210 Robertson Road, Mudgee.
Author: Jane Munro.
Amazing garden was a bare, rocky block two years ago.
Karen and Ian Young started out with a bare block of rocky ground in late 2023. How things have changed since then! For such a young garden on such difficult ground, the couple have achieved impressive growth of plants, shrubs and even young trees.
Overall, the plants are predominantly natives- particularly grevilleas (upright and prostrate varieties), native groundcovers, bottle brushes, wattles, hakeas, saltbush, mallees and kangaroo paws. The natives are well complemented by various salvias and lavenders.
The entire block is situated on thin, clayey, rocky soil. The majority of the plantings are set in low mounds of mixed mulch, hay and cow manure, piled on top the soil base. Hay bales are used to contain raised beds for vegetables and herbs. Cardboard is laid down, killing the grass and forming a decomposing base, upon which leaf litter and mulch are piled. Ian said “We’ve become mulch scavengers- we’ve never seen a worm on the block, so Karen even rescues worms from the road surface in wet weather.”
Whilst watering is kept to a minimum, native plant fertiliser and “worm wee” have produced excellent results. Karen said “Our aim is to use minimal water. We realise we’ve been very lucky with rain since we arrived.”
A variety of fruits have quickly become established- citrus, some stone fruits, macadamia, blueberry, finger lime, and thriving passionfruit vines. Aware that all these require well drained soil, Karen ang Ian are willing to take the risk and see how they go.
Numerous trees have also been planted, including claret ash, silver birch (which will be underplanted with bluebells).
An exciting feature of this garden is the way it’s developing and evolving. New beds are being created as Karen and Ian become more familiar with the site conditions, as they learn, and as their ideas evolve. Flexible edging enables change and expansion of beds.
I loved the unexpected garden of fragrant alyssum and snapdragons- I followed my nose and found it nestled among a backdrop of wattles, bottlebrushes and grevilleas.
Look out for the rock garden at the front of the house- each rock has been dug up from the site.
