Our dream home with a not so dreamy yard!

[bengroll]

Hi everyone. First time poster: first time home owner: first time gardener!! 

My wife and I, after MANY years of delays, have finally moved into our newly built home. With the builder gone, now it's

time for us to do the gardens! And wow it's a bit of work:

front yard

back "yard"sideafter day one

As you (hopefully) can see: we live on a sloping, rocky block. The build left lots of the site in a bit of a mess: lots of rock and dirt where they "built" and then lots of overgrown areas where they didn't do anything.

My first project was to tackle the mess at the front (first pic). After a good days cutting and slashing, I managed to at least reduce the eye sore (last pic), but I'm at a loss now as to how to progress. What are my options to grow anything in that rocky mess at the front? 

I am thinking my best  is to excavate a bit at the front to remove the horrible dirt/stone top layer, re-soil with "something" then seed/turf it. The batter is the other issue: how does one re-soil a slope without all the product sliding off? 
So that's my discussion point. Where do I move forward to next. The side and back yards will have to wait a few more weeks: the organic waste bin is already too full!

[EricL]

Hello @bengroll

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's a pleasure to have you join us, and thank you for sharing your question about your yard.

What I see is a beautiful canvas of possibilities. Gardening on slopes is tricky, gardening on a stony slope is difficult. I suggest creating a space that will give you the best opportunity to put plants in or landscape the area to something that will be pleasing to the eye. Take one space at a time and plan it on paper. Each space is unique and I recommend working with the area and not against it.

Let me use your front yard as an example. If we were to put in some 2400 x 50 sleepers to create small retaining walls, you could fill up that space with either soil or decorative pebbles. It all depends on how you want to design it. As you climb up that small hill dig into the side of it to add another sleeper that creates another spot for you to put more soil or pebbles.  At the very top, you can put pavers so that you can walk to the side of your house without stepping on mud. 

This strategy does two things, it shores up your sloping front yard and prevents it from eroding down into the street. It levels and flattens the area giving you a chance to add soil without worrying that it will all just wash away. You can put in large potted plants or decorative paver pathways. You can add water features and create a running feature that goes from top to bottom. There are so many things you can do with it. If time permits I'll keep adding ideas on how you can landscape your yard. 

Please enjoy the sketch.

Here is a link for ideas and inspiration: Top 10 most popular garden makeovers.

Let me tag our experienced members @Noelle, @BradN, and @Adam_W for their recommendations.

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

Eric

[Noelle]

Terracing the sloping garden is not only practical in terms of access but as Eric says, it also prevents erosion. Start with a small area as per the sketch and get it organised - don't whatever you do try to tackle the whole property in one go!

Shoring up potential wash-aways is essential other wise you will be contending with erosion for years to come.

[Jason]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @bengroll. We're looking forward to seeing how you can transform your garden.

I would recommend having a good read of @Adam_W's guide How to plan a garden makeover. It contains loads of great advice for you.   

Next step is definitely to put a plan together and we'd love to help.

Jason

[Adam_W]

Hey @bengroll , memories for me of been-there-done-that...
Given the nature of the soil I would be looking at, where possible & practical, building on, rather than digging into, the soil profile.
This will allow you to add quality (bulk) soil rather than trying to get that rather heavy & rubbley looking soil to grow anything.
That's what I did with the grounds of my first home.

Following are the before & afters... and yes, that rock was everywhere...

Moved in...Walling underway with pond...Early stages...Finished

[bengroll]

Thanks @EricL: great looking idea.

So question about tiered retaining walls (and I had a look earlier at the "building retaining walls" video): would I need to put drainage in for your sketch? So many opinions about drainage: some say if the wall is less than 400mm high then no need. Others say ALWAYS have drainage. Your thoughts?

[bengroll]

Looks good @Adam_W .

Did you put drainage behind your retaining walls? That's going to the be kicker for me: if I go three tiers of about 300mm each the cost of drainage might blow the project out vs only the one higher (900mm) wall with drainage. 

[Adam_W]

@bengroll always.
Way back in the Jurassic era when I studied landscape they taught us in engineering & drainage lectures that the single highest cause of 'failure' of retaining walls is poor drainage.
The reason is pretty simple.
An average garden soil weighs in at around 1 tonne per cubic metre. This varies depending on density & make-up, lots of sand or rock increases that weight for example.
If that soil becomes saturated then the weight will increase by at least 50% and this will happen at the same time as the soil around the footings of the uprights loses its holding strength through also being saturated.
You could increase the engineering of the wall to accommodate the extra load - thicker timbers, deeper & wider footings etc. - but it's simpler & more cost effective to just add drainage.
Even though sleepers are H4 treated the risk of rot and decay increases in situations where they stay damp or wet for extended periods so a wall may not fail just for structural reasons, it may fail as the usable life-span of the timber may be dramatically shortened.

[bengroll]

Thanks @Adam_W 

Ok so drainage it is 😁 lot's of really useful posts here outlining the process so that should be pretty simple (hopefully).

Now to just to do the budgeting spreadsheet and place an order lol

[Adam_W]

Hey @bengroll thanks.
Yes, all walls had drainage. In much of that garden I did go old school though.
In the second photo you can see lots of stone sitting in piles. That came out of the ground as I turned it over. There was smaller material too, gravel sized, that came from the soil as I threw all soil I was re-using through a screen to get the rubble out and I then blended it all with soil improving composts for re-use.
The smaller stone material, and some larger stuff, became drainage aggregate. I'd fill an area at the base of every wall with the saved material, cover it with drainage/filter fabric and then backfill with soil. Most of the walls also had gaps underneath, owing to the terrain, so that provided extra drainage.

Bear in mind too that once you get over a certain height with retaining you will need council approval and engineering specifications. This can also be the case for walls close to boundaries so worth making enquiries with your council.