A client wanted to bring to life a tired-old driveway covered in weeds and full of gullies. The perfect solution was a re-application of Lilydale Toppings. I say Lilydale Toppings but that's an old trade name - They are no longer available since the quarry closure some years ago. They are now available under different trade names such as Lilycan or Lilystream toppings. Basically the same product. It is off white to light grey gravel with white fines. It has a light beige finish when dry. It is ideal for driveways and paths and won't go soft or muddy with rain. But it needs to be compacted. For this kind of project you need to buy the aggregate from a garden supplies centre and aim for a 80mm thick coverage on top of a 40mm rock base. You can hire a plate compactor from Bunnings for about $60 a day, to complete the job yourself.
Selecting the right lawn for your home is crucial. One of the best choices for Melbourne is a hard-wearing, shade tolerant soft leaf buffalo lawn like DNA Certified Sir Walter. This is a more expensive option but is a proven and reliable turf/lawn. Instant turf installation isn't as simple as you think. The two best times of the year to do instant turf projects are in autumn and early spring. Avoid doing this job in the middle of summer as turf needs a moist bed and regular watering (better with natural rainfall) to establish . Beforehand, you need to remove all existing weeds, grasses and old lawn and level your area. To avoid spraying weeds with a glyphosate herbicide, try covering the weed area with black plastic. The technique is called sheet mulching, and after a few months your area will be clear for excavation. You will need to remove some soil as part of the overall landscaping process: for small areas this can be done by hand with shovels. An existing sand/soil underlay of about 40mm is advisable. It is best to have your turf delivered on the day you intend to lay it, so be sure to have all your preparation done beforehand. When laying the turf sheets, stagger the joints like brickwork and avoid cutting out small pieces as these will dry out quickly. Watering is crucial: while the job is in progress and afterwards at least twice a day for the first weeks.
AS family needs change, one dilemma that often emerges is what to do with the backyard swimming pool. Those inground pools - once popular when we had plenty of kids around and less stringent council safety rules - are now becoming largely unused 'money pits'. They require hundreds of dollars a year to maintain and an alarming amount of electricity to power filters. If the children have long flown the coop and you only use the pool a handful of times each summer, it may make sense to decommission it. A regular Preston client recently faced up to this decision and then bit the bullet. However, it wasn't cheap though ("it cost as much to decommission it than it did to build it 25 years ago"). Nonetheless, the owners found it was worth filling in the old pool because of the regulations and high costs of having a pool in Victoria. All pools and spas, permanent and relocatable, that are capable of holding a depth of water greater than 300mm are required to be registered with the property owner’s local council by 1 November 2020 under the new Victorian government mandatory requirements. Post registration, all pools and spas must then undergo a periodic inspection and certification of the safety barrier required every four years. In this case, after engineers decommissioned the Preston pool, it was topped with instant turf and has increased the size of their back courtyard for entertaining.
Simple drip irrigation systems are a great way to preserve your much-loved garden and enhance your lifestyle, especially over the drier summer months. A critical time for gardens is the December, January, February, even March period, and if your garden experiences a prolonged dry period like Melbourne just has, without receiving regular watering, then plants will inevitably suffer and die.
If you don't have an irrigation system, and you are away from your place, your garden's plants are relying on the luck of the gods and/or the goodwill and reliability of neighbours and friends for their survival. Do you want to take that chance?
In February, I installed three drip irrigation systems, combining in-line drip tubes and plug-in drippers. In-line drip tubes (often brown coloured) are poly pipes that have drip emitters built in at regular spacings (about 25cm apart) while plug-in drippers can be fixed or adjustable, inserted into black poly pipes where you choose. The drippers may be plugged directly into low density poly pipe (13mm), or connected via 4mm spagetti tube cut at different lengths. I did this with plants that were more spaced out. The materials cost a couple of hundred dollars - well worth it.
You can invest a little more into a tap timer (a basic mechanical one up to a bluetooth, wifi unit). A timer unit that is configured by a smartphone app, will allow you to manage your garden watering remotely, but this depends on the reliability of your internet, and power. I can recommend the 1 or 2 outlet Orbit tap timer. I found it easy to set up the Orbit timing schedule; some other tap timer instructions are confusing.
