Home Landscaping - Any Advice?

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  Adz81 on 24/04/2013 - 09:54

  +1

  Hi Isdi,

  Can I suggest that maybe a garden designer might be of help? If you get a good garden designer, they will come to you, take the time to learn what it is you're after and impart this in with their knowledge of horticulture/design. They will then present you with (usually) a draft or two before the final design presentation. These final presentations will include an itemised list of pretty much everything your garden requires: plant types/quantities, any landscaping material quantaties an irrigation plan… From there you can decide on what you're comfortable doing yourself and where you'd like to get a professoinal in— with the advantage of knowing exactly what you want the professionals to do (rather than the hand waving "Just make that thingy look like this- so it connects to the uzitmawhatzit…") allowing for you to get more tranparent quotes for comparison. Or you might choose to go down the path of having the garden designer design the garden so that you can do a majority of the work yourself.

  A good garden designer will do all of these things mentioned above, they charge for their service, but the the good ones are well worth it from what I've seen.

  Hope that's of some help :)

  • 

    isdi on 24/04/2013 - 10:49

    Hi Adz81,

    Very helpful information. That exactly what I have in mind as well. After reading through a lot of resources, I am now considering to obtain the landscaping designer service and see how it goes from there. Thanks!

    • 

      Adz81 on 24/04/2013 - 10:59

      +1

      Glad it helped :)

      Take your time picking a designer— some of the larger design places might treat your garden almost like a McDesign… where as you will probably get a lot more personal attention with an independent designer. Be comfortable with them, you're going to have to discuss what you want with them and probably concede some points (certain ideas may not work) for the sake of practicality/realms of possibility, similarly the designer should also be open to your ideas and discuss any alternative routes they choose.

      • 

        isdi on 24/04/2013 - 11:03

        Thank you very much! :)

  • 

    strangeloops66 on 24/04/2013 - 11:36

    go down the path

    I see what you did there!

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  maxpowers on 24/04/2013 - 10:01

  +1

  Try positing it on serviceseeking.com.au essentially people bid for the work.

  • 

    isdi on 24/04/2013 - 11:28

    Thanks maxpowers. Yes I did that too and get one contacted me and he actually have very good reviews. Will try to arrange some time and meet with him.

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  one man clan on 24/04/2013 - 11:13

  +1

  I dunno, you don't have to be particularly 'handy' to do landscaping, unless you are getting things built like a deck or a retaining wall. You could just go to your local nursery and ask for advice (first make sure you know what the conditions of the area you are landscaping are like, i.e. how much sun it gets, is it clay/other soil etc.)

  It's also a good idea to improve the soil some time before planting by digging through some organic matter like compost or cow manure. Your plants will thank you for it.

  • 

    isdi on 24/04/2013 - 11:25

    Thanks for your response. I don't think I know much about this part as I haven't really done my research. Currently weeds are randomly growing everywhere and from time to time I need to pull them out. I guess I will need get this done as soon as possible after I sort out my budget.

    • 

      one man clan on 24/04/2013 - 12:43

      I worked in a nursery for 6+ years so to me it seems like a waste of money going to a landscaper, but I do have experience I guess.

      There's no guarantee they have horticultural expertise - see below. There's a wealth of resources on the internet for what you want, and it's enjoyable to do it yourself if you have time.

      First step is to pull out all the weeds though, then dig some compost/cow manure through. Then if you get it landscaped, at least your plants will thrive in a good base.

      Now is a good time to plant it out, so the plants can get set in before the harsh heat of summer.

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  lisss on 24/04/2013 - 12:12

  +2

  Maybe see if you can find someone on gumtree who can do DIY or knows a lot about/enjoys gardening. We got professional landscapers to do our garden and they picked plants which they assured us were suitable but they ended up being completely incorrect - the roots of one type of tree that they planted ruined our limestone walls and BBQ area tiling. Next time i'd just do it myself because as others say unless you want to build a deck, diy planters etc from Bunnings aren't complicated :) If you want cheap plants, try a farmers market or local market (cheaper than nurseries) or even a school fete.

  • 

    tonka on 24/04/2013 - 12:56

    +1

    In addition to school fete keep an eye on garage sale listings, cheapest place I've found plants. Always look to your neigbours yard to see what is doing well.

    As this is OzBargain you should also be considering your return on investment fruit trees , Aloe vera, room for the vege patch, which plants make baby plants to sell at your garage sale :-)

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  AmericanDad on 24/04/2013 - 14:39

  Would landscape designing cost a lot of $$ though? Been wanting to do a makeover for our backyard but it seems like a bit of researching would suffice.

  • 

    Adz81 on 24/04/2013 - 15:43

    I think the difference between a garden designer and a landscaper is that garden designers are usually qualified (or at least very experienced) in horticulture, where as a landscaper is more for the building/remodelling element of the garden, usually carried out to a pre-existing plan (any landscapers, feel free to correct me? I'm only going on an "I think"

    As for the $$$, I'm not sure what garden designers charge in Melbourne, I know in Adelaide it will cost between $1400-$3000, depending on the size of the garden, the complexity etc… It's not something that I would ever have considered until I had the chance to see a garden designer in action. I admit, I may have witnessed one of the better ones, but I saw them in close consultation with the clients, over numerous drafts leading up to the final. This designer would use native/indigenous plants where ever possible and always (always) had pictures to show the clients of the plants they wanted to use and would draw construction/planting drawings (as mentioned with quantities/sizes/measurements, culimating in a final presenation of a 3d drawing, a construction drawing and a hand coloured drawing that the clients could then use to source their own landscaper, do it themselves or a bit of both (the designer also had quotes for the works for comparison if the client chose to go elsewhere).

    Short answer, it costs some $$$, but if you get a good one, it's well worth it :)

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  2ndeffort on 24/04/2013 - 17:07

  I went through this a few years ago when i built my house. I had quotes from a garden designer but in the end I couldnt afford a couple of K just for the design. I appreciate I would have had a professional look with the best types of plants etc but I couldnt justify the $$.

  I did bits myself but there were jobs I couldnt do or it wasnt worth doing. At one stage I had to get 10M of topsoil dumped on my driveway then moved to the back garden for a lawn to be sown. I was going to do this all myself with a wheelbrrow and some elbow grease but when I got quotes I found a guy who would do the lot for cheaper than it was going to cost me to buy the soil and have it delivered. He had his own bobcat and he moved that mountain of soil a lot quicker than I would have done!!

  I reckon the 'serviceseeking' recommendation is a good one.