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Updated 2 existing garden beds in our front yard with mostly native tubestock and elevated with sleepers
Materials
Tube stock from Australian Plants Online
4 x 2.4m and 4 x 3.0m pine sleepers from Bunnings
A heap of soil left over from our shed being built in the backyard
4 bags of 50L Brunnings soil improver from Bunnings
4 bags of 25L Fine Farms Cow Manure from Bunnings
Mulch from 4 trees that were dropped and shredded for our shed
4L Bondall Monocel In Ground Timber Protector from Bunnings
1L Dulux Low Sheen Black Weathershield from Bunnings
Tools
Sliding mitre saw
Wheel barrow
Brushes and rollers for painting
Shovel
Rake
Pitch fork
Crow bar
Steps
Step 1
I saw an idea in one of my old gardening books and wanted to re-create it in our front yard. I also wanted to work with the existing square garden beds instead of trying to remove them due to their brick on concrete surrounds.
The plants in them weren't very happy and I soon found out why. Someone didn't take them out of their pots before planting!
Step 2
I am terrible at taking progress photos when I get stuck into something so went through my security camera to grab some screen shots when we were all done.
With the beds cleared of plants, pots and roots. We brought left over soil around from our back yard to build up volume. We cut the four 3m sleepers in half with mitre cuts to butt them against each other to make an offset square. Before putting them on the garden, I painted them with the In Ground Timber Protector to extend their life and make them darker. We used batten screws to connect them.
We then cut the 2.4m sleepers the same to create a smaller offset square. Filled the first layer then filled the top layer with the soil, soil improver and cow manure.
We had a huge pile of mulch from dropping a few trees that we had shredded so barrowed that around as well.
I really liked the look of the black sleepers so I cleaned up the bricks with a wire brush, dusted and painted with black Weathershield.
Step 3
I love native plants so chose a mostly native selection from Australian Plants online and had them delivered.
Hubby wanted Golden Pendas in the middle of each garden so I had to wait for a month or so for them to come in as the dwarf ones weren't ready yet.
Step 4
8 months down the track, most of the plants are doing well, I lost a couple and replaced them (from Bunnings)
Step 5
2 years on, I sadly lost my Westringias and a couple of Grevilleas but the rest aren't doing too bad. I've just given everything a bit of a prune to try and bush out a bit more. I have about 3 empty spots that I need to fill, just haven't decided on what plants yet.
