I sat on the slope looking east, with Tilly and Bella beside
me, and slowly I began to realize that this was a very special place. A place to live.
That was October 2006. The house was completed in May 2008 and
in August when we moved in
permanently, the work on the garden began.
I knew almost immediately what the final design would look
like, ltaking into account the
slopes, the position of the house, and the beautiful red soil, I knew where to
put the vegetables, the trees, herbaceous borders ( if any) and steps.
In June 2008 and in a panic to get things started we planted
10 melia anzanderachs, 11 silver birch, 10 crab apples and two varieties of
robinias. We planted them in a hurry, and without due attention to their
welfare. Mostly they have
survived, and seem happy in their new home
Neighbours, who had not shown their colours in 2006 when we bought the land, now started a
road haulage, bob-cat and bull-dozer business, leaving their machinery next to
our southern boundary. In order to hide this, we planted a 50 metre hedge of
prunus lucitanicus and repeated
this around the flower garden.
There were many suggestions for hiding the water tank, but I
liked its architectural qualities and decided not to camouflage it, besides we
had been warned that if trees or climbers were planted close there was a danger
of roots damaging the plastic liner. Perhaps the most important decision was the building of the
terrace wall which helped frame the house and connect it to the landscape.
Including the fish pond at the western end was a sudden choice of my husband’s
(Tony) and he looks after that – totally !
The red soil is a great gift, however when dry as it was at
the end of the drought in 2008, it became solid concrete, needing jack
hammers to break it up.
We planted three agapanthus on the west side of the water
tank, using crow bars to break the
soil. Three further seedlings of
questionable origin but definitely eucalypts, were planted amongst the building
detritus. They looked sick for a
year. Unable to rip along the
western fence line due to phone and gas lines, we spent 3 months hand digging
and planting eucalypt, acacia and calistemon varieties. These needed hand watering and being unfamiliar
with amounts in retrospect we were not generous enough.
An attempt to terrace a vegetable garden was made on the
eastern side of the house, with some success, but maintenance proved hard with
only one pair of hands.
With a determination to avoid the classical English ‘look’,
our second year saw the
landscaping and native planting of beds around the house. David Glenn at Lamley
advised on frost hardy plants, and landscape artist and gardener Ray Robinson
advised on selection of plants, trees and ground cover. The John Deere enthusiast (Tony) found cutting the grass on the slope from the house unnerving due to
its angle, its uneven surface, the
rocks and the tree-like cape weed. But continued and regular cutting has
lessened the problem. The virgin soil although slightly acidic has proved very
productive and the plants have thrived. When the rains came we were rewarded
with amazing growth.
Last year we established the “waterfall” in the natural
swale where the water tank overflow pipe appeared and with the ‘floaters’ found
on the block, we built a very natural looking rocky outcrop and planted
leucadendrons, olives, a forest of casuarinas with crocus ground cover, grasses and frost hardy succulents.
Plans to extend the planting are in hand.
During the recent heavy rains the red soil has turned to a
thin, red soup – mulches, compost and sugar cane mulch has been used to provide
substance. This winter temperatures have fallen below -5 degrees, too cold for
the survival of many plants.
Winds have taken branches off the soft robinias, and broken
the blossom-heavy acacia trees. We are exposed to strong winds, and heavy
frosts as well as temperatures reaching 40 degrees. Very demanding gardening
conditions.
Next year we will have established the basics and look
forward to a less stressful and hard working year.
Dee from Doll's Paddock
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