When clients asked for a makeover of their entrance and drive way of approximately 120 metres, they had low maintenance as a prerequisite. The drive way had been kept under control mainly with a weed eater, however it still presented as a high maintenance job and it always looked messy.
The entrance way before work commenced.
The shrubs along one side of the drive had been competing for food and had become quite leggy and unattractive. There was an open culvert running the length of the driveway, half covered in grass with a generous scattering of agapanthus that had randomly seeded throughout it.
Before – the left hand side of the driveway was always difficult to maintain.
To begin, we had to remove the trees. This is where the front winches on the Tatonka truck are very useful! The trees were mulched on site.
With our little digger, we created a swale down the length of the driveway. We removed all unwanted organic matter piling it up for decomposition.
The swale area was then covered in a mud stop matting.
Preparing the mud stop to go over the newly formed swale area.
River stone was hand placed along the length of the swale. No need to go to the gym when you are doing this work! River pebbles were added later.
Hand placed river stone.
Rustic items of wood were randomly placed to add interest and replicate a river bed.
Creating the natural look.
A hedge was planted along the length of the driveway to provide privacy. The popular native ‘griselinia’ was planted.
The area around the plantings was thickly mulched. As part of the banks were relatively steep, a fibre matting was used to hold the mulch in place.
Using the bin to fill the areas requiring mulch enables us to work quickly, efficiently and cleanly.
Red native flaxes were planted to add interest along with the very popular and hardy Australian lomundra grasses.
Fresh plantings of flax, lumundra and griselinia.
The entrance reconstruction involved replacing the old fence and gates, and continuing the river boulder theme. Interest pieces of drift wood and large boulders completed the overall natural look.
Boulders,drift wood and plantings in the new entrance way
Solid new gates with a light oak coloured stain, along with a matching new letterbox complete the project.
