#greenliving#natureliving#greencottage#naturegarden#rusticgarden Come and explore this beautiful small garden makeover from a bland and boring courtyard to a usable and inviting space filled with great garden design ideas and inspiration. Join Chloe from Bean There Dug That, as you to explore this hidden gem tucked away next to a beautiful parkland. Despite its modest 67 square meter size and tricky sloping terrain, this small courtyard garden is a testament to creatively gardening in Australia with some clever innovations in landscaping design.
Nestled in the inner eastern suburbs of Melbourne, this garden showcases great garden design techniques that strike a balance between privacy and connectivity with the surrounding parkland. From the lush groundcovers like dichondra, pratia, and native violets softening the edges of the rock to the strategic placement of tall-growing plants for added privacy, every aspect of this garden has been meticulously planned and executed.
The focal point of the garden is a stunning kidney-shaped deck that not only conceals an operational drain but also serves as a functional and inviting outdoor space. Engineered with precision, the slatted fence offers privacy from the road while maintaining a visual connection to the parkland beyond, thanks to its angled design.
Alongside the deck, a beautiful curved rammed earth wall provides seating and adds a touch of natural elegance to the space. Complemented by low-maintenance composite decking and carefully selected plantings, this garden is a harmonious blend of form and function.
As you wander through this small green oasis, you'll discover citrus trees thriving in the narrowest part of the garden, clever lighting solutions that extend usability into the evening, and even a discreet clothesline that seamlessly integrates into the design.
Behind this fence next to this beautiful parkland is a relatively new garden.
It's only 67 square metres and it's on a tricky sloping block with the narrowest point that's
only one metre wide.
I'm Chloe from Been There, Dug That.
Let's go behind the garden gate.
Stepping out of that parkland, we're leaving it all behind.
However, this garden utilises some clever design techniques so that it feels both private
and still connected to the parkland.
Let's go and have a look.
We're in the inner eastern suburbs of Melbourne and this garden slopes down quite dramatically
from that entrance gate to a really low point which in the before photos you can see that
the focal point of the garden was literally the drain at the bottom of the garden.
But not anymore.
It's all been concealed but still is an operational drain.
Between these big stone steppers, there are three different ground covers that have been
used by the designer Nadia Cole from Platylobium.
Here we have Dichondra as the main one.
This one with the little lovely star-shaped flower is Pratia.
And the lovely one with the little purple flowers is a native violet.
And together the three of them are really softening the edges of the rock
and giving us a lovely green space when we don't have lawn.
Most of the plants in this garden are hardy Aussie natives
but there are a few exotics in here as well.
Those plants closest to the fence have been chosen because they will grow up taller
and even start to hide the fence as they mature.
And then there's lots of ground covers in here as well to soften things off
and to give lots of greenery down low.
You'll notice that in this part of the garden the fence behind me looks almost completely flat
and that's because the slats in this section have changed to a 10 degree angle
rather than the 90 degree angle earlier on in the garden.
And in this section it's that seemingly solid fence that gives us privacy from the road over there
and makes this feel like a warm and inviting space.
But at the same time if I turn this way and look through these slats that are on a 45 degree angle
I can still see down into the greenery and the park beyond.
It's really clever and it was a bit of an engineering feat
with Nadia and Atlas Concrete and Landscaping combining their skills
using 3D imaging and modelling to learn about the different views
from inside the house through the fence and into the parkland beyond.
Beneath this kidney-shaped deck is the drain
which once upon a time dominated the garden space.
This deck means that the drain is still completely functional
but it's hidden beneath this surface which is a lot more inviting and a lot nicer to look at.
The slats here are actually able to be lifted up so that drain access is still possible.
This deck is made of a composite material so it's got zero maintenance
which was something that was really important to the owners.
There's no need to sand this back and re-oil it every few years.
The other feature of this space is this beautiful curved rammed earth wall
which serves as a seating space as well.
Originally this was also going to be a timber feature
but rammed earth, zero maintenance and it needs nothing done to it forever.
When the old fence was taken down and before the new fence went up
it allowed the machinery access into this space
so they were able to bring in the rocks and the big boulders
which you might not normally be able to bring into such a small garden space.
And these pebbles beneath our feet also give just a nice change of surface and texture.
This is the narrowest part of the garden.
It's only a metre wide back here but they've made great use of the space.
This space is full west so down here they've been able to plant three citrus trees
which are looking really healthy and happy.
The owner specifically asked for this crepe myrtle to be planted here.
This is going to provide protection up on the deck from the western afternoon sun as this grows up
but of course then in the winter months when it's lost its leaves
it'll allow the sun into that space.
Really clever.
These low growing banksias are one of my favourites.
They're really architectural when they're not in flower
but when they are in flower they're yellowy orange quite tall flowers
at a really striking pop of colour.
And the creeper that's being encouraged to grow across the back fence here
is going to add just that little bit more privacy from the laneway beyond.
Lighting in this garden is really important.
Even though we are in the inner suburbs because of this parkland at dusk and beyond
this area is very dark.
So lighting the paths and lighting the features of the garden like around the rammed earth wall
are really important so that it's usable year-round and at any time of the day or night.
There's also a really clever thing that they've done here
and they have pointed some lights out of the garden into the parkland beyond
and what they do is they light up the trees immediately next to us.
So at night time they give us the sense that the garden continues beyond the fence line
and it's a bit nicer than looking at a great big black void at night.
You might notice that with the vertical slats of the fences
beneath them there are some horizontal pieces as well
and these serve two purposes.
Number one it's to keep the vigorous parkland grass from making its way into the garden
and the second purpose of these horizontals is to help contain the cat.
Combination of the verticals which are not very climbable at all
and this horizontal piece at the base of the fence
means that this is a very cat safe garden and the cat can explore safely.
And I barely even noticed this clever clothesline because it conceals so well.
This folds out when needed and folds away when it's not needed
so this can be another courtyard space and it's got a barbecue up here as well.
I hope you've enjoyed this tour around this small garden.
From a very bland and boring canvas this is now a space that you want to be in and you want to enjoy.
Make sure you like and subscribe because I've got plenty more garden tours coming your way.
See you next time!
