[JayB]

Hi everybody,

I thought I would write up a bit of an intro post so I hope this is the right area for that but just to explain a bit about me and the job ahead for us.
I'm an Aussie(Adelaide boy originally) and am now living on the Costa Blanca in Spain in a little place called Busot. We have been here a couple of years now but have only just purchased our first house and just moved in and with that comes our own garden that we can do whatever we wish in.

The house we brought was previously owned by an elderly couple who clearly designed the garden to be low maintenance, paved and full of stones everywhere which for us is too much and we want to change completely. The garden has also been somewhat neglected over the last few months which is sad to see the sick or dead plants from lack of watering but I suppose it will at least give us a clean slate to start with. It's not a huge yard but there is plenty of space and hopefully we can make it a bit more plant and kid friendly along the way.

Being an Aussie it was quite a surprise to see so many familiar Eucalyptus, Acacias, Castimillions etc... around the area and it some garden centers here so that gives me some hope of being able to source the plants I may like.
Anyway, the task ahead is probably a bit bigger than I first thought and of course gets bigger all the time as my vision of it changes but it's a challenge plus we are doing some reno work as well on the inside.
 My  plan is to start slowly, get the weeds under control, make a compost heap and recover what I can from the garden and then start of the stone removal. From there it should open up a bit more and I will have more of an idea of where I'm headed with the design and practicality of it all.

Here are a few pics of some of the areas!
As you can see there is not much to it at the moment, lots of stones, palms and pines.

Here is the front yard which we will totally overhaul.




Part of the backyard and pool area, not sure what to do yet. Not a fan of the palms or pines but not sure we can do much about them for now.


This is down the side, lots of space for some landscaping.

[David Dickinson]

Hi,

Always good to see some "before" pics (followed up by some "progress so far" pics?). Don't know if you are into growing your own veg etc but the bit down the side might lend itself to a veg plot. Looks like it has been used to play "bocce". The pool is beautiful. Agree about the palms and pines. Not my favourite either. 

First thing that came to my mind was to extend the raised bank at the opposite end of the pool steps towards the pool edge and have that filled with flowering bushes at the back grading down to low growing creepers over a low wall at the front so as to have a view of a garden whilst in the water. Some way of stopping soil and the like getting into the pool needed of course.  You might want to keep the space for sunbathing etc though?

Whatever you decide you have a fantastic opportunity to create something of your own. Welcome to the forum and keep us posted on how things develop :-)

[JayB]

Hi David,

Thanks for the welcome and the reply.
I definitely plan to post some follow up pics once we get started, lots going on at the moment but we will get there. A veggie patch and herb garden will probably be one of the first things we can get done. As you say down that side but probably at the back. We are thinking putting a deck somewhere near there and a little play area for the kids where the bocce area is but the rest of that side we will landscape and plant a lot of plants. I'm compiling a list already of plants we may like and then see if I can source them here.

I like the idea of extending that bank a little bit, hadn't thought of that. I think much will depend on what we can do. I want to knock that white wall down at the back to make more space but seeing as the pines have been planted right on the fence line it would leave the yard not very secure.
I don't know, we have 1000 things swirling around as ideas and probably can't do it all.