Step 1. A Clean Slate

After looking around our local estate for ideas, I happened across one of our neighbours front gardens that had some rock work I really liked. You see I had this idea to run a rock wall up the side of the side yard to be a terrace and help flatten out the area, and what I saw was going to fit the ticket. It's amazing what you'll find just walking around your local neighbourhood. If you see something you like, step up and ask!

I found out from the neighbour who the landscaper was, and he passed on Stefan’s name from Stefan’s Landscape Creations. I showed Stefan all the magazine clippings and photos I had that collected to give him an idea of the style of what I was after. We had an immediate meeting of minds and he seemed to “get” exactly what I was after. He came highly recommended from the neighbor, so immediately got the job.

So starting with a pile of weeds, what’s the first thing you do? GET RID OF EM!

The best way to get rid of them? Heavy machinery!

First step? Clear the way!

Stefan going gangster on the backyard with the Dingo

Once all that crap (the official horticultural term) was cleared away, the back and side yards were actually quite substantial and easier to see

Clearing the yard

Job done! Amazing what heavy equipment can achieve in a day!

Weeds gone! Trash GONE! Like an artist's palette we now had a blank slate to work with

What a mess!

So we started with our “natural bush” setting of a backyard. It was little rough around the edges to say the least! The house was built new and as such the backyard left in the “natural” state it was for a number of years. The front yard had been wonderfully landscaped for us by the estate developers when we moved in, and during that process we asked the landscaper to quote on doing some work in the backyard.

We were scared because “roughly 15 grand” was the unofficial quote from the guy who did the front yard. “Just for the back part … that wouldn't cover the side yard” which was the biggest part of the yard (see below).

After we picked ourselves up off the ground, we kind of went into a state of shock for a long time. How were we ever going to afford to landscape the backyard? We’d just blown everything we had on building the place, there was no way we could afford to landscape!

So we sat on it, with the backyard being our dirty little secret for many years, until we has saved enough money to get something done about it. 

I wasn't sitting completely idle though...I had a plan!

So here it all begins

So here it all begins. Ground zero, otherwise known as "the back yard". 

When you buy a house new you expect some work is going to be required to get the yard in some kind of order. In our case the block had a reasonably steep drop at the back door down to the bottom of the block, as well as a bloody big tree. 

The solution? "Let's build a deck!!". Well, that's part of the solution, but a big part it will be.

Now I'm not a novice at terraforming backyards, nor building decks, but I am a novice in publicly disclosing it! But so many people ask me so many questions when they see I am building, or when I have (finally) finished something.

• "how did you do it?",
• "how long did it take?",
• "what did you do when you got to (insert spot in construction)?",
• "what was the hardest part?"
• "what did you use for decking?"
• "how many posts did you use?"
• "how did you dig the footings?"
• "how was it dealing with the council?" 
• "what did it cost?"
• "what's the best brand?"
• "what's the best tool?"

etc. etc. etc.

So I have decided to write about it as a permanent record of how the project was undertaken, and now here you are reading it!

So let's learn together, enjoying the build!

Michael.

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