Trial Kennedy - 'Neighbours'

Days gone by.....

Days gone by.....
Originally uploaded by cols place in the corner

The old farm stables behind my home....hope they always stay.....

BACKYARD TOUR

A stroll around my little garden....been about 12 months in the making, but i'm sure i will be adding more...lets see....the water tanks, an irrigation system, more plants.....think i will be busy for some time yet!

Gary Moore - The Stumble

Covered

Hello, well the pergola was a fun project i enjoyed very much. Still not quite done yet. I painted it to match the house and put some temporary shade cloth to keep some of the sun at bay. I plan to put laser lite sheeting on three quarters of the roof and leave the last bit over the pond in shade cloth, this way the garden and pond will still be able to benefit from the rain

Fish feeding time!

Fish feeding time!
Originally uploaded by cols place in the corner

A brief look at my fish...they used to be little fella's...but boy have they grown!

Under cover!

After a bit of a break, it was time to get the pergola up. This is a daunting task on your own and i highly recommend you have a second pair of hands to help. Lynn helped in any way she could (to which i am most grateful). Firstly the 90mm x 90mm treated pine posts were set in concrete and bolted into the deck. Then the fun part (not, lol) how to attach the head board to the house (this is where lynn saved the day) I attached the board through the metal facsia into the truss ends, location was done by gently lifting the roof tiles and marking the truss ends onto the wall. The board is 190mm x 35mm x 6.0 mtrs long, so it wasn't an easy thing to do alone(thanks again lynnie) The self tapping coach screws are 150mm long and were secured with an allen head socket. I could go through all the details of levels and heights but i would be here forever, string line and a good string level were most important.

Pump it up!!!!

Hi, now that the garden is taking shape, it was time to get the pond ready for some fish. I purchased a submersible pump which has a flow rate of about 3500lts an hour. Power was run through the wall and an outside control switch was mounted to the wall. The lead to the pump was encased in some conduit and ran underground and then under the deck and then up to the switch. All the plumbing connections were completed, then it was time for the big test! i purchased 6 goldfish (will be seen in a later post) and kept my fingers crossed, by the way, this pond was filled naturally by rain water, for which i have greater plans to capture and use later on.

Ummm..Whats that plant called.....

Planting is a bit of a worry for me...what should go where, full sun, shade, height, width,water needs, all these factors are important. Firstly i wanted ferns, i started off with 3 at the fence side of the deck so when you walk out the door they are the first plants seen.

As for the rest, it was just a matter of picking plants lynn and i liked. I knew later on i would build on these, but for now we just wanted something to grow lol

Expanding the greenery

Hello all, now that the pond is semi complete, i set about extending the garden back towards the garage. Off to my favorite hardware store for some garden edging. I wasn't sure what, then i came across some treated pine half logs made up into a mini fence about 1 metre long. In they went....also put in some of those rocks i had been keeping for a little crazy paving at the end of the path...the grass was also sown

A Dash Of colour

Once the well was complete, i painted it the same colour scheme as the house, added a bucket to hold a plant, then placed it in it's position. A few stones around the base to hide the pit, plenty of woodchips and of course a plant!

Well, Well, Well.......

Hi again, Once i had the pond in place, i needed a little something to hide a storm water pit in my new garden. I decided a wishing well would look rather good and could also double as a plant feature. For the plans i visited BUILDEAZY and found the perfect little project. This is a great site for finding all sorts of great projects.I used left over decking boards and proceeded to construct!

Something Fishy!!!!

Hi, now that the deck is complete it's time to get the landscaping done.I purchased a fibre glass fish pond on ebay, and set about getting it operational.With the many rocks found naturally in the ground while levelling the soil, i had a starting point. It was a simple matter of digging a hole to suit the pond size and shape. I had a storm water inspection pipe nearby and fitted on overflow hole in the pond and ran a pipe into the stormwater drain concealed under ground. A nice little bamboo border was set in place, some wood chips and a few plants to kick it all off. I also incorporated a water feature into the pond scape.

All hands on Deck!!

tHi, well its time to get the deck happening. After some careful planning and measurements, the string lines were set as a guide, then a visit to the local hardware store, i decided to use 400mm galvanised stirrups for support, of which around 300mm was embedded in a 300x300x300 concrete footing.

Once i had the feet set, it was back to the hardware store for some timber. I decided i would use treated pine for this project. The main bearers are 100mm x100mm, bolted straight onto the set stirrups(which i did a week later)

Once the mains were in place, i then ran 70mm x 45mm rails across the bearers, fixing them with triple grip brackets to take the 90mm x 22mm decking boards, These decking boards are fluted on one side, i decided (right or wrong) to have the flutes on top, looks much better i think.

After braving the elements(it was quite cold and windy that day) i managed to secure the decking boards using galvanised decking nails (pre drilling before nailing).Once all the top boards were in place, i filled in the sides

As you can see i have built the deck with a cut off corner, this was to allow room for the next stage...The fish pond...thanks for looking, happy days!!!!!!!!