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How to landscape around underground tank?

Hello,

This is on one side of the front yard has underground tank. Every other house has the tank little bit above ground level, whereas ours is completely dug inside and the ground slopes towards it. I was thinking to create a mulch garden bed around it but now sure how to cover around the tank neatly. Can you please share some ideas? Some pictures for inspiration will be really nice. Also, will be nice to see ideas for front yard landscaping. I am not sure if I should do ground cover like cousin it, rosemerry or use plants and mulch. Please share your thoughts.

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Comments

JacobZ

Hi @amanm,

Thank you for your question about landscaping around an inground tank.

My suggestion is to use flexible garden edging to create a raised border around the tank. You can then use the same border to delineate your garden bed from the rest of the lawn area.

From there, you can fill your garden bed with high-quality garden soil, plant a variety of native plants and then apply mulch over the area.

You might like to check out some of the following articles for some inspiration.

Also, allow me to tag @Dave-1, @Noyade and @Jewelleryrescue to see if they've got any ideas.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Jacob

Dave-1

Afternoon @amanm

A couple of questions 🙂

Is that green thing the lid? And how far does the tank stretch?

I take it that the core 10 edging you have already there is where you would like to cover/landscape? Also how much soil is over the top of the tank?

I like the idea of wood chip mulch on top of your weedmat, a good hand spans width worth to help keep weeds at bay.

Flowers like these

Floweressence 4 Cell Bidens Yellow Charm

4 Cell Brachyscome Magenta 'Floweressence Range' - Brachyscome angustifolia

Scattered about. Mostly I thought of them as they are small and light in weight plus will last a long time. I have had a Yellow daisy plant for a decade without any real effort looking after it. It gets to a twiggy stage and I have found it to be hardy.

If you dont have a lot of soil over the top of the tank then maybe the same plants planted around teh edge but in no set pattern. Somethingthat will break the eyeline up.

Just realised that maybe I have it wrong 😲 lol and that the "garden" is between teh core10 and the retaining wall. 🙂 Id be tempted to reduce the core10 to next to the tanks edge and then do what I was suggesting above. Then the bit between the core10 and retaining wall grass. It will make it easier to maintain being grass and you will still get the pop of colour.

I would definently keep any trees like the Bayleaf? one that is on the edge of the photo.

Dave

amanm

I was thinking of doing no edging like this https://www.reddit.com/r/landscaping/comments/1cn9wwv/livenatural_edging/?rdt=43453

and then cousin it plants on the border? Will that look ok?

I am not sure if I should put soil or just mulch directly and have very few plants and landscape with rocks, mulch and a few plants?

Dave-1

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/49373#Comment_49373

Afternoon @amanm

Love that no edge look 🙂 Tho am a lazy gardener and I know I will end up with weeds. I think it would look great tho. I do wonder if the heat will effect the edge line of grass. I suppose it comes down to how much time do you want to spend in the garden 🙂

I still like the mulch directly as it will be lighter then soil, you can go for a half span in height to save the weight, just means that weeds may pop up easier but they can be plucked out easily enough.

Dave

JacobZ

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/49373#Comment_49373

Hi @amanm,

I agree it would look great, but it heavily relies on the roots of your grass to keep the soil in place. You could give it a try, but without intentional upkeep of your grass, I would be surprised if it could maintain that kind of edge.

If the soil beneath the weed mat is decent, then you should be fine without additional soil; you may just want to mix some compost into the holes when planting your plants.

It depends on what you're aiming for. If you want a low-maintenance landscape with minimal planting, you can go straight to mulch and rocks, adding only small pockets of soil where you plant. However, if you think you might add more plants later, it might be worth putting down a layer of soil first to give you flexibility.

Allow me to tag @Noelle and @mashthyme for their thoughts.

Let me know what you think, and if you have further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Jacob

Jewelleryrescue

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/86770#Comment_86770

Hi @amanm

Is that a tank access cover?

Maybe a loose stone rockery so at need the stones can be raked aside for tank maintenance and access.

Depending on the function of the tank grey water storage?

amanm

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/108812#Comment_108812

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!! I already put soil and mulch. It is not looking great right now but hopefully it will be better with plants and clean edging. For the tank, neighbour suggest, we should get the tank and box height extended by a plumber. I could not find that kind of extender in Bunnings site. Any idea how much it will cost?

For edging, we have corten steel eding next to it. I am now thinking of doing the same here. Do you think I should two beds should be merged into one? In that can I will remove the edging from the other bed, remove grass and top up mulch. The existing one anyway needs to be joined cleanly. PXL_20250228_225114631.MP.jpg

MitchellMc

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/121734#Comment_121734

Hi @amanm,

You’d really need to speak with a plumber regarding quotes on custom tank work, as extending the height of the tank and box isn’t something that typically has an off-the-shelf solution.

Merging the two beds into one could be a great idea, as the current edging makes the area feel separate from the rest of the garden. Removing the existing edging and repurposing it for the new, expanded bed could help create a more cohesive look. With some planting and clean edging, the space should come together nicely over time.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

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