Kylie,
We were lucky to start with over half an acre of blank sheet - apart from a
two year old "native" garden along one fence where the recycled water went.
We started with a nice square corner for the veggie patch - square to
maximise use of the space and make it easy to fence of our dogs decided
digging veggies was good sport (they didn't). We put a row of fruit trees
as a border to the garden and partial screen from the house - also as a wind
break. Next we looked at screening neighbours views into our yard (we have
10 neighbours !!) That involved fast growing hedge type plants and some
creepers on wires extending the height of the fences. We wanted the yard to
have an open feel about it but completely block the pool from neighbours
views - saves buying new bathers each year as the chlorine kills them :-) So
we did strategically placed rows of lillypillys diagonally across the yard
that left the view from the house open, but hindered views across the yard.

Then we went for plant types so that each garden needed the same sort of
conditions. The recycle garden is raised sand and as there are only two of
us here the recycled water does not go far on a garden this size so it has
become drought resistant eucalyptus, and acacia, edged with some tough 1m
high reedy stuff. There is another garden that provides the close in screen
for the pool, it is raised clay (the soil that came out where the pool went
in) it is grevilleas. Along one other fence is a thick planting of
callistemon and another is primarily melaleucas. Under big trees out the
front we planted cordylines and bromilleads the other side exposed to sun
and no water is grey and purple lambs ears, buddleias and gaura.

If you have Google Earth, go to 32 41 45.16 S and 115 38 54.55 E that is our
house, you can see the shape of the yard - the image is a couple of years
old and the lillypillys and callistemon have gone in since then there has
been lots of growth since then but you can get the idea.

Cheers,
Geoff

"0tterbot" wrote in message
...
wrote in message
ups.com...
On Feb 25, 11:54 am, "0tterbot" wrote:

mainly i am going to take on board your advice to settle down & observe
more, & only do things i am sure about. frankly, i need a break anyway -
i
think i have exhausted myself with this. :-) ta!
kylie- Hide quoted text -


One other thing just sprung to mind. One reason to observe over
several seasons is to see where and when the sun shines as the seasons
change. There are a number of freeware utilities and web-based
calculators (one called 'ephemeris' by Sachs) that will calculate the
position of the sun for you at any time. Here is one reference, there
are many:

http://www.bythom.com/calculate.htm

From the angles provided using some a compass, stakes, string etc you
can map out where shadows will fall (say in Winter) without waiting
for the seasons to change. This will help you determine the effect of
trellises, verandahs, deciduous trees etc as far as trying to get
shade in summer and sun in winter, or make sure that the location of
the vege garden has sun all year around.

good heavens!! the things they have these days. thank you! (naturally the
situation is complicated by living 1/2 way down a valley and with many
other large trees, but i'll get dh onto that when he is deciding where he
wants his hop trellis to go.) might be handy for our new verandah (one
day - snort) too.

we had to cut down a huge tree (it's now resprouting) because it cast
shadow on the solar panels most of the day in winter, i.e. when we got
here.

as an aside, it's kind of amazing the things the 7th day adventists have
info on.

as another aside, you would think the solar installer (i know who he is)
would not have made such a ridiculous mistake.

i think that is enough asides now. thanks for that.
kylie