not one of those fibreglass jobbies, mind.

No, I plan to construct the spa myself out of limestone blocks and mosaic tiles – reminiscent of a Roman bath. This will be covered with a thatched roof and overlook the pond and boardwalk.

I’ve been looking forward to creating this garden area since we first built the house but it’s had to sit on the backburner while other more important areas were erected around it. And, it’s still some time before we finish a few of our other projects and get into this one but I’m hoping that next summer might be the start date.