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Top tips to resurrect an unloved garden

March 28, 2017 Leave a Comment

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By the Phillip Withers Landscape Design Team

Take a look outside and be honest. Is your backyard overgrown and a bit of a mess? Is that outdoor entertaining area still only half finished? Or, like so many of us, maybe the garden is just not your thing so youโ€™ve never really bothered in the first place. It doesnโ€™t matter either way because itโ€™s never too late to resurrect an unloved garden. To help get you started Landscape Designer Phillip Withers has come up with some top tips to help you resurrect your unloved garden.

resurrect an unloved gardenImage source: Phillip Withers Landscape Design

Top tips to resurrect an unloved garden

1. Grass – Aerate your lawn every spring with a roller/garden fork and spread lawn fertiliser all over your garden. Trim any surrounding tress that are preventing sunlight exposure to your garden and finally cut your grass approximately 2.5cm in length. This routine will put you in good stead to have beautiful, lush green grass year upon year.

2. Soil and Plants –ย Save any organic waste from your house and leave it in the composter for at least six months. This free compost will provide your soil with fantastic nutrients that attract earthworms, which help keep it fertilised. Focus on cultivating plants that attract birds and bees to ensure their pollination, establish weed control and those that will spread the plants seeds around the garden.

3. Herbs –ย Twice a year plant herbs in little pot plants or even in the edges pf the garden to make it part of the system. Not only are they a great way to help you live a healthier life, they look great and can provide great coverage and texture in many cases.

resurrect an unloved garden

4. Water Storage –ย If at all possible, invest in a water tank. If you donโ€™t have access to a bore, stream or river, rainwater (collected in the most part over the winter), is the best source of much needed water for your garden to flourish all year round,

5. Establish a routine –ย Your garden routine should run like clockwork, You should know what time of day you are going to: water the plants, pull out weeds, harvest any veg etc. Work hard in your garden because the more time you put in, the more you will get out. Establish a system and get the foundations right it will become a leisurely activity! Also remember that you donโ€™t have to make it hard, using timers and modern techniques such as wicking beds can make life easier.

6. Choose a range of plants –ย Consider texture, shape, sound and smell, (not only aesthetic) when choosing your plants, to stimulate your senses as much as possible. Eg. Ornamental grasses move in the wind to create wonderful sounds and provide a point of interest for the eye. Incorporating food also will create the addition of an environment you can pick and eat and bring life to the whole family to learn and indulge in.

resurrect an unloved gardenImage source: Phillip Withers

7. Lighting –ย In winter, your stark garden can be rejuvenated with a few strategically placed lighting elements. Place them beneath a tree or a taller plant to create an interesting and illuminating display that allows you to see your plants in a new way. This can also help to bring in the rule of a garden working from the inside just as much as the outside. Its so important to think of your garden this way if you want to green and calm in your home.

Visit the Phillip Withers Landscape Design team and garden โ€˜I SEE WILDโ€™ at the 2017 Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, Garden A76. March 29th โ€“ April 2nd 2017. For more information, visit www.phillipwithers.com

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Before & after: Renovating a kitchen while keeping Before & after: Renovating a kitchen while keeping ALL the character!

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Letterbox kinder egg deliveries from a friend, dressing changes without a flinch and refusing to nap despite all the bribes (check the face on him in pic 3!).

Thanks for all your care and messages/comments for this tired and shaken up mama! Now very relieved and grateful ๐Ÿ™
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It's not just the award winning designer houses that get us excited here. It's also the beloved family homes which are renovated and extended to make them fit for purpose so people can continue to live where they love ๐Ÿค—

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Bravest little patient ever. Yes I've had a ๐Ÿท

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And as for their Sydney showroom (they also sell online): WOW.

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#interiorsaddict #theinteriorsaddict #jenbishop
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I'm THRILLED to be an ambassador for the brand new I'm THRILLED to be an ambassador for the brand new @madeinaustshow in Sydney this August.

๐Ÿฆ˜๐ŸจForget every tacky association you ever had about touristy Australian made and prepare to see a showcase of the best of home, lifestyle, fashion and beauty made right here. If the pandemic has made you appreciate buying local even more, this is for you.

It's the first business to business trade event connecting retailers with Australian made products to champion our local makers๐Ÿ™

Apply to exhibit or find out more at their website, via their bio, now!

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Do I recommend a timber vanity top? A big fat NOP Do I recommend a timber vanity top?

A big fat NOPE! ๐Ÿ’ง 

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Doesn't matter what they tell you or how many times it's sealed, I'm not sure it's a great idea in a room which is so, well, wet!

I love having the warmth of timber in the bathroom and it's a beautiful piece, but timber on the top? Never again.

Ours probably lasted a year (if that) before it started to go downhill (and we want a good decade out of a bathroom, right?!). 2.5 years on, everything else in this bathroom looks virtually brand new and the water marked vanity top was really letting the side down and making me sad!

But I'm so pleased with this solution, I have to say! Took the plumber less than an hour to remove the sink, install the top and connect the sink back up. We didn't need to move the tap and it isn't too close to the basin.

The kids are allowed to brush their teeth and wash their hands (liquid soap ๐Ÿฅด) in here again and I can leave my hair straightener on there with gay abandon ๐Ÿ˜†

The reflective surface (which I can clean with whatever I like!๐Ÿ’ช๐Ÿป) brightens the room up too!

Next week I'll tell you what I really think of my brass tile trim too ๐Ÿ˜‰

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Is there a more decadent and delicious soup than F Is there a more decadent and delicious soup than French onion?

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Get to know me! I haven't done one of these in YE Get to know me!

I haven't done one of these in YEARS so there's possibly thousands of you who don't know my back story. Here's a few things you may not know about me!

โœ”๏ธ I'm English ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ and I moved here (just for one year) back in 2008๐Ÿ˜† 

โœ”๏ธ I can't end the day without a bath, even if I get home really late or on a really hot day. It's a mental health thing and my happy place. ๐Ÿ› 

โœ”๏ธ Before becoming a blogger and running my own small business, I was a journalist from the age of 18. My favourite news gathering times were as a newspaper crime reporter (bit different to interiors!) ๐Ÿ““ 

โœ”๏ธ I once worked at New Scotland Yard in London ๐Ÿš” 

โœ”๏ธI had an interview at Oxford (didn't get in!) but chose not to go to uni at all after being offered a job on the local paper #universityoflife ๐Ÿ˜

โœ”๏ธ My mum died when I was 3, I have an excellent dad and one sister (younger) in the UK โค๏ธ ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง 

โœ”๏ธ At school, my favourite subject was French ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท and I was head girl ๐Ÿค“๐Ÿค“

โœ”๏ธ I'm addicted to โ˜•๏ธ , long hot baths and๐Ÿ’„ (been wearing it since I was about 14!)

โœ”๏ธ I'm not a phonecall person and will never ever pick up an unknown number. Ever. They can leave a message ๐Ÿ˜

โœ”๏ธ My favourite cuisine is Japanese ๐Ÿฃ ๐Ÿœ and Damian and I honeymooned in Tokyo and Venice 

โœ”๏ธ I have zero design qualifications. I just started blogging about my passion, which is trying to persuade everyone to #heartyourhome That was 11 years ago...

โœ”๏ธ My favourite tipple is a good GnT or๐Ÿท 

โœ”๏ธ Cheesy as it sounds, ๐Ÿ’โ€โ™€๏ธbeing a mum is my absolute biggest joy in life ๐Ÿง’๐Ÿ‘ฆ

โœ”๏ธ I will never give up my old school paper diary! Has to be A5 and week to view ๐Ÿ“– 

โœ”๏ธ My official surname isn't Bishop. I kept my maiden name for work after I got married but changed it for everything else. Often confuse myself!

โœ”๏ธ I didn't get my Ps until I was 37 and I'm still a terrible parker ๐Ÿ˜ฏ ๐Ÿ…ฟ๏ธ

Hope you feel like you know me a bit better ๐Ÿ˜˜

๐Ÿ“ธ @vanlowvanlow
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About Naomi Foxall

Naomi Foxall is a freelance writer, content and social media manager, living on the NSW South Coast.

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