BACKGROUND

The Tembeleski family is well on the way to having an abundant and sustainable backyard. Costa has already installed self-watering vegie beds, water tanks, an entertainment area, compost and worm farms, chickens, a fruit forest and a play area for the kids.

And there is still work to be done to create some special features in the garden.

TIPS

Aquaponics: One of the main features of the garden is a groundbreaking system called aquaponics. An aquaponics system is a notch up from hydroponics. Fish grow in a tub and the waste water from the fish circulates up to a grow bed, planted out with vegetables. The vegies are grown in clay pebbles and as the waste water travels through the grow beds nutrients are removed from the water, which continues to cycle, and the vegies thrive from the goodness from the fish poo.

Costa bought a fully self contained system, so it had everything needed for set up – the grow beds, tanks, pump and clay pebbles. All you need is a competent handy man to set-up the system. Costa filled the fish tank with fresh rain tank water, delivered under gravity from the tanks installed at the beginning of the project.

The grow beds were filled with clay pebbles. Once the system is checked for leaks, flick the switch and start water circulating. Then plant the seedlings. It’s possible to grow most plants in an aquaponics system. Costa chose an assortment of herbs and leafy green vegies.

Remember when installing a new system you need to wait about six weeks before introducing fingerlings, or baby fish to the tank, and then in about nine months fish should be on the menu. The reason for the delay is to give the biological filtration system a chance to get itself established. Good things do take a little bit of time, but once the biology is happy, then nature is on your side.

Lawn: First Costa plans to lay lawn and so the area needed to be prepared. The key to successful lawn is in soil preparation. In the Tembeleski’s yard the sub soil is mostly clay, which is easily compacted and won’t drain, and that means the grass will die.

Costa added a layer of sand then rotary hoed the two soils – the sand and the subsoil- together to a depth of 250mm. He will plant the lawn next week and it should thrive.

Drainage: A concrete slab in the yard was a problem because it fell the wrong way and created a drainage problem – with water making a puddle. Because it was difficult to remove the slab Costa discovered a cheap and easy solution to deal with the drainage problem – what’s called a channel drain.

It’s easy to place the channel drain crossways at the end of the slab to catch any water run-off. Next step is to connect the channel drain to what’s called a strip drain, which allows the water to pass through on its way across the yard, into an absorption pit.

You might remember that Costa already installed the absorption pit beneath the sand pit - in a corner that’s at the lowest point of the yard. It’s designed to allow water to be slowly absorbed back into the earth, reducing storm water runoff and recharging the water table.

The strip drain slows water down, helping to reduce peak flows during rain but most importantly ensuring that we return some water back to the natural systems that are constantly being covered by hard surfaces throughout our cities.


Tunnel: Costa’s second feature element is all about fun in the garden.

Costa used mesh wire sheets and curved them over to create a tunnel large enough for the kids to ride their bikes through. He used wire reinforcing mesh that’s 150mm by 150mm that’s flexible enough to bend, and sturdy enough to hold up plants.

Once Kiwi fruit and passionate vines start growing over the tunnel it will create another world as the kids ride their bikes through to play in the sand pit at the end of the tunnel.
Costa used star pickets to keep the tunnel in place and both tie wire and cable ties to secure the mesh to the pickets.


Topiary: The last feature element in the garden was inspired by a trip to the town of Railton in north-west Tasmania, which is more commonly known as Topiary Town. Costa wanted to add a personal touch to the Tembeleski’s backyard. The first letter of each child’s name was made into a wire topiary frame.

You can create a frame using wire yourself. The Topiary Town specialists get together once a month or so and spot weld frames together as a community project. Have a go at shaping some wire yourself ... it's all about fun. In this case, Costa chose the font and size of letters to suit his idea for the garden and had them built by a local creative engineering company. In this case, instead of wire, the letters were laser cut and welded together to create stunning yet fun sculptures for each of the kids.

Costa selected boxleaf honeysuckle or Lonicera nitida to grow in and around the frame. Over the next two years the boys will snip, cut and trim it to make the shapes into living sculptures. It’s important to train the branches through the wire frames so that ultimately each of the Tembeleski children will have their own living letter.

For Costa the feature elements were about bringing some fun into the garden. The topiary letters will grow with the kids over the years; the tunnel will provide endless hours of entertainment; and the aquaponics system means the entire family will be able to watch it grow and then harvest fish.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Aquaponics:

Murray Hallam’s website.

There is also a forum, which is a good place to research aquaponics.

Topiary:

Topiary Town 

Costa had the topiary frames constructed by:
LaserFx
6 Iraking Ave Moorebank NSW 2170
Contact Russel
Ph 96020888
laserfx.com.au

Tunnel:

Costa used standard steel mesh sheets for concrete re-inforcement. Mesh sheet SL62, 6.2mm thick wire, sheet length 6m x 2.4m with 150mm sized squares. These sheets are best delivered to site by your supplier. In this case it was Buildit Building Supplies, Cnr Victoria Rd and Justin Sts Smithfield NSW 2164, 02 87887100.