progress in the garden (Project 1)

I've been promising to share with you the progress we have been making in our garden. Inspired by this post by Anna over at Door Sixteen, I decided it was high time I put together a little photo journey of our work in progress.

We've owned the house now for almost 3 years and spent the first couple of those years concentrating on the original interiors which needed our TLC.

So about a year ago we started on our exterior makeover with the demolition of an old farm shed that sat at a 45 degree angle across the corner of our rear yard. We had no fences and the billy goat next door frequently popped in for a visit - much to my initial shock - in true city girl style.

While I'm writing this I'm thinking it is going to be an essay of a post as we literally have 4-5 outside projects on the go at the same time. I think the better way to do this is to tell you about one of the projects, the most finished one. Note I say MOST finished as I question whether any of the projects will actually ever be truly finished. I love to read Studio G - garden design blog - and recall an article featuring a most amazing garden which was owned by a landscape designer himself. Anyway, he admitted that it had taken 10 years to create which has stuck in my mind as an OK target to have for our time management. What do you think???

Enough of the blurb, here's the pictorial journey of our now private front yard. It is where the kids spend most of their time, directly accessed from a downstairs playroom (the sliding doors), visible for me from the kitchen upstairs and a great place to ride their bikes!

In it's sad and sorry state pre-makeover

no more escapees of the 2 or 4 legged kind - all fenced in

as all good renos go - while removing the concrete we broke the gas line

then a blank canvas

pavers go down and get a couple of sealer coats
(I cop some fairy major sunburn on the back of my neck...ouch)

garden bed walls are built

the sandpit gets filled, garden walls are painted black
and the family moves in!
oh..and we also lined the metal fence with a willow screen

planting has started - the unfinished brick walls in the centre are for
storage and will eventually have hinged timber slat seats with big 'ole
comfy cushions for sipping G&T in the sun

As with all projects there are still unfinished jobs. The seat being one and a pergola the other. This area gets hit with the sun quite severely in the Summer so we are hoping to build a shade structure before then so we can truly enjoy our new outdoor space.

The most recent edition is the Magnolia tree (Little Gem variety) which we planted on the weekend in the large box. On the other side we have combined Kangaroo Paws and Cordylines (Coffee & Cream). The lowest planter is filled with kitchen herbs and colourful flowers. So far the garden seems to be thriving but the true test will be the months around the corner. 

(sorry about the images being all out of alignment... I'm afraid it's in the too hard basket tonight.... might try to look at it tomorrow)