Soft Landscaping - Abelia Landscaping & Gardens

Soft Landscaping consists of using trees, plants, shrubs, mulch and bushes to transform any landscape design, without the use of major construction work.

Our services include:

Soil improvement
Supply and laying of turf
Synthetic turf supply and laying
Plant supply and garden establishment
Irrigation supply and installation
Garden features and structures including garden lighting

REAL LAWNS & TURF

The classic Australian backyard always had a lawn, and its still the preference of many

Real grass is the traditional option for gardens, and has a natural and cooling effect.

What options do I have when planning a lawn?

By far the cheapeast option is to create a lawn from seeds, and wait for the results.

Instant turf, whilst more expensive, provides an immediate transformation to your garden. Instead of waiting for seeds to germinate and grass to grow, you can have an instantly green and lush lawn by laying down turf.

Either way, good soil is essential.

What else needs to be considered when choosing a real lawn?

However the lawn is created (seed or instant turf), an essential component is good soil.
Laying turf is a convenient option because it requires less time and effort compared to waiting for the grass to grow, and you can enjoy your lawn sooner.
Turf can help prevent soil erosion in your garden, as the roots of the grass hold the soil together.
Real grass creates a soft, natural feel to your garden and some people believe that enhances the outdoor space.
Grass has a natural cooling effect compared to hard surfaces like concrete or gravel, and can help your garden and surrounding areas be cooler during hot months.
Turf being natural contributes to the environment by absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. It also enables rainwater to seep into the groundwater, rather than run off.

What things do I need to know about choosing a real lawn ?

It’s worth noting that maintaining a turf lawn requires regular care, such as mowing, watering, fertilising, and occasional aerating.

It’s also essential to consider factors like your climate and water usage before deciding on turf for your garden.

SYNTHETIC TURF

High quality synthetic turf and a correctly prepared gravel base makes for longer lasting satisfaction with this low maintenance option.

How is synthetic turf laid?

Synthetic turf, in theory, can be laid over any surface that is flat.

Best practice however is to lay the turf over a new compacted base of around 100mm thick gravel and stone dust, as this enables drainage of rainwater. This gravel also inhibits weed growth.

If laying over a concrete base, the concrete must be installed with an appropriate falling level that encourage water to drain away from foundations of homes or other problem areas.

Some installers try to reduce prices by:

laying directly over soil, which creates drainage issues, retains moisture and enable weeds to eventually grow.
doing only superficial installations of gravel (say 20-30mm).
Fast installations with poor mechanical compaction which can lead to low points and water accumulation.

Be sure to ask these questions.

What makes one synthetic turf better than another?

As a manufactured product, some synthetic turf can look fake, but more recent products are getting hard to distiguish without close inspection.

Properly installed sythetic turf looks better due to correct preparation of the base and greater attention paid to joins.

In time however, synthetic products will shrink from exposure to the sun, and may begin to create a small margin from edging and paths. This is a downside of the product.

Higher quality products will have better long term appearance & less shrinkage overtime, mainly due to the inclusion of UV chemical additives in the plastics that allow it to cope better with sun exposure (which is the main cause of degradation over time).

What other things do I need to consider when selecting synthetic turf?

Beyond the correct installation methods already discussed, there are some other considerations:

Synthetic turf comes in a range of blade lengths, typically ranging from 7mm to 45mm.
Manufacturers will often use a range of colours, all variants of green, deliberately to make the product appear like real grass.
It is also worthwhile considering product widths to reduce installation costs. For example if the turf comes in a roll that is 3.7m wide, keeping your turf area to this width will make for an easier installation, with less joins, less wastage/cutting and ultimately a lower price.

We can help you work through these issues when desiging your landscape.

ESTABLISHING GARDEN BEDS

With a little creativity, there are so many ways to create interesting garden beds which are relatively low cost landscaping concepts with big a impact.

How should I think of garden beds in designing my landscape project?

From the start, a garden bed is one of the cheapest elements in landscape design. Ideally they are created with:

A good soil
Mulch, perhaps in a colour matching other design choices (natural, tinted)
Various garden beds are then tied together throughout the garden via a common/complimentary plant selection
Height is then commonly used to create layering and visual interest

Construction costs will typically go up when additional materials are needed, for example in more elaborate raised planters usign materials such as rendered brick or timber boxed.

However, whilst these choices can become expensive in proportion, they can also be the feature in the garden and really enhance the aethestic.

What options exist to create height?

Higher gardens beds use more construction materials, and are therefore inevitably more expensive to build. And the higher the garden bed, the higher the cost

Assuming that creating a raised garden is part of the design, more cost effecive choices are:

Treated Pine Sleepers
Steel edging & rings
Pre manufactured planters/pots

More costly choices involved:

Bricks and Blocks
Rendered walls
Retaining wall style installs, whereby the garden is part of what is establishing levels and has engineering impacts
Gardens planters made with timber decking, and constructed to match an overall aesthetic

Given the cost considerations, it can make sense to limit the investment in these landscape features to areas that are seen from inside windows or used when in the garden. This means that your landscape budget will have the highest visual impact per dollar invested.

SOIL IMPROVEMENT

When investing in landscaping, making sure that there is good soil is a must.

What do I need to think of when wanting fresh soil in my yard?

Of course fresh soil can be brought in adhoc to gardens, but in in overall landscaping of a space, adding new soil would typically commence with a broader site scrap that removes the existing top layer.

The main cost considerations are:

Can the site be accessed with machinery? Time is a major factor.
Where will the digout go? This can get expensive, as it must enter the waste system unless there is anther parcel of land it can be used on.

Once dugout, adding the new soil is the easy part.

What is soil amelioration?

Soil amelioration, also known as soil improvement or soil conditioning, refers to the process of modifying and enhancing the quality of soil to make it more suitable for plant growth and cultivation.

The goal of soil amelioration is to improve the physical, chemical, and biological properties of the soil to create a more favorable environment for plants to thrive.

Looking for an experienced landscape company, that is experienced and trusted by the biggest names in the building trade?

Enquire with Abelia today to get further advice from our team

Why choose Abelia?

What we do

We’re experts in landscaping & garden maintenance. No job is too complex, too big, or too small.

Whether you’re a volume builder, a property manager or a homeowner, we have cost effective solutions available, with the organisational capability and the flexibility to provide the services you need.

Who we are

Our company has been providing landscaping & garden care across Victoria since 2002.

Our dedicated team are not only well-trained and experienced, they carry ownership of your projects and focus on delivering the best solution for you. We’re practical and we’re capable and we’re committed to results.

How we do it

We know what works, and have solutions to work with different budgets. Then we get on with delivering what we have agreed.

We’ve taken the time to invest in staff, processes, set up systems, and implement leading technologies to make sure we’re always ready, responsive and capable of delivering what we say.

What it means for you

Working with Abelia means you are working with professionals. We don’t cut corners.

You can trust us to deliver simple services right through to full project solutions. Rest assured we are fully insured, pay our staff properly and understand compliance. You can be confident we’ll do what we say we’ll do.