Gardening gurus.....

[Doggy]

Righto Short version - gardens need revamping, little help here
Long version -
Im tired of my current gardens around my pool and fences and such and am looking at redoing them. Basically I want to keep the established plants as there are a quite a few nice natives and bigger trees and I have a few other natives growing as well but I want to stop the weeds and such coming through while adding a few more smaller feature plants as such.
My plan of attack was to line the garden beds with black plastic sheeting which I have plenty of (sheeting that is put under conc. slabs and the like) then have holes through the sheeting for the plants. Then spread a layer of river pebbles or decorative pebbles over the top instead of mulch. The gardens beds are established so they have a good enough soil in them already so I figured I wont really need to touch that.
Is the plastic sheeting going to be the right thing to use though? Will the plants grow happily with that covering the soil. Any other options of doing such a thing like Geofab or similar. I'd like the cover the beds in something other then just mulch because on one fenceline along my pool the neighbour has alot of weeds in their garden which go under the fence to mine which then spread everywhere.
So basically - revamp garden, keep natives and established plants, plant more natives and feature plants and cover with plastic and rocks....I think that covers it all

 

[dj3]

the black sheeting gets very hot and can kill plants root systems if they overheat in summer, also try not to use open weave cloth type materials as plants can take over and spreads there roots over the mesh and it can turn into a massive mess.

a good solution to stop the plants spreading to the neighbors yard under the fence is to did a trench next to the fence and lay bricks, plastic miniature fencing, or pebbles as kind of a wall to stop the roots spreading.

as for which types of plants you want to plant, we would have to see a photo of the area to determine what would look best.

 

[Doggy]

Ahhh, well...I may as well take the steel fixers and concreters their plastic back then. The natives that already in are Golden wattles, Lemon Myrtles and the trusty old red wattle. So I'd like to keep that sorta thing going for the birds and such....having said that, the palm trees do drop a hell of alot less crap into my pool

 

[JP]

+1 for no plastic sheeting. It has no place in gardens, unless you want to kill a patch of grass or area of weeds without using roundup!

Pics of area would be cool.

 

[toodles]

Bamboo - that is all.

Palms are a mixed blessing as regards mess - you don't need to rake up the yard or skim the pool, but getting rid of the stoopid fronds are a pain in the arse. Unless you're down with bonfires or regular trips to the tip.

I'd recommend ditching the kiddy pool, getting a spa undercover and using the yard for a pump track.

 

[Doggy]

Down the side of the pool....left as is for a while in anticipation of taking to it with my whipper snipper and getting rid of it all. Plan is to take the garden up to the edge of the pool and around the filter

On the other side of the pool. This little garden is alright so might just tidy it up a wee bit

Down the side of my driveway up to my shed, will be leaving the hedge as it is and leave the little Golden wattle there to grow as well as the palm. Wanting to put in pine sleepers along there instead of the shitty conc edge that is there now

A better view of the pool side of my yard, want to replace the shitty conc around the edging there with pine sleepers as well and hopefully bring the garden out a bit further to the steps from the downstairs area. Reason being that when the pool overflows, the water goes straight out onto the grass and it doesnt grow there, I figure leave that bit with no plants, just rocks....cant tell when rocks arent growing

I want more of these puppies....this one has little ones growing near it so I will probably transplant them

And perhaps some more of these....what are these?

To add to the fun is my dog, she bolts around the yard and gardens like a rocket hence the reason why some of the grass is like it is and the gardens end up the same....another theory behind putting rocks in

 

[Doggy]

Bamboo - that is all.

Palms are a mixed blessing as regards mess - you don't need to rake up the yard or skim the pool, but getting rid of the stoopid fronds are a pain in the arse. Unless you're down with bonfires or regular trips to the tip.

I'd recommend ditching the kiddy pool, getting a spa undercover and using the yard for a pump track.

You have read my mind.....I should have married you. I dont want bamboo, I know this squeezer down the road who has it.

 

[SteveC22]

Just whack a pump track in. sweeet

 

[scblack]

One of my local DH tracks runs past a house with a pool out the back, and bamboo around the pool.

The bamboo has taken off EVERYWHERE. Across the track, in the neighbours yard and is messy also. Bamboo grows FAST as well and can easily take over an area.

Unless you want to spend a lot of time managing the proliferation of bamboo shoots, I'd use something else.

 

[Doggy]

Dont worry, no bamboo will be used in the making of this garden

 

[scblack]

And perhaps some more of these....what are these?

Thats an Agave I think.

 

[curlysurfer]

+1 for the agave's you can cut them off from where ever and they'll grow.
+1 for what I think is a form of Yukka (sp)

If the golden cane palms give you grief from excess fronds, dont go near bamboo. there are more containable forms, but not advisable.

How about
Cordilines (sp) red and/or green broad leaf.
Frangipani, over 160 different species of them, red, yellow, pink orange and all in between.

Sounds like you want a 'dry river bed' look. a thick pile of rocks over the dirt and around plants looks great. add a few big flat stepping stones so you and the dog can still get through there. Maybe google that for some extra ideas.

 

[toodles]

One of my local DH tracks runs past a house with a pool out the back, and bamboo around the pool.

The bamboo has taken off EVERYWHERE. Across the track, in the neighbours yard and is messy also. Bamboo grows FAST as well and can easily take over an area.

Unless you want to spend a lot of time managing the proliferation of bamboo shoots, I'd use something else.

Clumping bamboo species won't invade the whole yard. I've planted Gracilius in my yard which is a non-invasive clumping species.

 

[Doggy]

+1 for the agave's you can cut them off from where ever and they'll grow.
+1 for what I think is a form of Yukka (sp)

If the golden cane palms give you grief from excess fronds, dont go near bamboo. there are more containable forms, but not advisable.

How about
Cordilines (sp) red and/or green broad leaf.
Frangipani, over 160 different species of them, red, yellow, pink orange and all in between.

Sounds like you want a 'dry river bed' look. a thick pile of rocks over the dirt and around plants looks great. add a few big flat stepping stones so you and the dog can still get through there. Maybe google that for some extra ideas.

Give this man a cigar....thats pretty much what we are chasing.

 

[scblack]

Clumping bamboo species won't invade the whole yard. I've planted Gracilius in my yard which is a non-invasive clumping species.

Oh, OK, cool. I didn't know there were ones which would not spread themselves everywhere.

 

[AngoXC]

the black sheeting gets very hot and can kill plants root systems if they overheat in summer, also try not to use open weave cloth type materials as plants can take over and spreads there roots over the mesh and it can turn into a massive mess.

a good solution to stop the plants spreading to the neighbors yard under the fence is to did a trench next to the fence and lay bricks, plastic miniature fencing, or pebbles as kind of a wall to stop the roots spreading.

as for which types of plants you want to plant, we would have to see a photo of the area to determine what would look best.

You know, that's just about the best post I have ever read from you. Well done!

I'm a big fan of low maintenence gardens, plus drought-tolerant species. Out the front of our place, we have a river bed thing goind with mostly natives (black grasses, and a few other low-laying bushes)...gives the garden a bit more substance I think.

 

[curlysurfer]

Give this man a cigar....that's pretty much what we are chasing.

Don't smoke, but I may take that cigar for when our baby's due, (but that's another thread!)

So what else?
Sunny spots.

Grass tree (Bl*ck Boys)
Grevillea, these look unreal in flower

Shady spots
Tree ferns, love them
Birds nest, under existing palms
Bromeliad's, there's some awesome colours in these little guys.

Remember that your Agave's will flower one day, big fuck off long flower, ends up top heavy, and droops to the ground, kinda looks like a swan. The plant dies to give off this flower. Same with the bromeliad. Just cut it out when it starts to go brown, the pups around will start the cycle all over again.

Then if you wanna go all special, get some Bonsai. Get ones with more soil to plant ratio so they're more tolerant of weather changes, forgetting to water etc.

My .02

 

[dj3]

You know, that's just about the best post I have ever read from you. Well done!

i thought most of my posts were alright... EDIT: read my quoted post, so many spelling errors!

curlysurfer is on the money as doggy pointed out.

 

[Pete J]

I'm a big fan of low maintenence gardens, plus drought-tolerant species. Out the front of our place, we have a river bed thing goind with mostly natives (black grasses, and a few other low-laying bushes)...gives the garden a bit more substance I think.

Natives all the way! They are just the kinds of plants people should be looking at these days of water restrictions across Australia.
About 6 years ago i removed all the grass and traditional garden plants from my folks backyard and filled the joint with natives. These days the yard is spectacular! Well it has been for some years already so it's not like it took ages to get established. It's also incredibly low maintenance and requires no watering at all. Plus the yard attracts all kinds of native birds who come for the spectacular flowers and also just to hang out.
This is the type of garden we always should have had, not the labour and water intensive kind that is still unfornately too popular.

 

[Jon]

First of all, the garden killing canine. What is he/she?and how old. Think of plants the dog can go under or wont want to go through.
By far the best bed cover if you are covering it is what turns up in your driveway every third day. The local rag. No ,not the skank down the street but good old fashioned newspaper. It's free and plentiful. Chuck 40-50mm of 20mm pebbles over the top or leaf mulch and away you go. Plastic will cause fungal diseases due to lack of ventilation.
Google postrate Grevilleas as they are pretty tough, some spiky to discourage Rover and they dont need much water. Pigs faces are another good ground cover that spreads quickly and is available in lots of colours. Pretty much all stading grevilleas will flower nearly year round in warmer areas, lots of birds.

I have a pretty similar situation except for the dog, mine is too lazy to do anything. I have put in grevilleas to form a screen around my pool. Inside of the screen we are planning a running creek feature with bridge to gain access to pool ladder.

The secret is many beers while sitting in a deck chair overlooking the worksite. Picture the finished site in your mind....ah fuck it, more beer