Landscaping ideas

OK, now that handover is so close, it's time for us to start making plans for the garden.  Of course, this is something we've been talking about since the beginning, but I want to start writing it all down.

So, first decision we made is that we will try to do as much as possible ourselves (except maybe the odd fence and retaining wall). 
The second decision, made very shortly after I realised just how much we need to do, was that we needed to break it down into small sections, and work on one at a time.  We don't expect to do it all in a month, or even in a year.  But we can continue with the overall planning as we go.

Here's an overview of our plan so far (thanks to nearmap for the overhead shot, taken on the 12th April)

Section 1 is easy - Simonds will be paving the driveway.
Section 2 we want to be a bird attracting native garden.
- hardenbergia to grow up the 2 brick columns supporting our balcony
- hops to grow as a screen beneath the balcony in summer, and cut back in winter to let sun in and be made into aromatic beers.
- other natives such as a flowering red gum, and a few grevilleas

Section 2 & 3 will be separated by a path up to the front door.
- we will plant fragrant flowering bushes such as lavendar, rosemary, gardenias, and wax flowers as a border along the path
- we have two dwarf apple trees currently in pots that we will plant between the path and the fence line.  We had a good crop of apples from them this year, but I think we will add to these with some different varieties to extend our apple season.

Section 4 will get a lot of shade, so we're looking at putting our pond here if we can fit it, with a few ferns and other plants that like shade.  We also want to enclose this area with netting so it can become an enclosure for our two indoor cats to enjoy.

Not 100% sure what we're doing with section 5.  We will install a water tank along the southeast wall, and initially we'll just leave it as an access to get equipment into the back yard.

Section 6 will need a bit of a retaining wall on the west side, and this is also directly outside the kitchen, so we might try some planters with herbs that can be picked through the kitchen window.
On the east side we will level out a section to use as an outdoor entertaining area.  We may deck or pave this eventually, but initially we'll probably just cover the area with some nice redgum wood chip.

Section 7 will be our vegie patches and chickens.  We plan to build the vegie patches the same size as the chicken enclosure so that we can rotate it around the beds and feed back into the soil.

Section 8 will be grassed, with more fruit trees scattered throughout.  The grapfruit tree is already there, circled in blue.  We also have a lemon and lime tree ready to plant.
We also need to fit a clothes line in somewhere.

Of course this is only the plan at the moment.  Once we move in and see where the sun goes, we might move some things around, particularly out the back.