Chronology
September 2009
I went down to Bridgetown to write a book on stretching and look after a house and cat for two local artists while they where away for about three months painting. I planned to take a bit of time off from my job as an Osteopath in the busy city of Perth and do something different. When the artists returned from holiday I moved into another house. The house was situated at the top of a steep hill and had a fantastic view over the valley. It also had a fantastic orchard and over the summer months that I spent there I was able to enjoy the bounty of fruit the orchard produced.While I was house minding I started looked at houses for sale in the area with an idea of perhaps setting up an Osteopathic clinic. I saw plenty of houses that I didn’t like or were unsuitable for turning into an Osteopathic clinic but when I saw the house that is now atop Bridgetown Hillside Garden I immediately knew it was the right one.
The house I bought had to be structured in such a way so the reception and Osteopathic clinic were at the front of the house. The view from the house over the valley below was stunning and this also influenced me to buy the house. The entrance to the house and garden was at the top of one of the highest hills in Bridgetown and the bottom of the garden was at the bottom of one of the lowest valleys – it went almost down to the Blackwood River. The steep drop however meant it would be particularly difficult for growing anything on. This was not an ideal place for a garden but I like a challenge.
February to July 2010
My partner and I bought the property in February 2010 but could not move into the house because tenants were renting the place. We had to wait until July, when their lease expired, to move in. I used the time to look at aerial maps of the property and familiarise myself with the topography. I thought about what I wanted and where it would best fit in with the hill and developed a rough plan so that when I moved into the house on the 1st July 2010 I was better prepared.
Worked out the direction and angle of the sun at different times of the year and the different contours of the hillside.
Did test drilling and took soil samples in different locations.
Took the minimum and maximum mid winter temperature of the soil at the top of hill and at the bottom of the hill. See the results at the bottom of the chronology section.
July 2010
Moved in and set up the furniture in my new house.
August 2010
Contacted various tradesmen – electrician, mini excavator driver, and irrigation people and discussed plans.
September 2010
Dug out four large craters with a mini excavator and used the earth to built banks for four ponds and two connecting streams.
Cut zigzag pathway down the western side of the garden with a mini excavator.
Dug two terraces into the hillside with mini excavator and dug other terraces using manual labour.
Dug a trench from the house down the east side of the garden to the bottom garden for irrigation, pond water supply and electric power. Filled in trench and levelled ground to create an access road for a 4 Wheel drive vehicle to the bottom garden.
Constructed boundary fence between the middle garden and bottom garden.
Began work on the waterfall.
October 2010
Dug trenches for burying pipes to take water to top of ponds and waterfall and dug trenches for taking underground electric cable from power point to ponds.
Filled bog pond with blue metal, sand, soil and perforated pond liner and covered everything with bark mulch
Removed large White Gum and Tasmanian Blue Gum from area behind house
November 2010
Moved ‘cubby’ house from top garden to half way down western side of the middle garden and rebuilt it under the large white gum as a small office.
December 2010
Dug swales and channels for water management down hillside.
Planted about 40 fruit trees, 10 berry bushes, 10 native trees, 30 native shrubs, 20 marginal plants, 10 aquatic plants and about 50 groundcovers.
Replaced sand in child sand pit with soil and started a vegetable garden in the top garden.
January 2011
Dug up and carried rocks to waterfall and built prototype of waterfall
Compacted soil around ponds and modified the shape of the ponds
Put carpet liner into ponds and then added pond liner.
Set up irrigation so smaller pipes went along the terraces and fed the fruit trees via drip lines.
February 2011
From the logged trees I made mulch with mulcher and spread it around trees, sawdust for the path, bark for the bog pond, logs for fire, sliced logs for steps around the bog pond, drilled out logs for habitats for small animals.
Placed sand around edges of ponds, smoothed it level and then covered it will carpet underlay and pond liner and then laid concrete slabs.
March 2011
Carved a bird bath out of the White Gum tree stump.
Put carpet liner into streams and then added pond liner.
Built a patio in the southeast corner of the bottom garden.
Planted orchard along terraces, a mixture of fruits, especially dwarfing varieties and nuts and berries.
Planted a row of trees along the bottom of the garden and shrubs in various locations around the bottom garden.
Had delivery of sawdust and spread sawdust over zigzag pathway.
April 2011
Over 40 mm of rain fell on Bridgetown in one hour resulting in the destruction of the bog pond wall at the bottom of the garden.
Began by building rock pool, swales and channels to reduce water flow, direct it away from vulnerable structures and allow it to safely leave my property.
Buried soft irrigation pipe to protect it against UV damage.
Dug a row of plastic gutters into the ground in front of the ponds and streams to prevent dirty water getting into ponds.
May 2011
Built fences around fruit trees to keep out the sheep.
Installed strainer posts at the end of each terrace and attached strainer wire for support branches of espaliered trees.
Planted marginal plants in the bog pond.
June 2011
Got two metal bridges made and installed them over the ponds.
July 2011
Worked on widening and levelling pathways
October 2011
Painted little house and installed table and chair.
November 2011
Cut steps into ground down the north side of the ponds
Began cementing rocks in place on waterfall.
December 2011
Had second delivery of sawdust for paths.
January 2012
Completed cementing waterfall
Dug more swales in key locations where the water collects down the hillside.
February 2012
Finished installing pipes connecting plastic drains to take water around bottom pond to outlet.
Rebuilt rock pool adding new pond liner and installing rocks
May 2012
Built more swales at the bottom of the middle garden and took pipes from swales under path to allow water to escape when the swales become full and to protect the sawdust path during heavy rain.
August 2012
Did winter pruning – espaliered trees so they grew along the length of the terrace.
Hung juice bottles filled with water over branches and tied branches with string to pull them down into horizontal position
Planted deciduous Chinese elm and a snow pear trees to provide shade over patio in summer.
December 2012
Hired brick cutter and cut concrete slabs into triangles for placement between full slabs and placed them around all ponds.
April 2013
Thickened walls around ponds with additional soil from hillside
May 2013
Put aquatic plants in pots and placed them underwater in the bottom pond
July 2013
Planted groundcover plants as soil stabilisers on the banks of the hillside and ponds.
August 2013
Pruned fruit trees along terraces.
Sepetmber 2013
Installed a large rainwater tank was inside the shed to collect rainwater
October 2013
Strengthen wire fences around fruit trees against sheep.
November 2013
Put metal grills over water outlet drains going to rock pool.
December 2013
Leveled and made minor changes to terraces
February 2014
Bought statues of animals, a Roman urn and a few wooden seats and placed them around the bottom garden.
April 2014
Installed a hose connection point half way down rural pipe for manual watering of the berries
May 2014
Installed additional lighting points in bottom garden and made fixtures more weather proof. Installed LED and solar lighting in and around ponds and waterfall and along pathway. Also set up spot lighting around bottom garden.