High-rise apartment garden makeover | Garden Design and Inspiration | Gardening Australia

Josh visits an apartment block that has put in a shared garden for residents. Subscribe 🔔 http://ab.co/GA-subscribe
It was one of the drawcards for urban designer and researcher Anthony Duckworth to move into the block. He liked the idea of a central space where he could get to know neighbours.

The complex manager Henry Yee also lives here but feels the space wasn’t reaching its full potential; no one had the skills to work it and people weren’t ‘owning’ it.

Anthony and Henry get their neighbours together for a working bee to work on the space, with Josh’s help.

The plan is to:
– Pull out the old plants and weeds
– Remove the old irrigation
– Top up the soil and add compost
– Put in new irrigation
– Plant and mulch.

Perennial basil stays but gets a severe cutback.

A grafted passion fruit has started to sucker from its rootstock so will all have to come out.

The soil is topped up with a compost-rich mix to add more organic matter in the soil. Extra nutrients are added in the form of pelletised manure.

The old irrigation was in one continuous loop so watering around the outside not the middle, and there was no way to flush the lines.

Instead, Josh installs two simple lines that are folded at the end and held in place with a pipe ring to make flushing out really simple.

New plants are sited to give them the best chance of survival in a hot, dry space with tall buildings on all sides.

A layer of mulch is applied – 15mm of shredded lupins. It will break down over time and need reapplying.

Anthony and Henry hope the day will set up some good relationships and knowledge for the residents to keep up with the ongoing maintenance

Featured plants:
Basil ‘Perennial’ – Ocimum cv.

Filmed on Whadjuk Country | Perth, WA
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