Remembering that this was what we started out with --- a clean slate....
The front garden is starting to take shape.
We decided to "terrace" our sloping front yard and chose a block called Natural Impressions - grey concrete made to look like stacked stone.
Can you see the clumps of dirt in front of the wall? It's clay - hard as a rock when dry and mushy and slimy when wet. There was no organic matter whatsoever, so soil was brought in and we added bulk chook manure. (Not used to having to buy it, when the girls produced a steady supply.)
In the areas where no extra soil was needed we added dolomite as a clay breaker and some chook manure to improve the soil.
There will be stairs leading to the front door, probably with pavers. We laid them out roughly to see how they'd look.
Still looks a bit like a building site at the moment though
Not quite finished yet, but getting there.
The next step will be planting.
Given my love of tropical plants, what do you think we should choose?
Ohhh, agaves at the front perhaps? There's always palms, palms, and palms of course :)
ReplyDeleteI want palms, but after having so many at Missy's Garden John has a horror of collecting fallen palm fronds. Some will definitely be going in though.
DeleteI love what you have done so far and it's looking good.....all your hard work will definitely be a labour of love.
ReplyDeleteI like the driveway finish too.
If there are no restrictions to what heights you can plant and it's not crazy windy, you have quite a wide choice from the cuttings you saved from Missy's Garden.
I'd keep my plantings low for the front, so they don't take away from the beauty of the house completely.
You know I love palms too, but you can probably plant a few that don't shed the fronds too quickly....that would keep John happy.
I've got some frangipani cuttings that I think might be okay from our old trees.
DeleteI love that terracing, and it would look good with some kind of trailing ground cover "falling" over the edges. Clay - I have never gardened in clay, but it is good to amend the soil straight away. I have trouble with franzipani here as they dont like the wet season. They are one of my favourites though. You have a sunny spot so I can see lots of colour there!
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