WELCOME TO OUR GARDEN MAKEOVER CHANNEL.. lol
Before i get into the side garden progress photos...
BACKGROUND TO THE GARDEN MAKE OVER
For those that are not following along, we are building a large vegetable garden in the unused area behind the swimming pool. The idea is to be able to grow lots of the veges and herbs that we use and also provide some flowers and a bee haven as well. My husband is keen on hosting bees in the future as well. There are some plans to build a big chicken coop as well but they waiting on hold till the vegetables and fruit are done.
We are clearing the back garden that was very unkempt. Pulling out all the stones, sifting to get the soil out, re preparing the ground underneath, washing the stones. After all that, we are putting them back. On top of this we are building very large garden beds.
The soil we are creating our own as it would be very expensive to bring in. We are making large compost piles in each of the beds (starting with one main one and working down. So far in a couple of months we have made a lot of our own soil. this soil will be so rich and has so far saved us about $500 in soil i am certain. Grass clippings, garden waste and all the food scraps minus a few for the worm bins. (again they are making soil for us too.) Also lots of the cardboard (without plastic and tape).
The ORIGINAL GARDEN
it was beautiful i guess.... lush and green...
but only yukka palms which are hideous and ALL planted ontop of a RETAINING WALL down to next door. so stupid previous owners... so stupid.
so they HAD to come out which has left a bloody mess.
Just a quick photo of the back garden because this post is about the work in the side garden.
Yes the yukkas keep spouting... we can't kill them... we need to dig them out AGAIN!!
we will be putting straw and melon vines down the back there were the yukkas are...
THE SIDE PROGRESS
So this is the pool side where all the palm trees that were destroying the neighbours retaining wall were. well though could have if they got bigger. The root balls were huge. but now they are all gone.
My last post 2 weeks ago showed my husband digging out the corner plants and smashing them all up lol..
Here is the area down to the stumps a few months ago
we had to have them all ground out with a stup grinder. See how close they all are to the pool and the retaining wall... they are like 1/2meter across some of them.
what a mess right... well it gets worse for a bit lol
While i would LOVE to plant down here it isn't really sensible as the retaining wll and pool. we WILL be putting plants down here, but in pots.
Stumps out
Here its is after stump grinding. We realised we would have to sift through all the stones and fix it all up and take out all the roots and the compost stuff.
Digging out the plants in the corner by the step
TODAYS WORK
So my husband put in the besser blocks on the weekend. Today i set about filling in the area above them with stone and clearing out the bottom and filling that with stone as well.
it was a lot of work. It was buckets and buckets of stones for even a small area.
THE ACTUAL PROGRESS TODAY
doesn't it look better!!!!
again love to have planted it... but its just risky next to the wall and pool. if the pool overflows the chlorine will kill veges and water on the retaining wall is not myy plan. we will stick to pots here.
Below you can see how far i got / didn't get.. still all the rest to go...
I will be filling the top of the blocks too.. just not yet.
It has been a big effort
Anyway thanks so much for stopping along and reading my posts I am just loving my HIVE experience so far. Such a fun platform for sure.
For those that don't know my i'm currently focusing on Daily painting and somewhat amusing my self and my family with Acrylic pouring.. lol.. i wish i had a separate studio for that as it is so messy.
My other HIVE interests are:
- cooking
sunset photography (i take photos of the sky every night)
Art
Graphic Design
Gardening (just a smidgion)
Ballet
Sewing - I make Tutus and ballet costumes too...
Here are a couple of snaps of some of the stuff i do outside what you see up in the posts above.
