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Front yard landscaping: How we're doing it
When we started our front yard, the aim was to make it a place where our kids could play on the lawn and we could still enjoy some level of gardening. Five years later, the kids have outgrown our postage-stamp sod and choose to play football on the road or at the local reserve.
And, after years of struggling with reticulation pipes, constant mowing, fertilising and aerating we decided to redo our front yard landscaping.
Our intention this time is to create an area that uses water well, has little or no maintenance and produces the effects we want primarily with indigenous species. The large lawn - when I say large, I mean larger than the other small ones - at the very front will remain but all obstacles within it (ie. garden beds) are being removed. This will make maintenance a little simpler and still keep the neighbours happy.
The overall plan is to create a dry creek bed that meanders through the garden dotted with stepping stones and railway sleepers. Grasses, and foliage plants will abound punctuated with succulents and flowering natives. Our two deciduous magnolias are about the only plants remaining and will, apart from the African Box, be the only exotics to survive the front yard makeover.
The challenge will be to try and keep a "cottage style" apparent in a very xeriscape fashion. The cottage style doesn't normally lend itself too well to pea-gravel, cactus and water-saving initiatives.
So here's a few pics of stage one:
My wife recommended that we take some before/after shots of the process - me; I was just happy to be underway.
Some of the willing workers...
10 minutes later...
We transplanted our struggling African box from the very front lawns in order to give them some reprieve from the Postie and to add some formal borders to our xeriscape cottage garden.
Next step is to move some of the soil around to form a sort of topography for the creek bed and plantings. Stay tuned for next weekend.... Oh, how I love Spring!
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Comments
Looks like alot of work Stuart, but I bet you will be happy with the end results. I'm doing all my major landscaping now in the fall so that next spring it will look fantastic. Can't wait to see the dry creek bed.
Posted by: Racquel | September 16, 2008 10:08 AM
Spring, summer, fall,... the only season I don't do much in the garden is in the winter when I'm busy shoveling the driveway instead. Have fun! It looks like a great family project.
Posted by: Cinj | September 16, 2008 10:39 AM
I think regional materials (in Austin's case, limestone, gravel, agaves and cacti) work splendidly in a cottage-style garden. That's what I consider my xeric front-yard garden to be too. Good luck with your redo. It sounds great. I like to do redos over the fall and winter; our springs get hot fast.
Posted by: Pam/Digging | September 16, 2008 12:43 PM
Hi Stuart, those are some wonderful garden helpers. They even look willing and happy about it, a big step towards gardeners of the future! I look forward to seeing this dry creek bed, that is a feature we don't have, it got planted, but love the look of. I have seen Pam,s garden. it still is very cottagey with the cactus and agaves and gravel. I love all gravel in all settings. Great for self seeders to plant themselves.
Frances at Fairegarden
new url
http://fairegarden.wordpress.com/
Posted by: Frances | September 16, 2008 7:30 PM
Love the re-do projects and can't wait to see the evolution of your garden!
Posted by: Layanee | September 16, 2008 10:10 PM
A Chelsea fan and a gardener too.
I'm not a Chelsea supporter (Portsmouth for me) but I am off to watch Chelsea play Bordeaux in November - let me know if you would like a copy of the match program sent over?
Posted by: Philip Voice | September 17, 2008 3:14 AM
I love getting my teeth into a new project - looks like fun
Posted by: patientgardener | September 17, 2008 8:37 PM
It's great getting new projects under way, isn't it? And how fantastic that the kids seem to enjoy getting involved too. Can't wait to see the finished result
Posted by: Victoria | September 19, 2008 6:38 PM
Looks like fun going on at your house! Good on your wife for remembering to take before pics. I am always so focused on my plan and getting started that I forget. Then when it begins to look so much better, then(!) I remember and say, "Oh, NO! We should have taken before photographs!" I am looking forward to seeing your 'after' ones.
Posted by: Anonymous | September 20, 2008 12:19 AM