Garden design history

This page describes previous designs I made on the backyard landscaping project to a fairly stable point and then decided to change something significant. It gives a reasonable idea of the process that has happened over the last few years

Contents

1. Garden design history
2. Improved pond at back 2020/09
3. Pond on east Side of hidden glen 2020/09
4. Pond Near House With Balance 2020/08
5. Shaded pond and more balance 2020/08
6. Pond below retention 2020/03
7. Pond Leveling 2019/10
8. Flattened Grass using Retaining Wall 2019/09
9. First 3D Model 2019/02
10. Existing Property Modeling 2019/01
11. First Draft 2018/12

Improved pond at back 2020/09

And yet another design idea. This is looking promising.

Pond on east Side of hidden glen 2020/09

I have done another higher level design, this time working on the idea of a hidden nook. The path directs you away from it until you reach the opening where the hidden nook is revealed. Using bright colors to draw focus, a path to distract you until you arrive.

After looking more at the aesthetics of the design and what I tend to like in existing gardens, I realized I had started to sacrifice the aesthetics for other points which wasn’t my original intent.

I was focusing on some practical ideals like:

• Need open design with sunlight for productive (This design makes a slight sacrifice on productive plants to achieve the style)
• Pond/Waterfall should be visible from house
• Pond should be in full sunlight for plant growth
• Pond should be near retaining wall to make use of natural slope for water flow

I prefer the overgrown shaded hidden jungle style, where walking through the garden it reveals beautiful hidden locations for you to enjoy. I also really appreciate the aesthetic of paths that direct the eye where to go, and surprises when you find something that was not expected.

Some key aspects of this design:

• A lot more shade around the seating area
• Pond location is hidden and away from retaining wall
• The view from the house hints at interesting destinations you cant quite see

Improvements over previous designs:

• Aesthetic appeal to me
• Pond now a long way from retaining walls, less chance of collapse and also of run-off from chickens
• Interaction with the pond is easier, sitting and dangling legs into it from deck/paved area

Possible issues:

• Pool fencing regulations?
• Is the extra density going to cause shading issues?
• Leaves in pond (lots more), I am going to have to live with this and likely use a net above the pond in autumn
• Pond likely will be smaller and have less flexibility

Perspective View	Topdown View

Pond Near House With Balance 2020/08

After looking at possibilities for the shaded pond, I am considering moving back to the non-shaded pond location, but adding options to provide shade and balance to the overall backyard view.

The pond at the back of the property had a number of issues I didn’t like in the design including:

• Not easily visible from house
• Looked “cramped” because of retaining wall changes required
• Had likely more issues with nutrient rich run-off into pond
• Closer proximity to higher retaining wall height is more likely for pond wall collapse
• Maybe issues with pool fence regulations and placing items in the non-climb zone

Key additions:

• Ballance using tree next to pool fence like in the shaded design
• Maybe a small shade tree for the pond alone, similar to overhanging maples in koi ponds etc
• Maybe a small bridge over pond to a sitting rock (Not the best destination), but bridge will provide shade

Perspective View	Topdown View

Shaded pond and more balance 2020/08

After seeing a video on pond based auqaponics, I realized that being able to shade the pond might make sense if I want to try and use it for aquaponics. This is normal in aquaponics to prevent too much algae, but also in Koi ponds.

Additionally we decided having a large flat section of grass was unnecessary and that the whole design was a little un-balanced. So I decided to restructure things significantly.

• Moved pond near pool fence
• Pond can be shaded if desired
• Creates a hidey-hole in the back-yard where we can entertain next to the pond

This is where I am up to at the moment, and I have a lot of things to consider still.

• Run-off needs to be diverted, now closer to chickens
• Proximity to retained section of retaining wall is probably ok but a little worse than last location
• Better location to install drainage to prevent hydro-static pressure raising the liner

Perspective View	Topdown View

Pond below retention 2020/03

After learning more regulations about retaining walls I realized I should try not to bring any retaining walls to the boundary fence. Also the retention of a pond is structurally more difficult than placing it below the retaining wall.

This change was significant and ideally would reduce the cost and complexity significantly.

• Pond is now below the retaining wall, and not much overlap with actual retaining height
• Retaining wall height reduced to 600mm
• Retaining wall goes no where near boundary fence (it is not retaining wher it approaches but just a garden border)
• Pond is now visible from kitchen, and potential future deck
• Main access now easier to get to (not up on retaining but level with house)

Perspective View	Topdown View

Pond Leveling 2019/10

In this revision, I realized that the pond wasn’t going to work unless the ground it was on was flat (or we retain the pond specially). Additionally I was tring to move the pond away from the boundry fence a little.

I tried a few different configurations but settled on one where the pond was in the middle retained section, there was also a seating area and other things. Key points here were:

• Pond was infeasible to build on the given slope
• Pond plants want full sun to thrive not full shade
• Digging pond and stream next to boundary fence might cause issues with fence stability so moved it
• Creating a long stream served little purpose and just made it cost more and build complex
• Chickens moved to top of slop so nutrient leeching would benefit plants
• Pond sufficient distance from chickens

This revision was looking very promising for a while until I thought about the retaining walls and the complexity of building this with a few different retained sections.

Table on Grass	Pond on Grass

I finally settled on this idea:

Flattened Grass using Retaining Wall 2019/09

In this revision, a key point was to try and make the grassy space more usable by adding a retaining wall.

Additionally, I thought the area near the house could have vegetable gardens as the grass doesnt grow well there and they are close for easy harvesting.

• Added raised beds near kitchen window
• Added more planting next to pool fence
• Added entertainment area instead of a simple seat that has view of pond and shade
• Added chicken coup near pool area (Sufficient distance from surrounding dwellings)
• Added small chicken-run along back fence, hidden by bushes so ugly chicken scratched soil is not visible

Perspective View	Topdown View

First 3D Model 2019/02

This was my first 3D modeled design. It was simple, based off the 2D one.

I also included a significant design for an extension to the house with a deck overlooking the yard and pool and closing in a granny flat under the deck that I thought would maybe be something we might do one day.

Some things I tried to achieve in this design were:

• Tall trees on the south and layer plants like in a food forrest smaller towards the north and down-slope, providing light at all layers
• Pond and stream near back to create a micro-climate with more temperate/tropical plants near it (Bananas, Mango, Davidsons Plum)
• Black bricks along southern boundary fence to hold warmth and create a micro-climate good for bananas, mangos etc
• Use the existing raised bed in the corner for a small pond
• Cover back fence with bushes to hide it
• Keep compost bins, paving near them to make easier access
• Include a fire-pit as we were using one regulary
• Minimal work

Existing Property Modeling 2019/01

I played with a few CAD packages, and finally settled on one called Realtime Landscaping Pro https://www.ideaspectrum.com/landscape-design-software-overview/ It was simple to use, flexible and fairly cheap as CAD packages go.

All the free ones I tried were much less productive to use, where as this software had a nice intuitive interface, a good set of features and the tutorial videos were amazing https://www.ideaspectrum.com/landscaping-software-tutorials/ The free version was sufficient for what I wanted to do, but I ended up paying for it to support what I think is good software and get access to more tree models.

TODO: Describe the method used to determine terrain

To model my house and yard, I did a few things:

• Lots of measuring dimensions and photos of my house and yard
• Downloaded image from google maps for base : https://www.ideaspectrum.com/using-google-maps/
• Used another overlay image of the houses floor plan to accurately line up doors / windows
• Estimated the slope of my yard using a long straight pole, tape measure and some math
• Drew up the landscape with slope, then modeled the house
• Using photos, validate the landscape contour and make relevant minor adjustments
• Validated the aspect was set correctly in the software for shadow simulation

After this I had a fairly accurate model of the existing property including landscape contour and house. It took a while to get the contour correct and I think contour and elevation controls are probably the worst parts of the Realtime Landscaping pro software.

Perspective View	Topdown View

Slope viewed from north	Slope viewed from east

First Draft 2018/12

Using a very simple 2D garden planning tool http://www.smallblueprinter.com/garden/ I outlined a basic structure for my back-yard design.

This included rough measurements of the yard, and identified a few key things I would like in the design:

• Deciduous trees near the house to permit light to enter the house in winter and maybe some shade in summer
• Taller trees on the south boundary and layer plants like in a food forrest smaller towards the north and down-slope, providing light at all layers
• Covering all boundaries with something productive (vines on fences for example)
• Started to identify the types of plants I wanted
• Raised beds for annuals (Veggies and herbs)
• Herbs and leafy greens closer to the kitchen for easy access
• Pond near back (I love water features)

I started to realize that I couldnt easily visualize what this would look like and how the sunlight would work etc, so I went looking for other software to model it better.