Damian and Anna's Abode: July 2011

Turf Time

The hardest and most time consuming task was moving all the soil and turf. We only had weekends and an hour when we got home from work, but then once it was done it was well worth it. Putting the turf down in the backyard was fun lol.

Then the Front

Luckily the front yard was pretty level so we just had to add the top soil and dig out the garden beds. We decided that we would get the letterbox bricking done professionally (best decision ever) but we bagged and painted it ourselves. We bought the letter box insert from bunnings.

Once we had all the top soil in and level it was turf time. We went with a buffalo grass as the leaf is a bit thicker but it’s great for our area where we have salt in the soil and we get the heat and frost, so we needed something tough but soft under foot.

While the boys where laying the truf the women ( mum and I) did what we do best and went shopping.... That’s plant shopping and we got all our plants from the local nursery “Turtle’s” then we started planting.

Backyard Make Over

Honestly we had NO idea what the garden would entail and of course we only had the 3 months to complete it so that we could claim our rebate. Ironically those 3 months happened to be the most extreme weather. It was either the hottest days of summer or torrential rain and no matter what the day looked like, when we had a spare moment something was happening.

Once the fences went in all of a sudden we saw just how much fill we needed to get the backyard level. My dad said that we would need 20 tons of back fill and naturally we thought he was crazy but we put 10 tons of back fill in and then another 10 tons of top soil.

Before we spread the top soil, we discovered that land naturally slopes because when our neighbours watered their lawn, it would flood one corner of our yard. We then laid 15 metres of agg pipe that ended up looking like an art work to try and keep the water away from the house.

That is what the backyard looked like when we after hand over, the next step was to put the fences in so that we had some privacy. Our neighbour suggested Easy clip fencing they were a colourbond fence frame and then wood panels that you can slide in and out. They were great when we were landscaping and last much longer than the traditional lap & cap fence. It is my option that they are also tidier than the normal fence.

We completed our landscaping in accordance with our landscape plan so we were able to get our rebate YAY. We still have a lot that we would like to do to the backyard as funds become available, but at this stage we have a cute place to entertain and lots of room for our puppy Joey to run and play.

So here are some before and after photos. We are both really proud of how far it’s come as we did all the landscaping ourselves with the help of some keen family members.

Big Update

We haven’t updated for months, not because we haven’t done anything... quite the opposite. We've just been so busy. We have finally finished our landscaping, got blinds, tied the knot and been on an amazing honeymoon.

So this is our first post as Mr and Mrs Andre’ Yay well here goes.............

Meet our landscape Crew