It was the middle of the night, and I was listening to a permaculture podcast about water-saving and storing and landscape revegetation (I often am awake for a few hours in the night).
All at once was born an idea -that the 6 square metres or more of brick paving between my garden and the road could be much more beautiful and useful as a wildflower garden and habitat for indigenous plants and animals. The bricks are not needed as driveway. They store a lot of heat on a hot day, and they have little cracks in which weeds grow which are then hard to remove. I knew that there was a movement in Australia of people who were digging up lawns and planting native gardens areas like this. Here in Perth we call this Council owned space a 'verge" but in Victoria it was known as a 'nature strip".
These pictures that I took in Kings Park show just some of the wonderful indigenous plants which are totally adapted to WA climate and conditions. DH and I went there in Spring and loved the displays. What if we could get something like this in front of our house?
I spoke to DH and DD and they both loved the idea. I even said that, in the middle of the night , I actually believed that I could even take up the bricks myself if I took it slowly, a few a day. They thought I could, and so I got started. I moved about 20 a day and got a pile of about 100 bricks lifted.
Then DS and DDIL came over, and were talking about their wish to extend a deck in the front of their place, as an extra outdoor living space. I offered the bricks -especially if they would help me lift them. The offer was taken up and DS came over on several days to lift brick and take 700 of them home. That saved them the price of the bricks and saved me a huge amount of work.
DS also lifted about 500 which he didn't want but which I needed moving out of the way. I offered these on my local Buy Nothing Facebook page, and wonderfully someone actually wanted exactly these bricks and yesterday they took them away too! So that was more help!
Today DH helped me by tidying up one of the edges by laying the bricks we have left in a line to indicate the end of the paving.
The next step will be to get a couple of free loads of mulch from the Council and just spread it over the yellow sand. The summer is on the way and it is NOT a time for planting things now: too hot, too dry. The best time in Perth is in Autumn when the winter rains start. So I want to let the mulch begin to rot down over the summer and allow the soil to begin to behave like soil again. The native plants I will select will be hardy and won't need much attention or water, but they will need soil which is alive with the kinds of beneficial insects and such which will help them grow. I will need some compost when it is time to plant and I have the next 6 months or so to gradually work on that.
What do you think?
8 comments:
Here we are not allowed to plant anything on the front lawn outside our fence as it is Council property. I love what Costa has done on his ‘verge’ but I doubt we will be allowed to do anything like that any time soon. Those bricks must have been welcomed with open arms. You have a lot of work ahead of you.
Ive made a "habitat" garden along the font of our house, its on the western side so it gives dapled shade & a bit of privacy, we are not allowed to block pedestrian access or plant on council land but i have encroached a bit. I planted small trees, shrubs & grasses, used hollow logs,rocks,pipes etc and a water bowl. I love knowing how much microbial action is happening under the leaf litter & mulch, have fun what a great project ☺
Wonderful! A native garden will be beautiful on your verge. So many positives to these types of plantings over the usual grass or paving.
In our street, there are lovely trees planted either side of the road. They shade the surface and keep it cooler.
MegXx
Yes, Meg our Council has started planting a LOT more trees. I can apply for one of theirs, but I have my heart set on Eucalyptus Caesia (Silver Princess) and I hope to plant one of those. Claire, I hope to have a log or the habitat too.
Nanna Chel, I am sorry you aren't allowed to plant anything! Yes it is Council property, but so long as we don't interfere with 'sight lines' for cars, or have hard structures like raised garden beds we are OK.
That's exciting. I planted a patch of herbs and flowers by my driveway, too. Everyone comments on it. There is wildlife everywhere. Adding compost and mulch regularly has made all the difference.
That is a big patch of land, as big as some gardens here. I do hope you can create what you wish to with that patch, I look forward to seeing how it progresses of the years.
do you get pedestrians or such walking?
it's a lovely idea & will look awesome but do you need a pathway for people to walk by?
we can't do that here, not without asking council 1st; i think planting up the kurbs/verges etc is a great idea!
good luck with the planting, will be watching your progress once you start
thanx for sharing
Selina - We have a footpath on the other side of the road. It is unlikely that the council will ever put one on this side too, as there isn't a lot of call for it. We have to have a 1.5 metre space near the road -which is for cars stopping and car doors opening, but if we have ground covers there it will be OK.
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