...quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

At last, we have the basic garden finished. The lot is a mere 407 sq m so there's not a lot of garden to establish. The land was compacted to build it above the Q100 (once in a hundred years flood) level. Our slab is on top of that level, therefore short of Armageddon we should be safe from any chance of inundation from the neighbouring brook. There has had to be a lot of work done on the compacted clay soil to enable plants to grow well. So far all seems good - we've only had two deaths amongst the plants, so that's good for my usual record.We have lots of dry tolerant plants and also stored water for the gardens. The stones (lower right) are surrounding a storm water drain (we have two along this side). The smaller grey tank holds 3000L.

The small backyard has a Patio Lemon tree (dwarf), a Tahitian Lime (also dwarf) and an olive tree. The other plants are for screening and adding some colour - eventually.On the left you can just see the edge of the 5000L main water tank supplying water to the three toilets as well as the washing machine. Rene gets to look out from the downstairs gallery on a lovely vista of palms and other plants.
Our southern side is very rarely used and goes from the laundry to the folding line. Notice how close we are to the other house? This is happening more and more as people build more densely closer in to the city centre.

You have to have your utilities somewhere. Ours are along the northern side. Behind the grey screen is our hot water system, solar panels are on the roof above - the northern side gets the most sun here in Australia. The air conditioner unit looks very industrial. It works remarkably well after its initial teething problems.