Any suggestions on transforming my backyard?

[KevinPlant]

Hi, garden experts,

I am planning to transform my little backyard by myself.

Right now, I don't have any idea how to do it. Can someone help give me some inspiration?

• I am not a professional, so I am looking for something easy that can be done by myself.
• The size is 1.5m X 6m
• I have some spare natural rocks. Not sure if I can reuse them for something or just dump them.

I appreciate any help you can provide.

[BradN]

Hi @KevinPlant. How exciting to have such a nice, big blank canvas in your garden!

Do you have any ideas about what you would like to see when you step outside and look at that area? Would you like native plants as a theme, or maybe a low-maintenance succulent garden? You could put in some flowering feature shrubs. Do you need something to screen out the neighbours? You could maybe even grow some food in part of that area as well. There are a lot of options!

Could you give us a bit more information so that Workshop members can provide suitable suggestions?

What area or what sort of climate do you live in? What direction does that garden bed face, and how much direct sun does it get each day? Does the fence get very hot in the sun?

I'm sure that people will have some ideas for those rocks too. One idea that springs to mind is building a little lizard hotel for blue-tongues and other native lizards. Lizards can help you in the garden by eating snails, insects and grubs.

Let me tag garden experts @Noelle and @Adam_W to see if they have any suggestions for you. In the meantime you'll find plenty of useful information in Noelle's guide How to choose plants for your garden and Adam's guide How to plan a garden makeover. 

There are also plenty of great ideas in our Top 10 most popular garden makeovers.

I look forward to seeing where this discussion leads!

Brad

[EricL]

Hello @KevinPlant

I totally agree with @BradN's suggestion. Do you want to convert it to something useful like a vegetable garden or do you want to have a display garden or a combination of both? Once you've decided our members can then make specific recommendations on how to proceed.

Have you seen garden displays that you like? Perhaps a water feature that caught your attention? I recommend gathering pictures and ideas that you've seen and putting them into a list.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

[KevinPlant]

Hi, @BradN Thanks for your suggestions. Please see the below reply.

Do you have any ideas about what you would like to see when you step outside and look at that area?

I would like to have something simple, clean and tidy but doesn't require lots of maintenance work.

Would you like native plants as a theme, or maybe a low-maintenance succulent garden?

I prefer to have a low-maintenance succulent garden. or maybe a combination of flowers and vegetables. 

What area or what sort of climate do you live in? What direction does that garden bed face, and how much direct sun does it get each day? Does the fence get very hot in the sun?

I am in the southern part of Sydney. The garden doesn't get too much sun as there is a high fence behind it and also our neighbour's house is higher than ours.

[BradN]

Hi @KevinPlant. It sounds like a succulent or desert-themed garden bed could be a winner for you.

It would be low-maintenance because succulents generally don't need much watering and they don't make a huge mess by dropping loads of leaves and flowers everywhere. And if you use scoria or another kind of stone as mulch you won't have to top your mulch up nearly as often as you would with a timber mulch.

And there's no end of options for how you could make it look. When we hear the word "succulent" we often think of squat little plants in squat little pots. But as you can see in the succulent garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, there are also lots of amazing tall and middle-sized succulents as well as colourful, spreading ground covers. You can also add other things, such as palm trees and Dracaena species to add a different dimension to the look.

The most important thing for a succulent garden, though, is to make sure it is really well drained, with a suitable gritty soil that you will want to order in. Succulents will rot and die in wet soil. The fact that your area there is raised and sloped is good but you would still need to prepare it properly. 

Bunnings has some terrific articles on growing and caring for larger succulent and desert plants such as Dracaena "dragon trees", Agaves and Yuccas. I picked up a great little Aloe barberae at a Bunnings a few months ago – you never know what you might find in the garden centre.

Roughly how much sun does that area get each day, and at what time of day? Is the ground permanently shaded by the fence and the neighbour's house? It can be challenging to grow vegetables in spots that don't get much sun because the plants have to put a lot of (solar) energy into making them.

Let me tag horticultural experts @Noelle and @Adam_W to see if they have any suggestions or advice for you.

Brad

[KevinPlant]

Hi @BradN 

I love the idea of a succulent or desert-themed garden bed. I think this will be the right choice for us.

However, we do have a few problems：

• As shown in the picture, there are lots of big rocks at the bottom of the garden bed, and also, on the top of the garden bed, there are many rocks. We have tried to plant succulents previously, but it doesn't work very well. I am not sure if it is because the soil is poor in nutrients. Do you have any adviser for it?
• And also it is very hard to get rid of the weed. I tried to clean it a few times but it keeps growing. Do you have any suggestions to kill the weed? Because it is not flat, it is hard to cover it all with a weed mat.

[BradN]

Hi @KevinPlant. Personally, I wouldn't worry about the rocks at all. You're going to be creating a kind of desert landscape, so if any rocks are left visible once you've got your plants in and your mulch on the ground you can consider them a feature! The tree stumps you might want to cut down closer to ground level when the time comes.

One of our resident D.I.Y. experts, @EricL, should be able to give you some advice on the weeds, recommending a weed killer and possibly "solarising" the area by covering it in black plastic for a period of weeks to make sure the weeds are properly killed off.

Possibly the most challenging part of the project would be preparing the existing soil for the new succulent-friendly soil that you will want to order in. You will want to establish a suitable grade/slope that the new soil can sit on without getting washed downhill in heavy rain. I'm sure Eric and others can offer you some advice on that as well.

Brad

[TheHandySqirrel]

Hi @KevinPlant,

apart from the excellent advice you've already received I'd consider hiding the fence as it's not very pleasant to look at.

You can research some hardy Australian climbers that survive in the conditions you have described already. Many Aussie plants can cope with little water and a rocky environment. Also check with your local council, most offer a list of plants that occur naturally in their area. Then you can install a trellis or string some metal wires to give them help to climb up. (You might want to check with your neighbour if they're ok for you to attach something to the fence.)

I would collect the rocks and heap them into small piles throughout the garden bed. These can act as lizard hotels, but might also give some visual interest. And you can always move them later as you get more (and maybe better) ideas as to what to do with them. 

[EricL]

Hello @KevinPlant

As @BradN has suggested, an effective way to kill the weeds is to cover the area with the builder's plastic. This will cut the weeds off from the sun and prevent photosynthesis from happening. It will take a few weeks, but it is a safe option as it does not require any kind of chemical in the soil. Once you've decided on a look for your garden, I suggest working on one section at a time. This will allow you to prepare each section without being rushed and overwhelmed.

Preparing the soil surface will depend on the plants that you've chosen. Those plants that need a deep root base will need to have the rocks cleared out. While those that don't just need to have good soil for them to grow on. I suggest having a look at this guide - How to install a drip irrigation watering system by @Adam_W. Even though the plants you'll probably be using are drought-tolerant,  they will eventually need some water.

If you plan on filling the area with soil, I suggest speaking to your store's special orders desk about ordering soil in large quantities.   

Please keep us updated on your progress, we look forward to seeing the start of your backyard transformation.

Eric