Waterway
Tasmania
Australia
My Garden style
"Free Range Water Gardening"
My Garden philosophy
"A Garden should induce a relaxed state of mind "
2 months old.
Featured on ABC's Gardening Australia March 31st 2000.
The best Garden magazine on the web.
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Note from the author.
A book is on the way
(Hopefully out before Christmas 2000)
" My apologies to those people that find things load too slow, I post decent sized photos on my website so that you can see things properly & don't go blind in the process, so please be patient as most think it is worth it."
Contains lots that is not shown here or explained on this site. Especially fibreglassing technique's, tray/mould tolerances & width/depth plus unique colouring & sealing process that is not revealed here at all ( I have to keep one or 2 aces up my sleeve) I do have to eat when all said & done.
SOON
(Telstra Bandwidth problems)
*
February 2000
It's over 2 years since I started this garden & the amount of wildlife that now exists & lives or visits my garden is astounding, the bird life that comes in & visits the streams for baths & feeding is beyond my expectations. When my live video is up & running I will endeavour to place it so people can witness this for themselves. I will be moving the video all day to where the current activity is in the garden.
While I'm creating this web page I have the back ground chorus of about 6 or so little frogs singing outside & along with the sound of the waterfall & would say it is the most peaceful & relaxing sound you can possibly have in a home garden ."My Garden aims to mesmerize."
12 months old
Latest pictures posted on the 1st March 2000
Here's how it started
A few years ago "Nov 97" I was sitting outside & I heard a little local frog croaking in my courtyard & thought how great it would be to create a nice little environment for them.
Check out the frog picture library New pictures added February 2000.
So I started to looking around at what was available in water garden design area, also what was on the market as far as prefabricated fibreglass mould's. Much to my shock the design's available were less than imaginary , mostly of a roundish shapes of various sizes the largest of which was 1.5 mtr's X 1 mtr X .5 mtr deep & this was just on $A570 & the smallest was approximately 500mm X 300mm X 50mm deep & this was nearly $70 aust "OUCH".
My thoughts of having a large water garden of various levels & sized ponds started to look an extremely expensive operation with just basic fibreglass ponds that were on the market I was looking at over $2000 to cover the distance & give me the look I wanted .
After several days of thinking about it I decided that seeing I had a little bit of experience working with fibreglass, & it's not that hard anyway (mix part "A" with part "B" & use in this amount of time ). I decided to have a go at making my moulds myself, this gave me an idea. Instead of making a set shape & then making everything to suit it I'd do it the other way around. I knew what I wanted to end up with (in my mind ) so I just had to do it, easier said than done.
Now for the next hurdle, "rock" . I spent a few hours ringing around the local garden nurseries to price good garden rock / ton, this also turned out to be a bit more than I expected & to see how much you got for /ton this was heading to be very expensive too (I wanted a lot of rock 25 ton as it turned out), hummmmm time to rethink maybe. Well as in most things in life there is some degree of luck & this was my turn. I have a couple of friends that cut & deliver my wood from a district a few miles away, the next time they came over I asked if they knew anyone that had rock on their land that I would be able to go & collect (seemed to be the only way to get the amount I needed & I wasn't looking forward to it). Much to my amazement one of the two friends said "yeah we've got more rock than we know what to do with". They would be so glad to get rid of it that if I paid for the petrol they would bring me as much as I wanted , lady luck smiles at last. Now the fun starts !
A lot of the plants I wanted to grow like Huon Pines & Babies Tears would not grow in direct sunlight especially with the extra U/V that we are getting down here in Tasmania these days. So I had a large shade cloth cover made by a local company by the name of "Tascovers" to go over the whole courtyard it is 75% shade bone colour & breaks the sunlight just enough to allow the most delicate plants to still grow & allows me to sit outside on a sunny day without having to use sunscreens.
When you leave do it via the worlds top 100 to see some other excellent sites
Click on the picture above to vote for my site (if you think it is worthy )
Have
a look at who has signed my Guestbook
Please
leave your mark in my Guestbook thanks
My favourite 3 Guestbook comments
Peter Cundall
Tasmania
Hello again Craig,
Your water garden is indeed a mind-blower. It was a delight and an honour to personally meet you and see this extraordinary garden. I know the camera crew from the ABC's 'Gardening Australia' were just as impressed. This is a marvellous achievement and an inspiration to all those dedicated but frustrated gardeners who live in dry districts with a low rainfall. You have proved the impossible can be done by creating an exciting, relaxing and beautiful garden, despite a chronic water shortage and using only rainwater collected from the roof of your home and garden shed. Above all I was delighted to meet you, talk to you, listen to you and begin to understand your remarkable single-mindedness and determination. Thank you so much for making us all so welcome.
Peter Cundall
March 19 2000
Gifted Gardener
Branford,Fl
You're sitting down with your morning coffee looking out over lush vegetation, listening to the relaxing sound of water cascading over the nearby falls, watching as a gentle breeze beckons the leaves to dance for your amusement. You must be at Craig's place! Mother Nature's only human rival.
January 25 2000
Aussie Gypsy
http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Geyser/4311/index2.html
Katherine Northern Territory, Australia
I first saw your wonderful creation on the ABC Gardening show. Now having visited your online site, I am even more enthralled with all the nooks and crannies in such a small area - a piece of heaven has broken off and fallen to earth here - then been moulded and coaxed into shape by your wonderful talent (with a lot of muscle, sweat and vision). Thank you for sharing so extensively with your wonderful site presentation. Please keep up your amazing work - both online and in your piece of heaven on earth.
April
08 2000 at 19:26:59
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