Converting front lawn to wild life garden

[PN]

Hi @EricL and @MitchellMc Hope you are keeping well. I am after some ideas and suggestions. Looking to transform the front lawn to a wild life garden. Wondering on ideas of how to start and how to go about it. I have enclosed photos of the left and right sections of the front lawn.

All suggestions greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Partha

Left section of front lawnRight section of front lawn

[PN]

Hi @KatieC 

Many thanks. It looks rough and ready but I am then no green thumb in the garden. 

Tussock grass and the other varieties are reasonably fast growing. The Prickly Moses is a nitogren fixer and likes our soil. 

Planning the other two reveals this month need to get more soil and few more plants to do those!

Thanks

Partha

[MitchellMc]

Great progression @PN! What are you going to tackle next? My vote is for a dry or functional river bed meandering through a section of the yard.  

Mitchell

[PN]

Thank you @MitchellMc . I have been toying with the idea of the dry river bed but way out of depth on doing it. Getting the two other strips done in the yard next. The river bed is way out of my limited expertise capabilities!

[MitchellMc]

I'm confident that with the assistance of our knowledgeable members, you'll have no issues creating a dry river bed. In fact, I'd encourage you to attempt a functioning river bed with the water cascading down into a small pond at the end. 

It's not as hard as it sounds. Dig a trench with a slight fall from one end to the other. You might like to use a prefabricated pond at the end of the run. Line the trench with a pond liner. Install a pond pump at the lower end and pipes to transfer the water back to the top. If you want a reasonable flow of water, you'd need to use a large pump and create terraces for the water to cascade over. The last step will be filing the river with pebbles and rocks and planting the surroundings. We could order you some lovely river pebbles in bulk and even that landscape bush rock, sandstone and feature boulders I mentioned earlier.

Mitchell

[PN]

Hi @MitchellMc 

Thank you so much. I will definitely have a look at the dry river bed or wet river bed and muster up courage to do it !

In the meantime trying something less ambitious to create a path along the sketched route shown.

Would be most grateful for your input into what materials to use and how do I go about creating it.

Thanks a million !

Partha

thankGarden Path

[EricL]

Hello @PN

The choice of materials in creating a path is quite varied, it all depends on what you would like to use. For example, you could dig a shallow walkway trench and line it with plastic and use pebbles as the material to walk on. You can use square pavers so that the steps are very defined. But my favourite is Brighton Masonry 200 x 100 x 50mm Cream Mypave Paver, using these pavers allows you to create patterns and designs on your path.

Here are some handy step-by-step guides: 

• How to prepare for paving
   
• How to pave a pathway

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

[PN]

Hi @EricL Eric

Many thanks.

I will give it a go and share results once done.

Thanks

Partha

[PN]

@EricL @MitchellMc @KatieC 

Latest update after a few months of travelling. The prickly moses have really taken off, the biggest one is almost getting as tall as me at 180 cms !

Some of the grasses planted in no particular order seems to also doing ok.

The maple after a dormant winter has come back with lot of leaves and have grown too. 

The gravellias one on the right is doing well and is regularly visited by honey eaters and the one left is bit more stunted on growth.

Have recently planted fledging prickly moses on the left side of the lawn ( or what is left of the lawn !)

the Kangaroo paws after being pruned totally back 18 months ago has come back in flower.

Two nest boxes have been installed in the two tall trees on either side of the yard hoping that encourages more bird life.

All in all lot of learnings, lot of trial and error and lot of digging - but there is progress !

Prickly Moses GrowingGrassesGrasses and flelding pricky moses

[MitchellMc]

Thanks for the update, @PN. Everything is coming along splendidly. You've done such a wonderful job with this garden. What do you plan on next?

Mitchell

[PN]

Many thanks Mitchell.

I am looking to cover more of the lawn that nears the verge boundaries on the top and left and exploring options on what to cover with.

Thanks

Partha