Starting a garden/yard? Advice don't live there yet!

Just wanting some opinions from any green fingers out there.

So we have an investment property. The tennants are moving out so it gives me about 6months to do as I please until we move in ourselves. Currently there is absolutely no garden or yard, no grass. There is an old BBQ area where years ago flowers must have grown. The area outside the house is full of weeds, those catheads burrs, other burrs etc. So where should I start? There is no safe plaxce for the kids to play, no nice grass, not even a decent place for their swing or tramp. The place is on our farm so we have lots of bore water but no fresh water available for the garden.

DH and I have decided to fence a section in and I will concentrate on that. Plus I also want a vegie garden and we are poor so things we can eat will be a great bonus like corn and pumpkin especially. So would others concentrate on getting some grass growing and the place fenced and leave any pretty flowers until they actually lived there? I can only devote about 1hr Saturday and 1hr Sunday for the time been plus I could water the stuff on a Wednesday. Turf is to expensive but I can get hold of some grass seeds (I can't spell the variety I'm thinking of) or should I turf a small section and hope it spreads? Also as its so full of weeds do I spray them all to kill them first before trying to grow some grass?

Gee its seems so much work I don't know where to start.

From my very limited (but on a crash course learning quickly) garden and grass knowledge...... yes I would try to eradicate the weeds before planting grass, otherwise they will continue to grow up through the grass. But check out what you use to kill the weeds and make sure it doesn't leave the soil unstable for grass to grow. We returfed our backyard, but our mates bought runners, I think like thin strips of turf and planted them for them to grow out.

I'd leave the planting of flowers/vege etc until you live there so you can give them the attention they'll need, and maybe just focus on the clean up and grass growing for now? For the swings and tramp it could always be over a bed of soft fall or sand, doesn't have to be grass. Less to water then too!

Good luck - the possibilities are endless and it will be worth the end result :)

How exciting to be starting a new garden! :D

It can be hard when you don't live there already to establish plants, depending on where you live and how much rainfall you get and whether things will die if you're not there to water.

I would focus on fencing first, and weed eradication later, and then perhaps the other stuff once you move in and can keep an eye on things better.

I haven't had much luck with grass seed, but once you're in a position to keep it watered, you could try grass seed (if the weed situation is under control) or another option could be to try turfing with the 'plug' method - cutting up strips of turf into small squares and planting them and allowing them to spread. A lot depends on climate and soil type though!

Grass needs very regular watering to establish - even at this time of year both seeds or turf need to stay damp so I would be waiting until you are there to establish that. In the meantime I'd be working on weed removal

Bore water can still give you a lovely garden - almost every house near us has a bore for the garden. Just be aware because of the minerals in it, the water can discoulour fences, bricks etc.

I think you could get some plants in. If you got them in soon, they would be fairly established before the heat of summer hit them. You can get really small ones for no much cost that tend to establish themselves faster.

Thank you for your suggestions. We went there yesterday to do some plans and OMG there is so much work to do its ridiculous. Even a dog proof fence seems almost impossible in our budget at the moment. I'll definately be looking at weed removal as we couldn't walk around the place without been strung by stinging nettles etc. I wont beable to water the garden daily (3days a week at most) so maybe I should wait until we live there. We have an old tennis court on 1side and I'm keen to plant some potato vines/honey suckle or some climbing plant there as soon as I can. Its got so much potential.

See if you can set up a grey water system from shower or washing machine (when you move in) this will be great to water the grass.

Perhaps as a shortterm prospect, you could concentrate on eradicating weeds and laying some kind of organic mulch down over the area to prevent the weeds from springing up and also feed the ground. I'm thinking along the lines of hay, pea straw or lucerne (not sure how much that might cost but out in the country you should be able to get a large amount pretty cheaply of something that will rot down over that time. Just concentrate a while on getting on top of the weeds. Then when you're ready you can concentrate on preparing the soil and planting grass (if you decide to go that way) without weed competition. Or you might find that having a mulched space and putting in a few trees or garden beds works better than grass. :)

I'm with marydean on this one - get rid of the weeds, and either mulch the ground or plant a green manure like peas/lentils. I'm pretty sure my brother buys supermarket soupmix (the mixed pulses and legumes) for green mulch. That will suppress the regrowth of the weeds and improve the soil, too.

Leave the lawn until you can give it the time it needs to establish (and improve your groung with whatever it might need to give it a good start), but in the mean time, decide on an area for annual vegies, and get those seeds in! Pumpkin, watermelon, carrots all grow with not much attention at all, and the odd watering. Plant peas and beans on the wall/fence for climbing (they need to be picked about 3 times a week once they're producing)- or for pretty stuff that climbs and doesn't need much attention, sweet peas or nasturtiums.

You're so lucky to get a chance to do something with the land before you move in! Good luck, and have fun with it!

For your tennis court I was thinking along the lines of passionfruit vines. They will cover the fence and you get lots of fruit out of it. I would be spraying the weeds now. As there is nothing there you want to keep you don't need to be careful what the spray touches. Then you could mulch and manure. See people who have horses and try to get any of their stable throwouts. It will combine horse manure and what ever they use to bed the horses down with. It might even be free :) For people on a tight budget you could always ask neighbours if they minded if you took cuttings from various plants. That way your only outlay is for potting mix and pots (bet you could get those for free too - the pots that is lol) Then when you are ready to move in so will the plants.

Good luck with it all