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What size is your garden?
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Posted by shazd VIC Aust (My Page) on Tue, Aug 16, 05 at 21:34
| I am curious as to what size everyone's gardens are. You all seem to fit in a large variety of lovely plants and I'm wondering how you manage it. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: What size is your garden?
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| Don't know the exact size of my garden, all up we have about 5 acres but only the house yard is planted up. It is roughly 150m long and about 60 - 70m wide, cut into the side of a hill facing south - brrrr in winter! The house sits sideways, right in the middle, supposedly to take advantage of some views (not much of a view) but makes it awkward to work around, especially when half the back (or should I say,side) yard is on a slope. Doing up a rainforest area on the slope - southern side,
Vege gardens, chook pen, kids and dogs play area - western end
Driveway - eastern end
1.5 - 2m retaining wall 2m from back of house - northern side. Normally wouldn't have chosen this house but didn't have a lot of choice at the time. Turned out to be a challenge! Cheers |
RE: What size is your garden?
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- Posted by ashmeri Cent. Qld.Aust. (My Page) on
Wed, Aug 17, 05 at 0:18
| 1 acre in a forty acre block. Water is from a dam and rain water so we are careful with it. closest neighbour is on the other side of their 40 acre block and only a couple of cars go along the road a day.
Very peaceful Marion |
RE: What size is your garden?
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Hi,
Well, I have just the normal "1/4 acre block". Obviously, by the time you take out the space taken up by a long driveway, the tool shed, the garden shed, the aviary and the patio my garden pales in comparison with those above. I must admit a bit of envy to all that space for growing things!!
Cheers,
Dee. |
RE: What size is your garden?
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| Hi Shazd I live on a 3/4 acre block that about 3000 m2, about 1/4 of that is fenced off for "Chooky Heaven" we have put down a very wide road base driveway almost all the way around the house and to the 10x10 mt shed/garage plus the house. And there is still plenty of room when I want a extra garden bed for Roses or Veggies we just rip up more of the grass that is here and aquire some bricks or hardwood for the edge, it also pretty level except when I decide too fill the barrow up with bricks or soil and realise I cannot push it up this small incline so have to holler for a hubby, I do feel very lucky to be able to do these things when I want as so many people have tiny gardens and have to do without some of the plants they would like to grow and I feel sorry for them ... Cheers...MM |
RE: What size is your garden?
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| Hi Shazd, I know what you mean about 'how they all manage it'. It seems to me that we have access here, to an unbelieveable knowledge base. Is there anything they don't know?? I have 1.5 acres on the Gold Coast which I got just before the housing boom up here. And, I DON't manage it. Its a mess. I've thrown in some half baked garden beds that I have no time to maintain. I haven't mown in 4 months - my weeds are growing exceptionally well - I have holes all over the place from when I hired a Kanga about 2 months ago and dug stumps out (the way I broke the Kanga bucket which cost me and extra $75 that I didn't have is another story). There is also the stumps and other wood from dead trees that needs burning. I have a bag of bird seed in the garage that I've had for 4 months but haven't got around to building a bird feeder (now the mice are into it) and the recent floods took my fence down in two places. Now, do you feel a little better. My philosophys are 'One step at a time', 'Rome wasn't built in a day', 'Its the journey not the destination', and sometimes 'Never do today what you could put off till tomorrow'. Take it easy. We'll all get there in the end. |
RE: What size is your garden?
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| I have a small suburban block with a garage, a shed, a driveway, a patio designated space, a folding clothes line and concrete path up the other sideway. Luckily I inherited a huge fig tree and a big old apple tree at the end of the garden, helped along by the neighbours' birch tree parking itself over our fence. Next door have a few huge shrubs and a giant tree alongside our drive, so we borrow their greenery.Into this sheltered garden I cram a vegetable garden, a lawn, and a rose bed, flanked by fruit trees. My front garden has a front plot of mostly lawn, a crab apple tree, a wattle tree, and a plum tree. I am busy digging up the lawn a little at a time, - some kind of couch grass, and digging more and more space for my various plants, including a new bed of David Austins, half of which I think I will have to transplant next season after they show their true colours. After I have finished??? I will start on the nature strip, a treeless stretch of couch grass.I also have pot plants lining the verandah, and hanging baskets of pansies around the front of the house.When I run out of space, I will make a fernery between the garage and the shed for my orchids, which have to live on the patio on small tables, in case my terriers feel like digging them up and curling themselves up into the pots. This year I have set in some ramblers and climbers to add something to the garage, trees and shed. I am very careful with water and recycle into the garden, although I would like a tank to collect rainwater as well. I have worn my neighbours down next door with my endless gardening and they have set in twelve standards, Freesias and Icebergs, in their front garden, so that's nice. Their dog is as big as a horse, so that puts an end to their back garden.If I had a bigger block, I would just keep on gardening so I suppose it doesn't matter what size your garden is, as long as you make the most of it. |
RE: What size is your garden?
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Shazd - what size is YOUR garden? - you haven't told us :-)
I am another with an acre to garden, and still have trouble finding places for new things, and am gradually making new beds, and invading the grassed areas.
I think 'fairy'(above) sums it up well for the mad keen suburban gardeners - most keen suburban gardeners I know simply don't have lawn.
I have gardened in every house I have owned or rented, including a small flat with a large (Afghan Hound) dog in the tiny backyard.
When the chidren were young I had less time and cash for gardening, so I took 10 years to establish my lovely garden at our last house. I decided when I came here that I wanted this one established in 5 years as I am older, and want to appreciate it in it's finished state sooner (a garden is really NEVER finished)
I now have more time and spare cash to put into the garden and have achieved far more than I intended in the last 4 years, but have plans for much more than I can do in the next year, and have already started changing some of the early work I did here, and redesigning, or enlarging areas.
If you want a garden overnight, then you can do that with a rotary hoe, a truckload of soil, some edging material, some iceberg roses, lavender, mondo grass and lawn seed ... BUT .... look at the finished product and ask yourself .... "is this really a garden?"
The joy of gardening for me is in the doing, not in the finished pruduct, so I guess mine will never really look finished. I would just be pleased if i could get to mid Spring having weeded every bed, and tidied up the pots and tool so I can proudly show off my efforts to visitors.
Cheers, Jan |
RE: What size is your garden?
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| We have 11 acres of which only the house block (6-8 acres) are garden. The block was bare when we moved here 5-6 years ago so we have planted about 1500 trees, most of them decidious. At the moment we are planting conifers, but have holes ready for more silver birch trees. The garden beds are mainly around the house, but are slowly being extended out when time and energy allows. We create garden beds by putting down a 20cm layer of manure (free courtesy the sale yards) and topping it with a very thick layer of straw (cheap courtesy farmer-in-law). Nothing much gets through the straw, so maintenance is low. We have a very big ride-on mower so we manage to keep up with the grass. The large vegie garden is 'no-dig', so not much work there. We both water, mow and do maintenance, but I do the planting, take cuttings, pruning, designing etc. The spouse makes me garden arches, pagolas, fences and anything else I want (although some things take a lot more pleading/nagging/begging than others.) The stonehenge for example has been a little slow in construction. We got the stones, but the slaves have yet to materialize. And lately we have been spending a lot of time visiting sick parents, (who do not live locally) so time has been a problem. There are many, many times when I look at a surburban block and think how lovely it would be, but I know myself well enough to know that once that block was filled I would be itching to get more land. |
RE: What size is your garden?
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- Posted by shazd VIC Aust (My Page) on
Wed, Aug 17, 05 at 19:37
Jan, I'm sorry, I did neglect to say I have an average size house block with a smallish house but large garage on it and the usual drive up the side of the house. The garden is certainly very basic at the moment but I'm keen to learn more and try new plants, etc. Fairy did sum it up well - the more room you have the more you want - a bit like money, the more you earn the more you spend! It has been interesting to read about everyone's space and how they use it, gives me a few ideas of making the most of the space I have. Sometimes hearing others' ideas helps us to "think outside the square" and look at what appear to be limitations to an inexperienced gardener, as opportunities. For example, if you don't have much room to plant in the ground - plant in pots; a very shady spot on one side of the house - a good opportunity to try out the lovely shade loving plants, etc. Thanks for sharing everyone!
Sharon |
RE: What size is your garden?
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Sharon, I guessed you had an ordinary sized block, which was why you were asking what size gardens the rest of us have and, how do we fit so much into them.
Well, I learnt a lot from the late English gardener, Mary Verey. Mary didn't have a small garden, but she didn't have a grand one either. In her books and videos, she advised that we should learn to weave plants in and out of each other, and, not to be afraid of over planting, or, of removing plants if and when they outgrew their place in the garden. She also advised to plant in drifts of odd numbers, say 3, 5 or 7 of the one plant. This way, not only does a block of colour give a small garden a more generous look, but it's easy to remove each second plant, without leaving a gap at one end.
When you don't have the luxury of a large garden, you can't really afford to have parts of it with not much happening for too long. Therefore, you need to search out plants which have a long flowering time, or at least a long time when they look reasonable. The best way to do this is to buy one of a plant you like, grow it for a while (maybe a year), to see how it performs before you buy more, take cuttings, or divide it. Of course you'll always want some plants which, although they only flower for 5 minutes, you have to have because you love them. We all understand these things.
Happy gardening. |
RE: What size is your garden?
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| I have a half acre full of plants.....well apart from the house/sheds/drive/paths/ponds.....:)...and it is also full of Bandicoots, anyone want any??????? |
RE: What size is your garden?
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RE: What size is your garden?
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| Come and get some of my bandicoots please. I was blaming the dogs for the holes in the garden until holes started appearing in the vegie garden, strawberry patch, etc which is all fenced off from the dogs. The overgrown rats, sorry bandicoots, are digging right beside the plants and exposing the roots. I know they're probably after grubs but could they be careful of the plants! I've also noticed a scrub turkey is investigating my rainforest garden in the house yard. I don't mind them visiting just as long as they make their nests down in the gully in the paddock. |
RE: What size is your garden?
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My garden is about 5 acres on a 40 acres property, Ive got plans to plant the entire place with rainforest species.
Converting cattle pasture back to an assortment of local and Queensland rainforest species.
From Kris |
RE: What size is your garden?
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I guess that this is one of the few advantages(?) of a suburban block...less problem with wildlife foraging for food. Still, I think you guys are pretty lucky to commune with nature like that. I would feel honoured to share my garden them. All we have is little ringtailed possums (which I love) and birds (which are all welcome). I'm envious!
Cheers,
Dee. |
RE: What size is your garden?
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| Mine is a suburban block Dee. One with young moved in just over three years ago and now I have Bandicoot tracks all through the yard, some places I just can't have any plants because that is their highway. I am not really complaining and have done my best to give them a place to breed. I just wonder where they are going to expand to, this place isn't big enough for all that are here now. |
RE: What size is your garden?
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Wow, So many people have such huge gardens.. here i am, I have just bought my first home and have about 1000sqm to create gardens etc and am thinking wow that is a lot.. now I think .. mine is tiny compared to others. But as someone else mentioned I have had gardens in every rental I have ever been in, including those in mountains of pot.. and I am so very excited to be able to make my yard just they way I want it.. until I want something else that is :)
Cheers
Sal |
RE: What size is your garden?
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I have an odd house block - 1/3 acre [about 1350 square metres], so subtract house, bbq / potting area & garage - a total of 256 sq m, giving me a theoretical 1077 sq m of garden. In practice, it's smaller garden & lots of scruffy-no-longer-grassed, but nothing-much-growing-there-yet area. I guess I could deduct the 21 sq m chook run, but that has a tangelo & a mulberry growing in there. I do have many trees & a newly planted 24 sqm vege / strawberry / herb garden, passionfruit tangled with assorted climbers on all the fences & another dozen or so fruit trees in pots on the front veranda. My ultimate aim is no grass, lots of wildflowers, food plants, herbs & trees, especially fruit trees.
We have had a flock of rainbow lorikeets visiting us the last few days & have a resident young female brushtail possum. I try to plant just as many food plants for the visiting wildlife as I do for us.
& I definitely agree with Larsman - one tiny step at a time.
Happy gardening, Shazd. |
RE: What size is your garden?
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| I have one approximately on acre inside my fence, which allowing for house and driveway, gives me a reasonably large garden compared to a suburban house block. The size of my garden is restricted to this size due to water availability, which comes from rainwater in a dam. In times of desperation the dam can be filled from an irrigation channel. I have a large area of lawn because I regard this as my fire break, climate control for the house, and I'd go barmy if I couldn't see that patch of green when everything outside the fence is brown. I also have a large driveway because as well as providing access to the house and garage, it is an area that does not require water. Between the lawn and the fence are the garden beds, heavily mulched with straw. This provides a fairly low maintenance garden - no trees to mow around, concrete edges that can be trimmed with a power edger, drippers on all the garden beds. All it takes is an hour on the rider mower and the garden looks very tidy. I can manage the rest on the fine, mild, sunny days as I am a "fair weather gardener". I love Wattleblosson's philosophy on planting, such commonsense, down to earth advice - must find out more about this Mary Verey. |
RE: Mary Verey
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| Hey Wattleblossom, I have just done a google search on Mary Verey...not much result. But, could the lady be Rosemary Verey? - lots of results on that search. Do you recommend the names of any books etc, as her philosophy sounds just right for my garden. Ann |
RE: What size is your garden?
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- Posted by Snodge Outer Sydney (My Page) on
Mon, Aug 22, 05 at 6:24
My garden is 1440 square metres minus small house, garage and granny flat. For a long time I fantasized about acreage, but what we've got now is enough to keep me busy what with commuting to work and all.
About half my garden is natives or wilderness and the other half a circular rose garden. Started off as a mandala permaculture type garden, but this proved not very compatable with current lifestyle, leaving for work in the dark coming home again in the dark, so gradually roses took it over. Water is a limiting factor here too. I can really relate to the comment re gradually removing all the grass...I'm beginning to wonder whether we'll need the ride on lawnmower soon, especially since younger son has decided to install a 5m x 10m basketball area where the main swathe of grass once was.... |
RE: What size is your garden?
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Yes Anne, the lady's name was Rosemary. I don't know why I took the liberty of shortening her name.
She wrote several books of which my favourite is 'Rosemary Verey's Making of a Garden'. It is from this book that I learnt a great deal, especially about the planning and planting of a perennial border.
The book's ISBN is 0-8050-3956-2 |
RE: What size is your garden?
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| Thanks wattleblossom, I will keep a look out for this book - I'm always looking for inspiration and ways to make my garden look better. |
RE: What size is your garden?
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I've got about 200 square metres of back garden where I try to grow everything. Once the fruit trees establish
[lychee, longan, loquat, mango, avacado, 5 bananas, custard apple, nectarine, fejoia, lemon, orange, grapfruit, calamondin, kumquat, bush lemon, tamarillo, mangostene, bay tree]
there won't be much room for anything else. But in the mean time I have a bed of raspberries, one of onions and one of chinese vegies, lettuce growing everwhere, tomatoes, silverbeet, some zucchini, pumpkin, luffa, strawberries (as ground cover) beans, peas, celery sprouting from wild seed sets, fennel, globe artichokes, jerusalem artichokes, asparagus, and goodness only knows what else. The garden is small but the growing is fun. ;-) |
RE: What size is your garden?
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| I am delighted by all the descriptions of wild life, as my suburban block doesn't get much - the resident dogs chase away the backyard bird visitors if the gate is left open into the garden area - they cant even drink from the birdbath, but I do have a faithful pair of scroungers in the front garden, a pair of magpies. Also large black birds, are they ravens or crows - who take the magpies' bread and soak it in the birdbath out front, first, and then daintily eat it. They insist on vigorous baths leaving murky water full of feathery bits for the sparrows. We get rainbow lorikeets, galahs, corellas and a pair of honey eaters, but no four footed visitors. |
RE: What size is your garden?
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- Posted by shazd VIC Aust (My Page) on
Sat, Aug 27, 05 at 20:15
Wattleblossom thanks for the information on Rosemary Verey's book. Sounds like an interesting one that I'll have to search for.
Sharon |
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