Before Shots - The Front Garden

I have just realised how long it's been since I last posted. I really need to get my butt back into gear. All our time is spent on the house and garden at the moment. There are so many things to get done but I am beginning to feel we are making some progress, even if the list grows longer each day.

Here are some before shots of our front yard.

This is from the footpath. We had started to clean up the front (hence the green bin and rake) when I remembered to grab the camera. The trees at the front are mainly lilly pillys but we think they are going to need replacing in order to make a hedge. They have been neglected for too long and there are huge gaps in the branches right where the hedge should be. They are a beautiful variety (not sure of the name yet). The new growth is pink. The two palms are going though.

I am standing on the driveway here. We are trying to coax the box hedge back and I think it is beginning to work. The little grassed bit will eventually be replaced with garden. There is also some lovely old stone edging under the grass that we will rescue and reuse for the garden edging.

This is from the porch. We have a huge front porch that will be lovely and cool in summer as it misses out on the afternoon sun. Not sure what pot plants I can put there though. You can get a better idea of the grass area here. My plan for the front garden is a mix of native and traditional cut flowers. I think I will keep the backyard as the productive area.

Starting on the Back Yard

I have just gone through my photos and realised I don't really have a complete before shot of the back yard - oops.

Here is the best photo I can find (at least it has the area we began work on).

Our backyard is basically edged with weeds that have become trees or shrubs, ten ill-placed pines down one side, a sterile mulberry tree and a camellia. All of which have been left to go nuts. That's just two sides of the yard. The other side has a shed (yeah!) a pergola and a beautiful old frangipani tree that has paving right up to the trunk. There isn't any grass in the middle, just a few weeds and dirt.

The great thing about this is that we can pretty much design the garden ourselves. I am working on a design and I will post it as soon as I can figure out how to.

Yesterday, Mr Berry started on clearing the backyard. There were seven (yes seven) small pines planted along the north-eastern fence (there are still four absolutely huge ones there blocking a lot of the morning sun - they need a professional). Seriously, they were about 70cm apart - who would do that? They were chopped off and mulched. It took just about all day but by nightfall this is what remained:

I don't know if you can see the stumps at the back. Mr Berry only had time to get three of them out. Around the trees was full of Wandering Jew so we needed to do as much weeding as possible before lifting the stumps.

And, all seven trees were turned into this:

Not even a cubic metre of compost. I was sure I would have enough for a hot compost pile. I haven't checked the pile yet to see if it is heating up at all. If it's still cold by lunch time I will pile it into my smaller bin and start it cold composting.

Now that the sun can get to the ground there, we are going to make an interim veggie patch. In the long run I want a mandala garden for the veggies but that will take some time.

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And a big Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there. I am lucky to have my Dad and Miss Berry feels the same way.

Rhonda from Down to Earth wrote a post earlier in the year that reflects my thoughts on Father's Day.

It's true, the boys are often lurking in the background of the blogs and we get glimpses of them now and then. In reality, Mr Berry is the opposite. He is at the forefront of our family, supporting, guiding and following. He is my team member, and makes up for my weaknesses and helps my strengths to grow. Thank you Mr Berry for being a wonderful husband and father. I love you.