Mahalath Halperin & Joc Coventry .: 93 Brown Street, Armidale

See photo gallery ...

In our garden there are:

The hedges are 'heritage listed' but when we moved in Sep 06, there were another 17 x 60' high pines along the western fence that had never been tamed – we took them out to allow in more light, more garden and save the soil; The trunks were ripped and now used throughout the garden, the rest taken to the depot and replaced with Council mulch to create the mounds along the western boundary – slowly being filled up with natives, exotics, pumpkins, potatoes and anything else that will grow; we planted red clover the first year to encourage the gravel to reseed, with pioneer weeds the first year now being replaced with lawn, Lucerne and more red clover.

Two main veggie beds, constantly rotating, interspersed with herbs, marigolds, comfrey, borage, etc which keep the bad bugs at bay; But also vegies elsewhere throughout the garden - especially tomatoes that pop up everywhere; Many vegies self seed (lettuce, rocket, tomatoes, spuds, leeks) and we collect seeds to grow the following year (beans, peas, pumpkin, corn); Gradually connecting the beds with second-hand paving, building up the sides and soil with compost, council mulch, sheep poo, straw and the occasional horse poo and mushroom compost

Organic gardening in that we don't use chemicals – not certified (though we are probably certifiable!), relying on friendly insects, birds and companion planting; Snails and birds our biggest concerns, though we're happy to share some things with them (the birds love sunflowers) and the chooks love the snails; For fruit fly we use either exclusion bags and/or White May oil; Lime and water for the cherry slug; and coddling moth we'll tackle next year!

Vast areas of blue metal gravel driveway slowly being replaced with garden beds, or left to regenerate into lawn; Various lawn areas in turn being remade into garden beds, especially the lawn either side of the front gate – now two established garden beds with a mix of natives, exotics, perennials and annuals; Most new beds started with a no-dig potato bed, though often the spuds keep coming up for years after;

Relocating the 'pink' rocks, much faded now thankfully, and extending existing beds – eg round bed near garage, originally a stand-alone circle in a gravel drive, extended north and south and encouraging lawn either side; Other edging using rocks (many with a story), timber, bricks and sleepers;

The eastern lawn originally just sloped down, so after having it levelled, we created the terrace above, built the walls and stone steps, then filled out the garden on the lower side and put the sleepers in; 'Wally' our Wollemi Pine is doing extremely well after only 2 years.

The disused tennis court is slowly being transformed to part lawn with a grand entry from the top end, and a berry orchard to the lower half. Removing half of the fences to allow the garden to flow through.

Everything is in together – vegies, plants, trees, paving, seating, water and sculptures. By integrating the garden and house, we have tried to create a high degree of self sufficiency, and one that keeps us in touch with the land, the weather and an holistic approach to garden-house-lifestyle - our own bit of paradise.