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DIY Garden. Marino RocksWe recently built our first home, and having literaly spent every last penny. I decided to take on the landscaping myself.
After spending weeks walking through nearby suburbs and snapping photos of plants and garden features I liked, I felt ready to give it a go. Along the way, I managed to rescue a beautiful 60-year-old frangipani from a demolition site — a piece of history I couldn’t let go to waste.
Other than that gem, I wanted to focus mainly on natives. A brilliant young staff member at my local Bunnings was a huge help — full of knowledge and enthusiasm — and guided me through selecting a range of Australian natives to fit my rough plan. I aimed for a warm palette of reds, yellows, and oranges, with just a hint of white for contrast.
I also had some old jetty poles gifted to me, which I incorporated into the design for a natural, coastal feel. And, of course, I couldn’t resist adding a water feature — a three-tiered pond with a waterfall and small fountains to tie it all together.
After seven months and more trips to Bunnings than I can count, I’m proud to say the project is finally complete. Now it’s just a matter of waiting for everything to grow — fingers crossed it all comes together as imagined.
Materials
Recycled Jetty poles.
Steel path edging.
Crushed River pebble. And full river pebble.
Cottage mulch.
Few different pond sizes.
Some recycled cages I found on market place for Gabion fencing.
Plenty of hose and fittings for irrigation.
BHive Watering system.
Some HPM lighting.
Some cobble stones left over from someone else’s job.
Plenty of natives (All from Bunnings)
Tools
Started with teh Weed matt - Weed matt and Weed matt pins.
HPM Lights - Garden Lights
Rusty look Garden Edging - Rustly Steel Garden Edging.
I used and reccomend the below:
AquaPro pond pump - Pond Pump
Aquapro Fountain Kit - Fountain Kit
Hosing to suit for water fall above - Non Kink Hose
Filter to suit above - Large Filter for pond
Small Fountain pump for lower pond - Small Feature Pump
A few B-Hive tap timers.
I think i bought one of every Irrigation fitting avaliable and still forgot one LOL - Irrigation fittings.
A range of Natives from Bunnings - It was helpfull to have good advice from someone who also has a intrest in Navies. - Natives
All plants topped with Osmocote as reccomended by Garden member at bunnings. - Native slow release
Steps
Step 1
Firstly I removed 3 years worth of weeds and trimmed some established trees.
Step 2
I covered the ground with weed matting and the painted some lines with line marking paint. This showerd the position of paths, ponds and features.
Step 3
Next i added my irrigation pipe and conduit for lighting. Then I added the steal edging for the paths. 
Step 4
The next step was to get a load of cottage mulch and sfresh soil delivered. That was fun to move. 
Step 5
From here i started planting. I used a stanley knife to cut the weed matt and a large garden drill bit to drill some holes for the plants. I used some Osmocote premium Potting Mix for each hole. Potting Mix.
Step 6
Last step was to add my features.
Pond.
Jetty Poles.
Lighting.
Step 7
A few more images of my project.
Step 8
I wanted to create some projected lighting effects onto the house. HPM spotlights offered plenty of options to get this right. 
My rough sketch up of this project. Its great to look back and see a few changes. But hey at least I had a bit of a plan.. I drew this up and had my daughter shade it for me.
