Changing Old Farmland to a Fully Functioning Garden! | Dream Gardens! | Luxury Living

Longing for a quieter life on the land, Kristy and Neil bought a fifty-two hectare property in rural Gippsland. But the run-down farm will need serious work if they are to create the productive garden they desire.

With a view to connect their family to nature, the garden plans feature an extensive vegetable patch, an orchard of fruit and nut trees, a pizza oven with an entertaining area and a brand-new barn style house to overlook the incredible valley below.

This would be a big endeavour for a skilled farmer, so with no gardening experience themselves, the learning curve is steep for the Melbourne-based family. They’ll face wild deer interference, a capeweed infestation and back breaking work, with no guarantee their tree change dream will ever become a reality.
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courage and naivity it’s a heady mix it’s the garden it’s the orchard it’s the Regeneration of the land good job from Suburban patch to Country property my Towny boots are getting a good workout today the learning curve is steep foot off the clutch oh there he goes and the obstacles huge they’ve chewed all the back off if I keep coming through here it’s just going to get worse and worse can an inexperienced family transform abandoned Farmland into a productive garden and Orchard of course it can fail and it could fail [Music] spectacul Melbourne it’s Australia’s fastest growing city and the big squeeze is driving more and more people to crave a tree change but not many families choose a 52 hectare Farm as a Panacea for Big City overload great day looks fantastic it’s really pretty we’re in the city 7 days a week the hustle bustle of the traffic and work and you get out here and it’s in another world I feel just a sense of excitement adventure and like a different person I’m so excited like Neil to start with this blank canvas to be creative to really immerse yourself into a project together as a family I feel really blessed that we can do it and what a project it is Neil and Christie plan to build a house and productive Garden before rejuvenating the rest of their Farm in rur Gibs land the farm is really run down it’s a nightmare there are weeds everywhere there are blackberries rag wart some of the fences have collapsed there are Gates that don’t open they’ve given themselves 10 years to transform this neglected site of course it can fail and it could fail spectacularly but um isn’t that part of life but the family will also keep their City Life the call out there is 1.5 five times the market share and Neil will continue in his High Press corporate job the complete opposite to life on the land one of I have no experience with farming I have no experience with Landscaping I have no idea how much things are going to cost the first conversation with Christy was like are you crazy to tell you the truth I was a little bit hesitant about it and especially when Neil’s original dreams were owning a a giant cattle station where we would need a helicopter to fly around but his role as a Management Consultant has given him some valuable skills what it’s taught me is that for some things you actually do need expertise and you need help and so um I’m going to reach out to as many people uh as I can I’ll meet some new friends along the way I admire their bravery or is it naivity because this is a huge task but I do see the attraction hey guys hi how you going that has got to be one of the most warm and friendly views I’ve ever experience you just step in here and you’re just immediately engulfed and surrounded by it aren’t you yeah it’s like a big hug by Nature what do you think it is about this landscape that you feel so connected to the opportunity we have to create something really special it’s the garden we’re going to create it’s the orchard with Incredible fresh produce and and then it’s the Regeneration of the land and that’s exciting so is it Escape or balance that you’re looking for here look I think it’s both it’s a spectacular Gibs land View and I think to be able to appreciate that rather than waking up and seeing kids on iPads at uh 7:30 8:00 10:00 in the morning and getting out going and getting your food which is 30 or 40 feet away that sort of connection is something that I think will be really special the garden is designed to give a theatrical entrance the driveway will be lined with fruit and nut trees that lead you into an orchard with a pizza oven meant for convivial evening entertainment down the hill a series of raised beds will form an extensive veggie garden and below that will sit a chicken cpop and glass house from here steps through a tumbling Native Garden lead to the barn style house and the view Beyond it’s a productive Garden designed to connect the family with nature and the land I’m really interested that you’ve chosen to put the house at the bottom of these Street Terraces with the garden kind of looming over it what’s the thinking there it’s like we got a little hidden Shed Little hidden cubby house down the back of the magic garden but actually as you open the doors and step through then you’re hit again with that magic View okay so let’s talk about budget how much is this Garden going to cost I think all up the the garden in the orchard will cost somewhere around 200,000 and so how do you go about finding the assistance that you need in both design and construction so we’ve got local Architects local uh designers uh local Builders local farmers are helping out and and so this is an opportunity to put a bit of money back into the local community and to give a a lift up uh to those that um are around going to support us and that philosophy starts with commissioning local landscape designer PR Metar so what was it that Christian Neil asked for from you uh they wanted to create a produce working Garden they aren’t gardeners themselves they don’t have green thumbs so they needed help to be able to work out what they could do with the site what would grow here and how it would all work so in the scale of romantic at one end and realistic stick at the other where do you think christe and Neil sit I mean have they bitten off more than they can chew I think it’s bigger than they imagine because they’ve got 50 odd fruit trees which is more than what they’ll ever need plus there’s the veggie garden side of things as well and when they’re only coming up and down irregularly yeah there’s quite a lot to do I have to admit I have my doubts about this project Christian Neil’s enthusiasm is boundless but this romantic Vision they have of a lifestyle of food and farm and garden would be a real challenge even for someone with a lot of experience but for a couple with none I’m just not sure spring the landscapers are making good progress on clearing the site weeds and debris are being removed and even before the builders have marked out the house planting is underway you definitely need a pair of gum boots up here I know my Towny boots are getting a good workout today just so lovely even in this weather just to breathe this gorgeous country air makes me feel happy okay so that is the calam mar at the top of the orchard a pizza oven which will be the centerpiece of this area is almost complete so we just trying to face this pizza oven at the moment and then maybe some pizzas this is local mudstone the hope is that by using the colors of the landscape in this structure it will blend into its [Music] surroundings hey christe hi hey Michael this is Gib land at his finest isn’t it welcome back welcome back thank you very much wow you’ve been hard at work yeah there’s been good progress made and as you can see uh we’ve got ourselves a fantastic Pizza Roven yes that’s impressive so we’re going to really have this as kind of like a focal point within the orchard that we can have family picnics barbecues you know beautiful summer nights even though you can’t imagine it now but sitting here and and walking out to the Orchard and picking cherries or apples maybe making an apple pie in the oven right it’s a romantic idea of country life one PR is trying to achieve for them in her design and and so is there any logic to the layout uh yes we’ve got the almonds on that side the apples on this side cherri’s right at the front right and that was to create the Avenue driving down PR has also chosen to mix up the different kinds of fruit and nut trees rather than putting them in blocks so when they move through the garden that they don’t go oh well there’s obviously that there block of that and a block of that so okay yeah yeah beautiful but first these weeds must be conquered this cape weed is just out of control it’s only going to get worse as the spring kicks in isn’t it yeah it’s a horrendous problem it is and I think to begin with like the management of this with um sprays is necessary until we can soy some pasture down yeah yeah Neil and Christy want to go 100% organic but in such a vast area this may be where the dream and reality Collide these weeds around young fruit trees will take every bit of available moisture and every bit of food and take it from those young trees and dwarf them and stunt them so they’ve got big challenges ahead no bigger challenge than weed [Music] control [Music] 2 months on and raised veggie beds have been installed against the slope at the bottom of the orchard a large shed has been erected and a water tank put in so there’s now irrigation for the young trees best of all Neil is biting the bullet and spraying those weeds how’s it going guys good though the organic approach hasn’t been completely abandoned yep good job this year being our first year on the farm we want to try and get on top of the property and then hopefully uh through good management we can only use spray selectively the weeds have to be tackled through the entire property not just the garden for pasture weeds can be controlled through carefully timed cutting but you need something a bit bigger than a lawn mower all right Rob what do we got mate first off y clutch on this side just like a car clutch on this side clutch brakes brakes accelerator accelerator y that little button in the middle is what you pull the steering down with Rob low has a dairy farm nearby and is employed parttime to manage this Farm too he’s coaching me in a lot of things that maybe a few years ago didn’t even know about you know grass put off the clutch put off the clutch and off the break he’s become a good friend as well was helping on the farm oh there he goes take your foot right off the clutch and right off the brake I think it’s fantastic it’s like watching my children ride a bike for the first [Music] time soon Neil and Christie face their first big setback wild deer have dead devastated the newly planted Orchard this is a walnut tree and they ring backed basically they’ve chewed all the back off through here um now the sap can’t travel up this tree um and so therefore the trees trees basically di dear were introduced for hunting in the 19th century since then populations have exploded with more than a million feral deer in Victoria alone this local herd has so far destroyed 10% of the newly planted trees it’s a case of they went through here once and they damaged that many trees if they keep coming through here the amount of damage is just going to get worse and worse we said you know what can we do and I think that you did a bit of Internet investigating so there was came from this two-prong approach where Neil did some things with laying some bells on fishing wire and some smelly soaps to try to keep them at Bay but you know Rob’s advice really was the best and that was to um get up some electric fencing it’s like putting your yourself in jail it’s not something you want to have as a long-term solution the long-term solution will have to be to push the deer back maybe put up a barrier further down taking on this project was always going to mean a steep learning curve one couple who’ve taken a similar path are Ian and Joan ball they bought the Falls three 3 hours north of yagon a decade ago and have created their [Music] dream it encompasses formal Gardens alongside productive areas such as an orchard and veggie [Music] garden it also has a lake looking out to a vineyard with a working cattle farm Beyond so what was the appeal of farming to you oh I don’t really know I’d never been on a farm in my life we just led the look of it all you know got you have these dreams and they are this is fantastic how naive then were you about the demands of what you’re about to step into totally and completely naive so what did you arrive to gardenwise here oh it was just a very small garden around the house where we’re standing now this was two bull paddocks so all what you can see here is what we’ve added to it this Garden successfully integrates classic formal elements with the productive areas and their Farm Beyond it’s the work of renowned Landscape designer Robert Bole so what are your favorite features of this Garden I I love what we’ve actually had the privilege to create in the bull padic which is a beautiful lake so the Bulls are taken out of the paddock The Oaks become part of the garden the lake becomes part of the garden so extend the boundaries and almost disappear the boundaries of the garden so the vines beyond the garden and the hill Beyond The Garden or feel part of it using lines of sight to create the feeling that a garden is blending into the natural landscape is a trademark of Robert’s designs but it wasn’t a bit of roses all the way way you live here on the edge of the Bush and you’ve got all the wildlife in the world coming into the garden so up went this crazy cage all your citrus don’t need to be caged but all your fruits that the birds are likely to get into like your apples and pears and all your sofro your peaches and your nectarines and cherries then they need Sheltering so is it just the birds primarily you know they’ve got wallabies and kangaroos here as well we’ve done Gardens not far from here where the deer of come in and totally decimated the garden and I think it’s working the Cherry’s got a nice crop today this is an Esure Orchard a technique that dates back to ancient Rome where trees are trained to grow flat against a wall or trellis it makes it easy to control height and also to net a large area so do you ever use this kind of solution on a much smaller scale in the home Garden I think that’s a a good good application because we can get some fruit if we we net it cage it yeah no one’s been more delighted by the success of this project than Ian and Joan like Christian Neil they took on a tree change as totally inexperienced firsttime [Music] Farmers so what advice would you give to someone else who shared this dream get a master plan yes and it’s definitely the journey not the destination y never a what that the heck have we done oh never never this is like going to [Music] heaven 9 months on and there’s been substantial progress the house is under construction and the orchard is being replanted after the deer damage we’ll do a one3 wheelbarrow one3 in that bag and one3 this soil I think for that one tree yes good Heavens they’re getting the Royal Treatment aren’t they Richard cartrite has been an orchardist for 28 years and is now overseeing this one they hadn’t been fed last year so I suggested to NE they should be fed cheaper than potted plants bare rooted trees can only be purchased and planted in Winter while dormant now the soil quality up here is probably good for cattle and sheep but not that good for fruit trees but we’re we’re bulking it up with a lot of compost and fertilizer to to to enrich it with Richard in command the trees have been fed and mulched and there’s no sign of weeds mesh and plastic guards now surround the trees to prevent any more damage from Wildlife I didn’t have any loss in mind when I started this project but I didn’t factor in wild animals and nature but some wild creatures are definitely more help than hindrance I just want you to puff some smoke under the lid these hives of European honey bees have been installed by a local beekeeper okay that’s enough Christy and Neil were Keen to include bees to optimize pollination of the fruit trees as well as provide honey you right yep and then gently lift it up there’s a bit of weight in it isn’t there yeah it’s pretty amazing actually how much work they’re doing christe’s also queen bee of the veggy garden more beds have been added to this area and here christe is staying true to her organic ideals absolutely organic with our soil organic that the plants that we’re planting that have been raised in an organic environment so that’s really key to us going forward in the end it produces a product that I’d be comfortable to eat and for my family to eat for anyone to just walk up to the garden and pick something out and eat it this Garden has come a long way and I’m finally beginning to see a design emerge we started with four empty muddy rectangles now I can see how you twist and turn through this Garden to the house that opens to that amazing view after 18 months hard labor some of the final pieces of the puzzle are now being put in place the Orchard’s ticking along the veggie garden is blooming and the final touch a glass house where seeds from the veggie patch will be germinated for next season’s crop The Glass House gives us that ability to be able to grow food all year round as well what’s left are the areas either side of the house below it Builders are working on a sunken retaining wall designed to give an uninterrupted view across the landscape so it’s going to act as a fence for the cattle when you’re standing out at the house looking out all you see is the turf uh and it’ll just drop off so you just maximize their views on the other side of the house designer is busy Landscaping an area where Native shrubs will be planted yeah that’s good we look at each Rock individually to see what’s the best face and what probably looks the most natural and dig it in and turn it and spin it just to make it sit like it’s always been there Boulders of the same mudstone used in the pizza oven and the pathways are being scattered over this bank to give continuity through the different levels of the garden the same stone is also being used to create this Creek bed as drainage is an issue on this slope so the water was pulling it was pulling here so it was a muddy swamp it wasn’t usable for anything so they’ve made a Fe feature of a necessity by scooping out the Earth and laying rocks on Geotech matting which protects the soil from erosion we’ve laid by hand every one of these rocks and just in the last couple of months we’ve started to see dozens of little ducks come back so we haven’t seen ducks on this property since we bought it and now with the water flowing and and the like uh you know got some more Wildlife which is fantastic the retaining wall is almost finished around 150 cubic M of soil is being used to back fill to get it up to the required height this feature is called a haa so named because of people’s surprised exclamations when they discover the concealed wall it’s a clever way of keeping cattle out of the garden without any fences interrupting the view essentially you won’t even see the timber that Timber you’ll just see lawn and then the Green P yeah that’s great I love it it looks really great no worries a final layer of top soil and then Turf will make it level with the house creating the effect of an infinity edge I can really see our family connecting in with this little bit of space sitting on the edge of the haha wall with a few cheeky wines watching the cattle and enjoying that beautiful West Sunset every [Music] evening [Music] escaping from the city and building a new life in the country living off the land is a dream that many of us share 2 and 1 half years ago Christi and Neil imagined how their lives could be transformed they bought a rundown farm and started to plant an orchard and a productive Garden learning as they went from willing locals is it all that they hoped for hey christe hey Neil hey wow this looks amazing it just feels so established yeah it’s fantastic the jigsaw puzzle has finally all Fallen together yeah and to be honest we weren’t sure how this was going to work out we’re really really happy yeah we’re really excited this Orchard is really looking astonishing and that’s despite no end of hurdles along the way we have we’ve had a lot of hurdles it’s a labor of love for me though I come out here and I think I’m going to spend half an hour in the The Orchard and 4 hours later I’m still there getting the weeds away this is a plum tree this is uh going really well and and I mean that that is this year’s unbelievable I mean you just can’t imagine that when we first had those trees delivered they just looked so sad didn’t they did so should we have a look at the veggies yeah let’s do that oh yeah you’re going to love [Music] it it all just looks so rich and abundant there AR chokes carrots leaks you know these broccoli leaves that is outrageous it’s amazing isn’t it the broad bands here picking those all the time yeah yeah and you’ll see that we’re leaving some at the bottom that are aging cuz we’re going to keep those seeds for next year we’ve got a lot of black kale corn we’ve got a beautiful row of corn growing down there we’ve got a whole strawberry field going up here on the back patch that’s a sort of berry line Berry line and strawberry field are you serious is that actually what you call it yeah of course of course that’s brilliant from the veggie patch stairs Wind Through what will eventually be a diverse Australian Native Garden it’s going to look magnificent once it’s done especially in these beautiful rocks that we placed but it’s what lies beyond the house that is this Garden’s Triumph oh my word isn’t that amazing you step out of there and it’s like Kaboom it has to be one of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen beautiful but it also changes throughout the day so you never get bored it’s incredible the stroke of Genius is this haha War we really want to be connected in with our landscape it really is one of the most fantastic decisions that we made and is it tall enough to keep the cows out it it is it’s only M 20 high and that’s all you need we do have the occasional fun moment when they’re nibbling on the grass and that’s okay so don’t need to mow that section right but they do greet us when we wake up in the morning they’re there when we go to bed it’s it’s a lot of [Music] fun so how does it feel after 2 and 1 half years of this journey to get to this point incredible incredible it’s a a huge relief that what we set out on a vision we actually ended up delivering to be honest I really had my doubts the lack of experience made me really wonder whether you haveit it took I mean we knew nothing about a gardening or farming and I’m really proud of both of us so when you started out the thought was that the veggie garden and Orchard area The Zone would cost about 200 Grand how has that gone so we’re about 20% over 240 thereabouts um but I guess we both look at it as not an overrun many years down the path we will get back in some shape so it’s an investment it’s not a cost I mean it feels to me like in every way this whole experience just seems to have been totally life-changing it’s opened up a new world for our family and it’s really sort of tightened the bond of the family it has I think it’s hit the reset button here we have a really strong sense of purpose that we’re building something for others to share for multiple generations and it’s about bringing the land back to its [Music] purpose how beautiful does that look Christian Neil headed to the country seeking a new life style and found themselves harvesting a rich Simplicity and a life affirming humility but you can’t cheat your way to such a reward they literally grew it here and whether you’ve got a backyard or just a balcony you can grow it [Music] too Beau [Music] a