Deck Building. Landscaping Around the Deck

So the deck is done at last, at least in terms of construction, now it just needs to "fit" in the back yard. Right back when I started laying the yard out I always had a vision of some kind of stairway to take me up from the paved area and onto the deck. However the other staircase I built already suited that purpose, and I really didn't want two sets of identical stairs off the same deck.

I needed some inspiration to go between the white lines!

Basic steps. What to do?

On a visit to Japan we went to Ōkōchi Sansō (大河内山荘 Ōkōchi Sansō, literally "Okochi Mountain Villa") which is the former home and garden of the Japanese period film actor Denjirō Ōkōchi, and is located on the edge of the famous bamboo forests of Arashiyama in Kyoto. This gorgeous garden is open to the public (for a fee) and served as inspiration for what I decided to do with the alternate path.

Below shows a great example of a path that leads up through the garden. The stepping stones are made from large pieces of local stone, and assembled in such a way that they look part of the natural landscape, but still indicate the path to follow.

A natural rock path disappearing around the corner

Periodically along the path you come across these gravelled areas as you can see below, set to resemble flowing water coming down the hillside.

A beautifully landscaped gravel path

From these gravelled areas the path then leads further along, using the natural stone as steps meandering up the side of the hill and throughout the garden.

The mysterious path continues upwards, one way

So using these photos for inspiration I called my favourite landscaper Stefan from Stefan's Landscape Design to have a look at what he could achieve. As always he looked at the photographs and understood exactly what I was after, and set about doing it.

The brief was to build a natural looking rocky outcrop with a stone path snaking up through it, containing a number of gravel landings linking the path to each switchback up the slope.

Two days later with a pile of rocks and a bobcat he achieved exactly what I was after! You can see below the landscaping prior to me enclosing the deck around it.

Now that the landscaping is complete I can enclose the last part of the decking

Once enclosed, the decking was now complete. From the circular paved area at the bottom the path goes up three stone steps to the right to a gravel landing, then switches back four steps to the left to the next landing, and then finally takes three more steps up to the right to meet just below the bottom of the decking, leaving one step up to the deck proper. He'd nailed it completely!

The landscaping and decking completed

He'd also included an extra gravel landing at the top as a lookout across the yard as you can see below with the gravel area to the right shown below.

The steps blend in faultlessly with the decking

Below shows the completed deck and garden area nicely planted with some ferns, mondo and dwarf pine shrubs.

The decking now landscaped in with the rest of the yard

The alternate path is now complete with easy access from the circular paved area up to the deck proper, but not in a obvious staircase manner. Call it a secret short cut if you like, because for all intents and purposes it just looks like a rock garden, but once you recognise the path, it draws you upward (or downward) to explore the trail.

The circular paved area is now linked to the decking via the rockery path

Unfortunately one thing fell victim to the construction, that being the back lawn. The bobcat moving back and forth carrying the heavy rocks and soil destroyed what was left of it. Truth be told it was pretty much dead anyway. Ever since laying in the turf, regardless of it being a shade tolerant species, the large pine tree slowly and surely started a war on the grass by dropping pine detritus upon it every time the wind blew.

I guess if I went out every weekend with a blower I may have kept it alive a little longer, but by the time I realised what was going on, the lawn was dead with the exception of one small area that was free from the tree. The bobcat finished the job and killed the remainder. RIP lawn.

RIP back lawn. You were great while you lasted.

What to do? Should I plant another? It wasn't a prospect I looked forward to. A little investigation and I settled on the artificial option, which would never die, well at least not for 25 years or so.

I went to a few suppliers and finally settled on a company called Synturf that manufactures the product locally. It does cost about 3 times more than instant turf, but they do everything for you. They start by coming in and digging out the old turf; then constructing and compacting a base to put the turf on, and finally lay and settle the turf on top pinning it down into the base and loading it up with sand to hold it firm.

The product is called Everest, and has a brown fleck throughout the grass that gives it a very natural look. Admittedly when some of the detritus from the tree falls onto the grass it looks more natural than ever! Everyone who sees it can't believe it's artificial grass, and it looks a million bucks as you can see.

The new lush green lawn is believe it or not, made of plastic!

So lets now take a trip back in time and as you can see below, this is the very first photo I took of the yard not long after we moved in. How different it looks now compared to back then. I remember we had to plant my son's Totem Tennis he got for Christmas that year in amongst the weeds.

Mowing the yard then was a case of getting out and hacking away with a brush-cutter. Things have changed!

We've come a long way since the beginning and the very first photo

Now you can compare it directly to below which shows the (pretty much) completed back yard. What a difference!

The completed yard sure looks different to how it started!

The new Synturf looks sensational, and the yard is now pretty much completed.

The new artificial turf has come up trumps

Below the deck is now ready for summer with many BBQ's to come.

All set and ready for summer BBQ's

Next time we'll apply a finish to the deck to complete the project.

Instant turf! How to grow a lawn in one morning.

Now that the weather had warmed somewhat, it was time to put some grass down in the bottom yard that Stefan had prepared earlier. The quickest way to getting a lush green lawn is of course instant turf. The variety is important so after a bit of research (yes Google again) I chose Palmetto Soft Leaf Buffalo as it was supposed to thrive in shaded areas requiring only 2 to 4 hours of direct sunlight and is drought resistant. With that giant tree in the yard it was going to need to be VERY shade tolerant!

The turf from Advance Turf in Melbourne arrived on time early on Saturday morning as arranged and I'd laid out a tarpaulin on the driveway to keep it clean. The truck arrives complete with its own forklift so they can drop it wherever you want it.

It was all hands on deck to get the turf down as quickly as possible, so I rounded up some friends to help on the promise of a free barbecue lunch. The first piece is always the most significant and my friends son Ben wanted to lay claim to it! What a star (and a show-off!).

First one done!

It's a pretty easy job to lay the lawn, although it's back-breaking moving the turf around! The rolls weigh in at a fairly hefty 20 kg each. Dirt isn't light! We used the wheelbarrow to ferry them from the front yard to the back, then you essentially just place them on the ground end on end. Use a good set of garden shears and/or a sharp knife to cut the turf where required. When you start the next row, make sure you stagger the joins in a brickwork pattern. 

Below is Richard and I hard at work. Who says you can't cut your friends grass?

Ta da!

Once the grass is down it's time to top dress the turf with top soil washed river sand (1 cubic metre per 100 square metres of turf). You apply a thick layer of the sand on top of the joins, narrow strips, or any low areas, as well as a thin layer to the rest of the turf. Top dressing the turf is supposed to hold additional moisture, reducing the turf from being "shocked" after harvesting, and it helps retain water where it's needed. The sand is supplied with the turf rolls.

Oh my aching back!

Job done on the bottom lawn. It now needs to be watered twice a day for three to four weeks. I'd already laid in a pop-up system with two sprinkler heads prior to putting down the turf.

Job done and water on

Looks pretty good and getting plenty of sunlight already. Fingers crossed.

Turn on the sun

We also laid the turf around the utility area, but unfortunately came up two and half meters short! So much for careful planning. I had to drive over to the turf supplier the following weekend and buy more direct from them, throwing three rolls into the boot of the car which was enough to finish the job off.

Came up a little short!

Let's make a lawn (dum de de dum)

The area to the south west I've designated as a lawn area. It's going to be a challenge with all the trees around it, but it still gets a fair amount of sunlight so I am hoping a drought tolerant buffalo is going to be able to survive the conditions.

Once the area had been cleared it was a simple matter of adding in the soil, levelling and grading the surface ready for the turf to be laid. 

The surface is complete and a red gum border put around the edge.

The beds around the lawn are being prepared and further landscaping with rocks in the sloped area up to the house.

It should look nice when it's all green instead of dirt coloured! I am planning in using "instant turf" instead of seed in order to obtain the greenery that little bit quicker for impatient people like me.

Here's my number one (and only!) son showing off what a great job he has done running around making footprints! The surface is now prepared and ready for the grass and all the beds mulched nicely.