garden reno – The Interiors Addict

By the Phillip Withers Landscape Design Team

Take a look outside and be honest. Is your backyard overgrown and a bit of a mess? Is that outdoor entertaining area still only half finished? Or, like so many of us, maybe the garden is just not your thing so you’ve never really bothered in the first place. It doesn’t matter either way because it’s never too late to resurrect an unloved garden. To help get you started Landscape Designer Phillip Withers has come up with some top tips to help you resurrect your unloved garden.

Image source: Phillip Withers Landscape Design

Top tips to resurrect an unloved garden

1. Grass – Aerate your lawn every spring with a roller/garden fork and spread lawn fertiliser all over your garden. Trim any surrounding tress that are preventing sunlight exposure to your garden and finally cut your grass approximately 2.5cm in length. This routine will put you in good stead to have beautiful, lush green grass year upon year.

2. Soil and Plants – Save any organic waste from your house and leave it in the composter for at least six months. This free compost will provide your soil with fantastic nutrients that attract earthworms, which help keep it fertilised. Focus on cultivating plants that attract birds and bees to ensure their pollination, establish weed control and those that will spread the plants seeds around the garden.

3. Herbs – Twice a year plant herbs in little pot plants or even in the edges pf the garden to make it part of the system. Not only are they a great way to help you live a healthier life, they look great and can provide great coverage and texture in many cases.

4. Water Storage – If at all possible, invest in a water tank. If you don’t have access to a bore, stream or river, rainwater (collected in the most part over the winter), is the best source of much needed water for your garden to flourish all year round,

5. Establish a routine – Your garden routine should run like clockwork, You should know what time of day you are going to: water the plants, pull out weeds, harvest any veg etc. Work hard in your garden because the more time you put in, the more you will get out. Establish a system and get the foundations right it will become a leisurely activity! Also remember that you don’t have to make it hard, using timers and modern techniques such as wicking beds can make life easier.

6. Choose a range of plants – Consider texture, shape, sound and smell, (not only aesthetic) when choosing your plants, to stimulate your senses as much as possible. Eg. Ornamental grasses move in the wind to create wonderful sounds and provide a point of interest for the eye. Incorporating food also will create the addition of an environment you can pick and eat and bring life to the whole family to learn and indulge in.

Image source: Phillip Withers

7. Lighting – In winter, your stark garden can be rejuvenated with a few strategically placed lighting elements. Place them beneath a tree or a taller plant to create an interesting and illuminating display that allows you to see your plants in a new way. This can also help to bring in the rule of a garden working from the inside just as much as the outside. Its so important to think of your garden this way if you want to green and calm in your home.

Visit the Phillip Withers Landscape Design team and garden ‘I SEE WILD’ at the 2017 Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, Garden A76. March 29th – April 2nd 2017. For more information, visit www.phillipwithers.com

Real reno: from blank canvas to the perfect kids-friendly backyard

It wouldn’t be a true home reno if there wasn’t some nasty surprises along the way! And for Alana Koch and her husband Alex, their unexpected expense came in the form of a $14,000 hole! “Our pool had to be dug out of solid rock. So instead of two days digging, it took 14 and cost $14,000. Jackhammering for two weeks straight anyone? The neighbours loved it of course.”

Buying their Randwick property off-market, they immediately fell in love with the home for its flat backyard, a rarity in Sydney’s east. The ideal blank canvas, the couple was quick to decide on a renovation plan, wanting to transform the outdoor space into the perfect garden for their three young boys.

Taking five months to transform – though a few plumbing issues with the pool saw this drag to nine – the backyard renovation wasn’t cheap, costing $120,000! Putting in a pool, deck, new shed (concealed behind the pool’s feature wall) and new fencing, Alana called on the help of professionals to bring her ideas to life. “My husband and I have zero handyman skills, so we called on the team of Harrison’s Landscaping to help us design and build the garden with another subcontractor for the pool. It was a massive job, and I can honestly say that bar painting the fence, we could have done little of it ourselves. I gave Harrison’s a big pile of images that I liked and they bought it together.”

However, while the reno was costly, there were some budget buys! “The Bluestone around the pool from Eco Outdoor was only $59 per sqm, which was cheaper than some non-stone tiles! Bargain. We also got our pool interior tiles online and they were really cheap – we didn’t mind that they were a plain colour as it allowed the outside of the pool to be the feature. We didn’t want too much going on! Finally the frangipani was a bargain buy off Gumtree, but then my husband dropped it off the back of the truck so it lost many of its branches. Still not sure if it will ever look as good again!”

Being their third renovation, and with Alana currently managing a fourth reno in Clovelly: “My husband is happy I get to enjoy the renovation with someone else’s money for a change!” she has learnt some valuable lessons from her garden reno. “My biggest learning would be just trying to manage communications between the certifiers, landscapers, pool builders and council. It is a big beast to keep track of! And my advice for would-be renovators would be if you have a hard budget, then take 30% off when you tell the builders/landscapers/architects. They will go over it. Every time!”

Processed with VSCOcam with 4 preset — After

Now there forever home, Alana is ecstatic with the final result; though it’s a challenge to pick her favourite part. “The deck is awesome as it has made the whole space feel larger. It goes straight out from the house which is great for entertaining and little kids. Of course the pool is amazing too – it is far easier for us than dragging three little kids to and from the beach! And lastly we noticed the biggest change when we painted the fence charcoal (Dulux Monument). It tied all the fencing together and really made the plants pop.”