More pics

And a few more pics.

Finished the garden

Well, close enough anyway. We've got a few more projects down the track, like a deck, and a vegetable patch, but for now, the garden's pretty much done, for the time being.

We added some mop tops, a gardenia, star jasmine, liriopes, a crepe myrtle, some lilli pillis, some red cordylines, and more viburnum.

Hopefully by the end of next spring, the virburnums will start to form a hedge.

Path

Not overly exciting, but it's another job ticked off towards our final occupancy certificate. We used crushed granite and hired a compacter from Bunnings, (about half the price of Kennards)to finish the path up the side of the house. On reflection, the brown looks a lot like dirt. If I were to do it again, I'd probably go with the sandy colour, but it's tidy enough, and whilst it's a bit up and down in places, it does the job.

Garden beds

We've finished some garden beds down the narrow side of the house. It's small area, but we wanted something other than the fence to look at out of our kitchen window, so we've planted some left over bromeliads, clivias, birdsnests and Aloe vera. We're hoping the weather will be good next week so that we can get some crushed granite in, to finish off the pathway.

Landscaping

After hours spent getting the edging down, and preparing the garden beds, the planting was pretty quick. Finally starting to look more like a garden. Still plenty to do, but it's a start. Hopefully the pine bark mulch will keep most of the weeds away. We ended up getting larger, more established plants than was on our landscaping plan. A bit more expensive, but hopefully they'll hedge up a bit faster.

Still staining

We're slowly getting there. First coat finished on the side fence. It only took a day and a half. Let's hope the second coat goes on a bit faster. Got some more edging done. Still need to take up some turf for the garden beds, but we're making progress. Hopefully we'll be planting in a few weeks. Hopefully

Nearmaps update

Nearmaps has just released its latest update. I've been waiting for this one for a before and after overhead shot.

Edging and staining

A lovely way to spend a long week end. Out in the rain, digging the soaked clay and chipping away at concrete wall footings to get the edging in. The combination of rock hard soil, concrete and rocks gave me about a 50% break rate on the wooden spikes that anchored the edging in. We went for treated pine edging. It works out a bit cheaper than some of the alternatives, though I suspect won't be quite as durable as steel of bricks/pavers. We also started the staining, getting the first coat completed on the inside of the fence and giving us a preview of the finished product. My guess by our coverage rate so far is that we are looking at 4-5 10 litre tins of stain. At about $150 a tin, It soon adds up.

I still have plenty more edging ahead of me. I still have to do the garden beds in the front and side gardens.

Watching paint dry

We had a few threatening grey clouds looming as we washed up our brushes. We had a light sprinkle of rain, but nothing that should do any damage. It seems to have held up well.

Painting

A solid weekend of painting behind us, and we've go all the brickwork finished. Now just the fun of staining or painting the wood part to look forward to.

More fencing pictures

Fences Completed

Fences are up. Looks good. Fencers from Amazing Timber Fencing did a good job.