Lauren and I have learnt a lot on our gardening and landscaping journey. Over the years we have fixed and installed landscapes all over the Joondalup area. It was about time that we really used our skills to do something good for someone and that lucky person was my grandmother. We cleaned out her garage, shed and provided a major upgrade to her backyard. This was a well deserved present and we love doing garden makeovers for my grandma.
The project involved ripping up the paving and replacing it with a travertine French pattern. The stone was purchased from Freo Stone. Out of all the businesses we contacted, freo stone were the only ones willing to bring the pavers up the community driveway right to the garage door in a timely fashion. We were very happy with this as the other businesses wanted to deliver the pavers to the bottom of the driveway. If this had happened then we would have had to endure hours of hard labour whilst trying to cart the product up the hill!
A Special Thanks
A lot of the family came to help on the job and even some friends! We would like to give a special thanks to Luke Ferguson and Colin Luthwood for their efforts because they have never met my grandmother before but kindly offered their services which proved to be crucial to the end product. Luke has worked for Gardens Australia for a while and knows the ins and outs of our work. Colin is an experienced ex brick paver with 15 years under his belt which was a major boost to our efforts. He now runs a martial arts gym known as Joondalup Martial Arts. Lauren and I have been at the gym for years now and we couldn’t recommend a better coach! Garden makeovers for free involve one very important resource: And that is time.
Paving
We laid the travertine in a beautiful French pattern which took a couple of days but it was well worth the effort!. Yellow sand was used as the base and pavelock was used to bond the pavers upon completion. The edges were cemented in and we were ready to move onto the next task!
Vegetable Garden Box
Anyway, whilst the paving was ripped up, we got plenty more done. We started by moving the clothesline to make space for a pine wood vegetable box. The veggie box: There was a lot of labour and planning involved, with a great finish. We considered many options such as prefabricated galvanised boxes or small wooden boxes. None of the products seemed adequate to reach our standard, so we brought out the mitre saw!. We customised the box and got the perfect finish!. We also ran irrigation pipes into the box to supply the veggies and herbs with water.
Irrigation
As Luke and I laid the pavers, Lauren lead a team of two labourers to install the trenches for irrigation. They dug a grid around the garden and ensured each sprinkler sprayed to the base of its counterpart. We used drippers for the tiger bamboo down the side and drippers for the vegetable garden.
Water Feature
We bought a water feature from Prime Liquidations in Wangara. We knew it would look fantastic in Lizzies garden so we went ahead and installed it. The water feature cables run deep underground, then under the paving along with the cables for the lighting and plugs into the wall at the house.
Planting
Then came the fun part! We basically had a blank canvas on the ground, as the garden was mainly bare except for a few trees. This made for a fun install because the trees were so well established therefore they provided a canopy for the new plants. Strong shade meant we could use cool tropical, colourful and vibrant plants.
We planted many different plants: begonias, bromeliads, cordyline, impatiens and even a banana tree! This brought so much beautiful colour to the garden. Which made for a even better reason to include the lighting!
Lighting
We installed lights in the water feature and also spotlights pointing to the established trees. The lights really accentuated the trees and made the water feature appear to be more exciting. The best part about the lights, is that Lizzie now had double the viewing pleasure of her landscape. Not only does the garden look beautiful during the day, she now has a backyard focal point for nighttime too.
Retaining
After the paving was complete, we noticed the fence was sitting very low in relation to the finished floor level. Therefore we had to put a small dash of limestone retaining to stop the sub base of the paving undermining through the gaps of the fence. This was unforeseen in the planning phase but was easily rectified and only took a couple of hours. When we do these jobs we want to ensure they last a very long time and avoid causing any future mishaps.
Conclusion
So after all the work was done, we installed a bonus reel hose for Lizzie and bought her some nice furniture which also came from Prime Liquidations. The owner at the store was kind enough to provide a discount and throw in a bunch of free pillows since we had also bought a water feature from them. We will definitely be returning customers! Garden makeovers for free are very fulfilling and remind us that we are going in the right direction with our business and destiny!