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theuserformallyknownasd00d

garden landscaping on the DIY

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Gday guys, unfortunatly this isnt a thread full of great ideas, moreso im looking for some! Im quickly coming to a budget crisis mid way through a house and yard reno, house looks great but the yard not so much...

Does anybody here have experience with retaining walls or raised beds? I was hoping to raise a bed along the side of the yard for some kitchen herbs and vegies. It basically goes straight down to clay at the moment, I was only going to raise it 200mm as i will only be growing short rooted plants anyways with a fairly high rotation and plenty of diy compost. it will be backfilled with top soil and mushroom compost. I really only wanna pay for the top soil for the hole project, the mushie compost is already free for me. I dont mind doing the hard yards on scavanging etc but the junk yards around here are too pricey and bunnings seems to be cheaper.... a rail sleeper here costs $60 for 2.2mtr :-O So yeah any ideas on how to raise it just enough for the plants with collecting free stuff or seen one done for next to nothing?

Also regarding "rockeries".... Has anybody ever done themselves one of these? We have ooooodles of succulents and cacti so I was thinking of just making the mound with the shittier dirt/clay ive been carting out and fill the spots where we want plants with some of the topsoil ill collect when digging up the other side of the house... so ie a clay mound filled with decent soil in the planting pockets. i guess then the only cost would be some gravel/rocks to cover it up with. I can see the whole thing eventually sludging away tho if it rains enough uder the weight of the rocks etc...?

Dont get me wrong I could do a damn good job of both if i have a better budget but im really after some innovative (tightass) ideas ;) All I have at my disposel is a tiny bit of decent topsoil and the rest is basically clay!

On a bit of a side note anybody know what the laws are for collecting "bush rock" from state forests are?

Thanks heaps guys and hopefully someone can help me push this shit uphill!!

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not sure if I can add anything...that you don't already know..re rockery....weeds can be an issue ..so usually black plastic (or some prefer weed mat) goes on top of the soil then the rocks and pebbles etc on top of the plastic.

retaining wall...bunnings sleepers...just gotta watch its not treated timber...if you want to keep your plants clean....termites can be a problem in some places with untreated timber....tyres can be used and are free...there is some debate if they leach toxins into the soil...rocks/bricks etc are good....

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sandbags filled with some of the old clay soil you have or old tires (trolley size ideally) or both could be used as a temporary retaining wall for a small raised bed, probably not for larger plans though but that doesn't sound like a concern.

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^ Old tyres suck - they leach toxins into soil. All sorts of nasty hydrocarbons and heavy metals. Bad news for food growing, particularly root vegetables. Always disturbed by suggestions that growing spuds in tyres is a good idea :BANGHEAD2:

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^ Old tyres suck - they leach toxins into soil. All sorts of nasty hydrocarbons and heavy metals. Bad news for food growing, particularly root vegetables. Always disturbed by suggestions that growing spuds in tyres is a good idea :BANGHEAD2:

I guess people are just use to doing things the way their parents and grandparents had done. We do like to recycle, but yeah, we need to think a bit about the background of the item especially if its going to be used to grow food huh. I was unaware of the nasties a tyre can leach into the soil?! It makes sense. :)

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You would be pretty lucky to find hardwood pallets. Pallets are usually pine and will rot pretty quickly in contact with the ground/dirt/water.

If you have a ute or a mate with a ute, good soil is around $80 a tonne from any nursery instead of $10 for 20kg at Bunnings.

Have you had a look on Gumtree for hardwood sleepers?

I have never done a drywall out of rock before but don't think it is too hard. Just make sure everything fits snugly and it is angled backwards.

Edited by OPP

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Thanks for all the tips everybody. As the world has it, after finishing night shift at 6am and driving home I picked up some nice hardwood from a Reno site that'll edge the garden bed easily. I'll just have to buy the stakes to hold it in :)

Cheers for the black plastic tip too, why did my brain skip over that! Tyres sound icky, I'll leave them at the tip!

Everyone should look at that pallet link too!!

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