- [Lucy] When it comes to spring cleaning, people often only focus on the inside of the home.
But clutter can accumulate anywhere, including the garden and front yard.
So in this episode, we're on the way to Drew's house to transform her front yard and make sure her first
impression is a good one.
Hi.
- [Drew] Hi, how are you?
- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
- Look at this garden.
- Yeah.
- This is a really good-sized garden and a fairly typical suburban front yard.
- Yeah.
It's a nice-sized block, but yeah, it definitely needs some work.
- And this is your first time?
- It is, yep,
- Congratulations.
- Thank you, thank you.
- So have you been working a lot on the inside?
- Yeah, we have, yep...
- Less on the outside. - ...done lots on the inside.
But, yeah, nothing really out here yet.
- Can I ask what's happening over here?
- There was a big Christmas tree thing there that got cut down and that's where it stayed.
- Let's clean that up.
- Yeah, that sounds good. - That'd to be good.
We've got some great bones to work with.
It's quite low-lying as well.
Like, it's set down from the street, which I like.
I think we can definitely work with that.
It allows us to do some different layers and textures.
And there's a lot of space.
- Yeah, there is.
- Yeah, I can see that there's a garden bed there.
So someone's tried to establish something that hasn't quite kept the maintenance up.
And I actually love the color in that tree.
That's fantastic.
- Yeah, it's great.
- How are you with your gardening?
Are you a green thumb or are you not so good?
- I've got some indoor plants that are going okay, but not much outdoors.
- So we probably need to look at choosing some sustainable plants, you know,
something that can really just maintain itself.
- Yep.
- Hiding behind that tree, what actually is that?
Do you have kids?
- No, don't.
It was the previous owner's.
- That can go.
So I think ultimately, we can just do a big spring clean.
We need to clear it out, start again, and whilst you guys have been busy on the
inside of the home, let us help you with the outside.
- Sounds great.
- Let's do it.
I've brought in the garden experts for this one.
And with Sandy, Louisa and James leading the charge, we will completely transform Drew's front yard
in as little as a weekend.
This garden will really benefit from a good spring clean.
We're going to prune, weed, and remove the clutter, add color by painting the house, fence,
and through clever planting.
Paving, sand, and stone will bring texture.
And finally, we'll set up a station for composting to ensure this front yard survives and thrives
for years to come.
Front yards are all about first impressions.
And right now, this garden needs a bit of love.
So we've called in not just one garden expert, but a whole team of them.
As you can see, they don't muck about.
♪ [music] ♪
While the team get to work on the front yard, Drew's getting a quick lesson in lawn care to make sure
this home makes a good impression starting from the curb.
- [James] It looks like you have lots of clovers and dandelions scattered around your garden.
- Yep.
- How long have they been here for?
- Ever since we moved here, so probably about nine months or so now.
- This product will fix it up without any problems, Weed and Feed.
- How often do you have to use it?
- Only once a year, so very simple.
- And will it kill off my grass?
- No, not at all.
It will just kill the weeds in between.
So, no issues at all.
♪ [music] ♪
- [Sandy] We're just going to follow the normal growth of the hedge so we don't cut back too far
into the deadwood.
- But if you cut back too much it'll go back, right?
- It may not.
- Really?
- Yes.
- Oh, this is high stakes then?
- Yes.
- You can seriously give it a bad crew cut or something.
- We could.
- Okay, so just a little bit and what, regularly?
- Yes, more often and a little bit at a time.
- Right, okay.
So just like your own trim, when you get a haircut, so does the hedge.
- Yes.
- Okay, cool.
I love it.
I'm going to see what Jazza [SP] is doing.
Good luck.
♪ [music] ♪
- So the benefit of this block is that it's actually set back and lower from the street.
So it's really quite private.
So essentially, we can treat it like it's a backyard even though it's a front yard.
So what I want to do is create an area that Drew can sit and enjoy that beautiful afternoon sun,
which means, though, that it is sloped so we do need to level this off
and the boys are busy working on it right now.
I'll give you a hand.
- [Jazza] Sounds good to me.
♪ [music] ♪
- Now that Sandy is finished shaping the hedge, she's turned her sights on to the large and
fairly overgrown rhododendron.
- We're going to take this branch off first and we'll work our way around slowly until we
expose the trunk of the tree.
And we'll get that beautiful canopy just flowing over.
And then we'll take off all the little dead bits up in the tree.
- So how often do I prune this tree, Sandy?
- Maybe once a year.
Just tip prune it and give it a little bit of a rhododendron camellia fertilizer.
You don't want to have the fertilizer too close because it will burn your roots.
So it's nice if you just fertilize around the outside and then it slowly feeds the actual plant.
- Awesome.
♪ [music] ♪
- The sun is starting to set on Day 1.
The garden has been pruned right back, but we're still going to have to work into the night
to get this garden back to its space.
It's hard to imagine now, but within a day or two, this front yard will be bursting with color,
texture, and character.
♪ [music] ♪
- We had a very late night last night, but we got a lot done.
The fence here has now had its first coat of paint.
And I always recommend painting your fence because whenever you plant foliage in front of it,
it provides a wonderful backdrop for that to pop.
And not only that, but it also helps to preserve the timber as well, so it'll mean your fence will stand the
test of time.
Over here, the team have done an amazing job leveling out this space.
And we ended up actually reusing some of those sleepers from the old garden beds to build
these retaining walls.
Retaining walls are really important on the sloping side because it means that they hold the soil in place
and prevent it from draining down the sloping side when it rains, because speaking of rain,
we had plenty of it overnight and we have turned our entire site into a mud pit.
But that is the nature of working outdoors, so it's fine.
We're going to soldier on and keep moving.
The team have set their sights to the feature strip of stone along the front edge of the porch.
Texture always looks great in the garden.
You can achieve this by adding things like stone, timber, and rock.
And when you use earthy tones, it brings a warmth to the space.
Lines are really important when it comes to landscaping because they really dictate the flow
of movement in the space.
For the garden beds, instead of going a traditional parallel garden bed
to the porch, we actually want to bring in some softer lines.
And in order to complement that, we've extended this deck area and we're going to cut
in a gentle curve and ramp this down into the path in grass.
That way, all of those soft lines will really help bring a relaxed and natural look to this garden.
♪ [music] ♪
- Oh, my God.
Oh, my gosh.
- Are you okay?
- What's happened out here?
- Are you all right?
- There's so much mud.
- It's going to come together.
- Yeah, it will.
- It's a bit hard to see at the moment though.
♪ [music] ♪
- So, Drew is a little bit worried that we've bitten off a bit too much with this project and I've
got to admit I'm actually a little bit worried as well about this weather.
I've told her it's going to be fine, but I really need a break in this rain.
Are you ready?
Let's go.
♪ [music] ♪
- To take our minds off the weather, we're heading in-store to pick out our plants.
♪ [music] ♪
- Probably about [crosstalk].
Hey, Sandy.
How are you doing?
- Good.
- Look, I was chatting to Drew about our plan to create a very bright and impactful garden all year round.
What did you manage to find?
- Oh, look, I came up with some absolute rippers.
- It looks like it.
- The color and the texture in these succulents…
- I love it. - …will be so great.
- You like this?
- Yeah, they're lovely.
- Awesome.
- So we've got the pinks and the reds, the kalanchoes, the jelly beans.
- Oh, jelly beans. - They're so cute.
- It's beautiful.
- Yeah.
And then we've got some flowers as well.
Around here, we've already packed up ready to go.
- You are all packed up, very organized.
- Yes.
So we've got some dracaenas.
We've got aloes here.
- Amazing. - For beautiful texture.
Kangaroo paws.
- This is cool.
I love my prickly guy.
- Oh, my goodness, we've got lots of prickly Cordylines.
Look at all these beautiful cacti.
- He's fun.
So Sandy, the cactus, obviously, they're low-maintenance.
But are there actually any maintenance?
Like, what do you have to do for them?
- Once you've got the planting correct and you've got good drainage,
you set and forget.
- Literally, that's it?
- Yes.
- Leave them on their own.
- Sounds beautiful. - Is that not the best bit?
- It's perfect.
- It's the best type of plant.
Oh, I love it.
Well, look, I think you've outdone yourself.
I love it.
However, you're the most important one here, Drew.
It's your garden.
What do you think about everything you've seen?
- I think that it's all amazing, everything.
I love most of the things.
- You can be honest.
- There's just one that I'm not so sure about.
- Which one? Which one?
- The one on the end up there.
- That guy?
- Yeah. - Cordyline.
- What don't you like?
Is it the shape?
- Yeah, I think it's just a bit harsh and sort of…
- You don't like it?
- Yeah, I don't love it. - Sandy, okay, it's dead to us.
Don't worry about it.
Sandy, what can we do to fix it?
- We can take that out and we can get some soft grasses.
- Maybe some softer ones.
What about these guys?
Are these going to be okay?
- They would be a perfect swap out.
- Happy?
- Happy.
- All right, client's happy.
You still got your job, Sandy.
We'll grab these ones.
- All right, cool.
Well, while you're packing up, I'm assuming you're going to send these to site.
- Yes, we will. - This one's already on a trolley.
So how about we take this and we'll meet you back at the house.
- Okay, great.
- See you, Sandy. - See you then.
- Here you go.
Instant garden.
Drew, what do you reckon?
- Love it.
- It's going to be so good. - It's going to be awesome.
♪ [music] ♪
- Landscaping and planting is an investment.
So it's important to consider how you're going to maintain your garden from the start.
Hidden around the side of the house is James who's installing a composting solution to keep this front
yard looking fresh for years.
- Hi, James.
- [James] How are you doing, Drew?
- Good.
Lucy asked me to bring you these.
- Thank you so much.
These are going to be awesome to attract in the bees.
- What have we got happening?
- This is your beautiful new herb and veggie garden.
- Beautiful.
- Yeah, hopefully quite yummy.
- Hopefully.
- And what's this over here?
- This little contraption over here is actually our new composter.
- Oh, cool.
I've never composted before.
So what do I need to know?
- That's perfectly okay.
You want four parts green waste in there, any of your kitchen scraps, any old eggshells,
anything like that.
You want one part of your brown waste.
So that can be chopped up paper, old cardboard.
- So what do I do with it when it's ready?
- Mix it through the garden.
It'll be perfect for these herbs and veggies over here.
But even the rest of the garden will love it as well.
And you can do that as this fills up.
So there's no real, you know, minimum or maximum.
- Okay, beautiful.
Sounds pretty easy.
- So I was chatting with the team to make sure we achieve height in this garden, one,
because it's going to be visually interesting.
It means we can have texture and color at different levels.
But also it helps to make a young, new garden look a little bit more established.
So, Louisa, how are we going to achieve some height?
- [Louisa] Okay, so I was thinking that if we leave the soil in a mound, it creates that height straightaway.
- Oh, that's a bit of a hack.
If the plants aren't that high, you can just put them on a pedestal.
- Yeah, you can, exactly.
Yeah, yeah.
- And what about when you're laying them as well?
Is there anything to know?
- Always best to leave them in their pots.
And then, yeah, check it out, see how it looks.
And if you're happy with it, then go ahead and plant.
- I don't like to plant things in lines.
And if you can grab a bundle of plants, so get an odd number, three or five,
but have some fun playing around with your positioning before you plant them.
- I love it.
It's styling with plant.
- Yes.
- Us ladies, we've got it sorted.
It's going to look beautiful.
Good work.
- Thank you.
♪ [music] ♪
- We've just finished installing this gorgeous seat in the paved area.
I've grabbed a couple of outdoor cushions.
This is fantastic to add a little bit more color and personality to the space.
And you know what?
I'm just loving it here.
It's such a wonderful space just to sit and relax.
I'm up.
♪ [music] ♪
- There are many things you can plan for, but there are only two things that can really derail a
project royally, weather and lockdowns.
So we're having to pack up the entire site because we just got word that in three hours,
we're about to go into a snap lockdown.
So now we have to get these plants into the ground so that they survive for however long this lasts.
- At a press conference earlier today…
- Breaking news and a lockdown has been announced.
The lockdown has been announced for seven days.
♪ [music] ♪
- So, we tried, but we just didn't make it.
We all now need to go home to lockdown but it's all right.
We'll be back.
♪ [music] ♪
- Government officials announced an extension to lockdown of at least seven more days.
- At a press conference earlier today…
- This day, another lockdown has been announced for seven days.
- [Man] The president has issued another lockdown.
♪ [music] ♪
- Hey guys, just a quick note to let you know that I've loved hanging in my front yard during lockdown.
So I absolutely love my pink front door over here and my little seated area where I've spent heaps of time
in lockdown looking over the garden.
I've also been composting like a pro thanks to James' advice.
So I thought I'd show you the little sustainability corner over here.
So everything's doing really well and I'm taking care of it like the guys have told me.
Thanks, guys.
Stay safe and I hope to see you all soon.
♪ [music] ♪