Why not try a contracter?

I just can't afford one, unfortunately. My annual gardening budget is pathetic.

I read and google about plant arrangement. You are better at following what you read than I am !

I'm by no means an expert, I've only just discovered gardening. It's all trial and error still I draw alot of inspiration for the RHS gardens from Britain

Here are some:

The RHS gardens are beautiful and rather formal. I can see some of their design in your yard. Very nice and pleasing to the eye.

My gardening style is more like that of Cottage Gardening. I garden for butterflies and hummingbirds (as well as bees, lizards, and other birdies). It is a wildlife habitat of sorts. Always movement in the yard with insects, reptiles, and birds ... which I love. But the layout is crazy. I have raised beds, trees, seating areas, bird baths, etc. all over the place. My husband likes plain lawn or a very formal yard. He goes nuts when he walks out into the backyard. It drives him crazy! He calls it "the jungle". He doesn't like gardening at all. And he hates mowing the lawn, so he is happy that there is very little lawn left in the backyard. Most has been replaced by wood mulch paths and raised garden beds. There are various garden "rooms" in my backyard. I create different rooms for different purposes. (Like the inside of a home.) I have doorways, too, made of arbors. It's not as pleasing to the eye like yours. It's very busy and maybe too much of an adventure.... which sounds strange, but people always say they never know what they will encounter in my backyard.

Well a garden should have a kind of adventure feel; not directly overseeing the whole thing. That can be nice at first, but gets quite boring after a while I think (although that type of garden would look well on a hilltop with swimming pool)

Personally I like all kinds of styles, but to just throw them together would make...i don't know...an 'all style' garden? Or maybe more like 'no style'

"although that type of garden would look well on a hilltop with swimming pool" ..... it would have to be an infinity or vanishing edge pool, which would be amazing with the right view of whatever is below. No doubt!!!

The best word would probably be "eclectic" to describe ALL styles of gardening and different garden rooms. THAT'S what my yard is!

I'm really enjoying seeing your design come together! Well done, and you guys have executed the project with such professionalism- very impressive.

I agree with what you said about repeating forms in the garden, it is an excellent design strategy that creates an overall look that is subtly pleasing to the eye. The same is true with color use, echoing the same color throughout a design has that same pleasing effect.

Very nice combination of plants you're using too!

My second order arrived today right on cue! Yesterday I ordered two more specials, orchids ^^





Funny thing, during the digging out of the second bed I realized I dug out too much soil. So now I gotta backfill with alot more than I anticipated -- :p The turning is back breaking work. I put in so much compost, sand and gravel that I couldn't even reach the underlying clay with my fork anymore lol. I need machinery for this

Works in progress, Lee-Roy.

Yeah the more soil you have to mix, the more work is involved. I am always sore for a day or two after building and filling new raised beds. And mine are nowhere near as deep as yours. What is the size of those planters?

They look deep enough that you could actually plant a small ornamental tree in them!

From the top to the bottom (visible) is 80-ish cm, so almost 3ft. But the soil continues all the way down, it's not closed in the bottom or anything.

And I was planning on having a tree in there, something like Liquidambar to create more privacy.




Although I've read that they have quite an agressive and destructive root system

3 ft. is a LOT of soil! Ugh! That was quite the job filling all of them. I create raised beds, but not 3 ft. depth.

How about a small blooming ornamental tree? Or a fruit tree? I was thinking that would look nice when I saw how deep your beds were.

http://en.oprins.com/products/

Or even a tall shrub pruned as a topiary:
http://www.denieplant.be/

I didn't dig & fill the whole 3ft though haha. I just dug the 'countours' for the concrete foundation and the wall (so it was like a bare mount when we began). See pic here for clarification



This week I just dug out about a foot along the whole surface are because it was too high up and if I wanted to amend it to a reasonable debt to prevent waterlogging, I'd have no spare room (volume/height) to add anything, it'd be higher than the wall itself then. Now I can just top it off again with GOOD 'soil' (sand, gravel, compost) and mix it in as deep as I can

As far as a tree goes...I'm now very reluctant to plant one. Yesterday I put the hose between the two back walls (so our new one and the neighbours' kitchen one) and poured water in between to settle soil behind it. 10 mins later my neighbours comes out announcing her kitchen's under (muddy) water.
So somwhere there's a non waterproof (so non root proof) leak or hole in her wall. I immediately stopped ofcourse and sealed the gap between the walls with waterproof concrete. So that's that leak sorted out (hopefully), but there could be more deeper down. Not that it's my problem, but I don't want to be accused when some years from now there are roots poking out behind her cabinets or her floor is showing cracks or whatever :S

Smart planning.

Lee Roy: I'm speechless at all your hard work and amazing results! You have an eye for design and your implementation is impressive.
Renovating an old garden is no feat for a wimp or an old lady like me! Wow!

One word about those liquidambars: they throw hard, spiky little seed balls that are brutal on a bare foot, will roll and throw you down
if you step on them and lethal if you hit them with a mower. Last winter I had a huge one removed that grew on the border between my back
yard and the next-door neighbor's. I'm still pulling up little trees and stepping on those darn balls! You might want to rethink that plan or
at least do more research. Maybe there are species that don't shed the balls.

Lee-Roy - Given the circumstances with your neighbor, I'd forget the tree as you have decided. It probably would cause a problem over time.

What about bamboo? There are short varieties. http://www.bamboohq.com/produc...
It might give you the privacy you want.

You could bury an oval plant container into the soil at the back of the raised bed and then plant some short bamboo in that container. Being at the back of the raised bed, all the other plants would still be visable from the front and would grow without being crowded out by the bamboo. The buried oval container would keep the bamboo from spreading out into the raised bed.

I understand your desire for privacy. I have next-door neighbors that seem like they are running an outdoor sports bar a short distance from my screen porch and backyard. Usually, on the weekends, they have what sounds like loud parties going on in their screened pool deck area where they also have a TV mounted up on one of the exterior walls. The TV is often turned up loud. Very rarely they are in the pool, but instead sitting around on the deck watching outdoor TV. That would be fine if they weren't so close and so loud right next to MY home. They also have dogs which they leave out on the screen deck that bark constantly all day long. It drives me and my other neighbors crazy at times. I happen to live right next door to them, so it is especially annoying for my family.

I don't know about bamboo....Not in the raised beds anyway

You seem to be growing many of your plants to a very nice size! Maybe their growth will eventually provide the privacy you want?

beckygardener said:You seem to be growing many of your plants to a very nice size! Maybe their growth will eventually provide the privacy you want?

Most of them are perennials or bulbs and not so tall. My biggest at the moment are the calla lilies (apart from the Trachycarpus). There will be more hedges coming along (hopefully this winter), but I still want trees to add a vertical 'dimension' as it were.

Anyway, today I made another attempt at mixing one of the raised beds. I was sweating like a h**ker in church :p I'm happy with the result so far, but still need to top it off with more compost and yet again mix it well. I don't think I'll be planting anything until tuesday I think.

Looks like you got it done!

I wonder if they sell Crepe Myrtle trees in your country? Some of them only get about 8' tall. They do however drop their leaves in Winter.

Crape Mrytle trees:

http://www.plantmegreen.com/co...

http://www.crapemyrtle.com/

I just planted one of the 10'-12' black leafed Crape Myrtles in my front yard. Mine has black leaves and bright red flowers.