... and we have come back from our holidays, and the big works to our garden area is mostly completed. The trenches were dug, the pipes for stormwater and sewer were laid, and a huge swathe of destruction carved its way through our block of land. Of course, we had thinned out quite a bit of the dense growth already... but having excavators dig trenches through everything meant that there are now some pretty bare patches of ground that is waiting for us to mulch over and then decide what to do when growing season returns.

So, we are left with a pretty blank slate of what to do and plan with our garden. At the moment, we have a plan for a different sort of garden on each of the four sides. A shrubby, dense garden... a veggie/fruit garden... a kids play area/"secret" flower garden... and lastly... a treed, but not too densely treed area.

Thankfully, the plumbers were kind to a few of the smaller trees, and pulled them out without too much damage to their root structure, so there are a few that I will replant in the bare section to see if they will take hold again. However, we will definitely keep a lid on them to make sure that they don't get too high and dangerous!

The pipes are now pretty tree proof (fingers crossed). Thick PVC pipes, and a casement of gravel means that the roots will have a much harder time of breaking into the essential water services of our house! The plumber reckons it should be at least as good for the rest of our lives...

If you remember a few posts back, I had pulled up the paving to allow for the trench digging to pass underneath. In a week or two, I will try to put the puzzle back together. I'm not particularly hopeful that it will be done well... and there is the option that we just take ti all out and start again. I'm sort of tempted to do that! However, my wife thinks I should at least try to get it all back together again... sigh....

The play area was leveled and boosted a little bit higher (so that the kids could better reach the swings!). This means that the area on the right is now a bit higher and I will need to build a retaining wall from rocks or something else to make sure the soil stays where it needs to. The area here is also not great for drainage, and it doesn't get a lot of sun. So, it tends to get a bit muddy in this area when it rains. I'm starting to research what sort of ground cover might help out with that.

I will also need to re-lay the termite baiting stations along all the walls... the defences were taken down to allow for the trench digging... it is weird how naked you feel without that in place! I had dreams of hordes of termites coming into the house!

Along the wall, we are planning a future rainwater collection tank or two. There is a pipe that will allow for future expansion so that the runoff from the collection tanks can go into the stormwater system. It might be that we pave the section near to the wall so that there is a paved walkway and drain that will take the water further down the block and out.. perhaps sorting out a bit of the mud problem.

Along the back, we have some work to do to get the soil back down and then perhaps pave again. We now have an ag-pipe the whole length of the back retaining wall that will drain runoff from higher up to the sump on the bottom right... which is connected to the stormwater. I'm think that the retaining wall will also need to be fixed up at some point as well!

This entire area (which was thick with trees and shrubs a few months ago) will be our future fruit and veggie garden plot. We have lots of space for raised garden beds, and perhaps a little greenhouse as well. My wife definitely wants some apple trees and other fruit trees and maybe we can have some berries along those trellises at the back?

... and this was the culprit that destroyed half of our stormwater system and led to this giant and slightly unwelcome excavation work. Well, better now than later... at least we hadn't started on doing anything to the garden yet, so better that all the demolition took place before starting!

So, from this angle... you can see the tree root... and the reason why no water was going through any of these pipes!

... this morning we started collecting seeds. Two little apple seeds that the girls and I will nurture through the winter until they are a little bigger and stronger for the Spring! We have some carrots and broccoli seeds ready as well... and I am going to take some Rosemary cuttings from our in-laws. All of them will be housed inside to keep them strong, and then we will plant them later!

The plan is to grow vegetables that have gotten stupidly expensive in the recent year... capsicums, herbs, broccoli... perhaps some Chinese veggies as well. We have stupid amounts of space... and we are keen to do it! Perhaps some chickens as well?

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