Designing Your Garden

When I moved into my  house, there was nothing in the garden but a couple of trees and lots of grass, all of which had to go.   The trees in the front garden were exotics and I wanted nothing but natives there.

One of the first things to do, when looking at the future layout of a garden, is to check the slope of the property.   Mine is almost flat, with a very slight incline back to front, not enough to worry about.

Once the trees were removed, the grass was covered with a thick layer of newspaper, and a couple of inches of mulch.  This had the double advantage of killing the grass, and adding future soil to the garden.

There were no worms in the soil, and it was in very poor condition, so anything which added nutrients was a good thing.   Newspaper is biodegradable, but don't use too much coloured paper - black newsprint is best.