Landscaping

After the installation of the solar hot water and once the new cylinder was installed it was time to sit back, relax and enjoy owning a home... not living in it yet, but it was close to Christmas, so that was something to keep our minds occupied.

Of course mine was thinking about the next thing to do on the house... naturally landscaping.

Here's what the grounds currently look like...




Driveway looking North

Garden by Front Door

Looking East across Front of Section

East side of Section looking South

Looking across the Southern boundary

Looking West from centre of southern boundary

Looking Northwest from Southern boundary

Southern Back Corner of Section

Northern Garden under Deck

 

We weren't in Auckland so the next best thing for me was to talk to someone down here in Blenheim
about landscaping.  They obviously couldn't see the house, but hey I had photo's, and it's all about the vision isn't it... hahahaha... Well Christo Saggers, a landscape designer down there, was willing to give it a go.

He came up with what I think is a practical and yet awesome design.  Refer below.

We'll make a few minor alterations, but mostly we'll keep to his plan.

Much of what needs to be done can't be started until the section, which is currently sloped, is leveled and retaining walls are installed.  I think there will be about 4 or 5 retaining walls in total, just so that we can have the garden I want... cos let's face it, Rowan doesn't mind what happens as long as it's flat for him to mow and he has a vege garden to grow his veges.  Currently the house ticks none of these boxes.  But we don't yet have the money to do all the grounds work we want to do, so it's going to be a bit by bit project.

The other major thing that is missing at the actual house but is in the plans is the back deck.  This currently doesn't exist.  But it's not just a back deck, it's also a garage extension underneath.  This will fill in the slope in the Looking northwest from the southern boundary.  The ground level is the garage and the upper level is the lounge.  So the garage will be extended and the deck built on top as outdoor living space.

For now, considering we aren't even up there, the first things that will need to be done are as follows
1:    Remove all trees currently planted around the section.  Many of these are dead or just plain in the wrong place, so we are going to start with a blank canvas

2:    Plant fruit trees along the eastern border.  This border will not be changing in height as we can't retaining wall right up to the fence, so there will be a 1 metre slope on the eastern side.  This will be planted with espaliered fruit trees.  Currently looking at different designs.  This will be mostly Apple, Pear & Peach trees.  We might do the Belgian Fence, see diagram below, but this will be alot of trees for not much fruit, but it would make an awesome hedge as well.

 

Belgian Fence

3:    Put in the retaining wall along southern boundary.  We know this will be there, and it can go in now as it won't have to move when we do the alterations.  Also means we can get very small plants as the hedge will have time to grow.  I think there is about 40 Griselina Lucida plants going in, so getting them small and cheap is the way to go!!!

Griselina Lucida

4:   Plant Calla Lillies and Carnations along the driveway all the way up to the house.  Expensive, but I think it will look lovely.  Not sure whether to do a mix of colours all the way up, or whether I should colour co-orindate them.  Will need to think about it before buying the plants.

Calla Lily - Amarillo

Calla Lily - HotShot

Calla Lily - Sunrise

5:   Plant my Alstroemeria plants temporarily.  I have many alstroemaria plants that I have brought or been given while in Woodbourne.  These are currently all in pots, but they'll need to be planted once we get to Auckland else they'll probably die.  Because these can't go in until the second southern retaining wall is built they will have to go into the garden somewhere.  Haven't decided where that will be, but luckily they transplant pretty easily, so won't be a problem moving them.

6:   Put in a temporary vege garden
7:   Put in a temporary worm farm
8:   Put in temporary composting (Can always be moved/restarted)

I think for now that is enough, I don't think we'll get all of this done by Christmas, but I'll post photo's as we move along the plan.