New Japanese Garden WIP

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damienw133
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Re: New Japanese Garden WIP

Post by damienw133 »

Bit of a short update today as work has been temporarily put on hold while the retaining wall guys are busy doing their thing

Not exactly cheap...but finally i'll be able to start landscaping the area nearest the house without having to worry about the old rotten sleeper retaining wall collapsing under me!
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A slightly unforeseen issue has emerged however in the corner of the wall near where the stairs are going in...I've kept the path to a pretty consistent width the whole way through the garden but when the guys put the new wall in they had to come back a little further than where the old wall was as it'd leaned outwards over time giving a false sense of space.....
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Luckily the spacing between the corner and the nearest large rocks bordering the path is still juuuuuuuust within the right tolerances, but as it stands right now, it feels like a very narrow pass with a very sheer and potentially dangerous drop if you were to lose your balance. Visually it also doesnt seem right as there's not enough space to put another rock on the path side of the wall's corner to create a naturalistic appearance.

SO!

My current favourite solution is to get a very large rock to fit into the corner of the wall, spanning the full height from the lower paved area to above the wall to a similar height as the surrounding rocks either side of it. I'm planning on using a combination of demo saws, jack hammers and feathers and wedges to cut/split several right angle sections out of the rock so that it can fit tightly into the corner of the wall as well as overhang the wall at the top to completely hide the corner joint, hopefully giving the appearance that the rock was already there and that the wall was built around it.

Aesthetically, having a very large rock in the foreground should also have the added bonus of fooling the eye into thinking that the rocks in the background are much larger than they actually are.
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I'll see how it feels once its in, but it may also need to have a narrow and visually unobtrusive low rail installed in that area too, just to reduce the chances of falling off the side...buuuuut that'll be a hurdle a ways down the track

At this point the only issue i can foresee is handling the rock from the driveway over to the area its planned for...still not exactly certain on how that'll go, but i was contemplating a thick sheet of mdf and more than a few 50mm pvc pipe rollers to move it across the paved area a little easier....

Anyways, thats all for now.
Hopefully i'll have some more updates to share soon!

Cheers!
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damienw133
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Re: New Japanese Garden WIP

Post by damienw133 »

Yet ANOTHER quick update and a call out for some creative input as i'm somewhat of two minds at the moment....

I've been reflecting on my waterfall rock setting as of late and have been slightly annoyed by one of my original rock selections...although aesthetically i like the large oval rock near the top of the waterfall, functionally it just doesnt work the way i'd like.

The issue is that when water runs off it the flow is diverted to the low points either side instead of running off the front nicely, and that because of its relatively smooth rounded shape the water clings close to the surface so you dont really get much of a water 'fall' effect.

I had a feeling i might have issues with it when i was placing it, but i was short on quality rocks at the time and didnt have a good opportunity to get anything more suitable in time.

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Todays solution was to use some smaller and fairly tightly fitting rocks to create an overhanging ledge on top of/in front of the original rounded rock to allow water to collect and flow off this overhang better. i'm aiming to make it look as though the new rocks are a projecting part of the original round rock and was planning to fill the space behind them with mortar to secure them in place and create a suitable basin for water to collect and flow from.

I've yet to secure them in place but i wanted to get some feedback on them before i do...
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Cheers!
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Re: New Japanese Garden WIP

Post by MJL »

Yeah - I get it ....now that you’ve pointed it out. The large oval smooth rock does look a little out of context ... but in truth, I think you are in the detail and others may not notice when they visit your garden. That said, you have noticed and the scratch needs to be itched - otherwise it will always bother you.

I like the way you have melded the new rocks in... it creates a more angular setting that narrows at the top and that makes sense to me. You’ve also hidden the roundness and colour - so it all blends better.

Finally - you mention water flow - I am imagining that you see that when it rains? ... apologies if this sounds like I am telling you to suck eggs but have you put a hose over to give you a sense of the flow over the new structure?

The whole thing is looking a treat. You should be proud! I’d be stoked if I was you and thanks for the taking us on your journey.


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Re: New Japanese Garden WIP

Post by Raging Bull »

I have a very small water feature in my garden, a small pond with a rock wall built of bush rocks and a recirculating pump that runs the setup for a couple of hours a day. I also found it took a bit of experimenting to get the water to actually fall instead of just flowing over the rocks. I solved the problem by having an overhang with a sharp ledge for the water to fall over. Hope that helps a bit. BTW, it's looking better all the time. :tu2:
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Re: New Japanese Garden WIP

Post by damienw133 »

MJL wrote: December 3rd, 2020, 5:35 am Finally - you mention water flow - I am imagining that you see that when it rains? ... apologies if this sounds like I am telling you to suck eggs but have you put a hose over to give you a sense of the flow over the new structure?
although i've had an occasional look at it when its been raining, for the most part i've just been testing the placement by tipping a watering can over it while i've been adjusting rocks...i only wish i'd done it a lot more when i was first placing the big ones ....ah well....better late than never! :oops:
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Re: New Japanese Garden WIP

Post by damienw133 »

Raging Bull wrote: December 3rd, 2020, 3:22 pm I have a very small water feature in my garden, a small pond with a rock wall built of bush rocks and a recirculating pump that runs the setup for a couple of hours a day. I also found it took a bit of experimenting to get the water to actually fall instead of just flowing over the rocks. I solved the problem by having an overhang with a sharp ledge for the water to fall over. Hope that helps a bit. BTW, it's looking better all the time. :tu2:
It seems there's quite an art to getting waterfalls juuuuuuust right! It took me hours of chiselling to get the edges of the new rocks to work properly, trying to get a clean and sharp break and undercutting below the edge to keep water from running down it...finally got there in the end though!

And thanks so much! slowly slowly but its steadily getting there!
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Re: New Japanese Garden WIP

Post by damienw133 »

Greetings all!

Shamefully i've still not mortared those new rocks into the waterfall yet....if only because its such a small job that i'm saving it for a day when i cant be bothered with major work...that said, i've been pretty busy working on some other areas now that the wall is in!

Over the weekend i started to build up the base layer of rock for the area nearest the house, trying to keep the faces of the rocks to a consistent 200mm from the inside edge of the retaining wall to allow for maximum drainage of any runoff once this area is built up higher.
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Its not at all close to being finished yet, but i think even at this early stage it helps to tie the rockwork in the background to the garden areas closer to the viewer...
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i've also installed an extra agi drain in that 200mm strip and have backfilled the whole area with extra scoria, though for the time being i've laid out tarps in this trench and have filled them with compacted soil - both to keep the scoria clear of soil and debris while i'm building the rockwork and to keep the sides of the trench from collapsing while i'm placing rocks....

once the heavy work is done i'll take them out, put in a layer of felt and fill the trench to the top with a 100mm ish deep layer of granite to help tie the drainage strip in with the rest of the garden paths. I got the idea while looking at the borders of temple and courtyard gardens in japan where drainage areas provide an extra visual break between the garden and the built up areas beyond...like this example from ryoanji temple
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In another exciting development, the big rocks i picked out at the rock yard came today! My plan is to hire a concrete chainsaw to cut a right angle section with an overhang at the top into the big one thats standing up so that i can use it in the internal corner of the retaining wall as i mentioned in one of my previous updates.
That'll probably be happening sometime later this week once i've had a chance to mark out my cuts and make certain its set up exactly the way i want it...fingers crossed it goes to plan!
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Re: New Japanese Garden WIP

Post by melbrackstone »

Well done, the drainage gravel feature is a good idea, we have it here for some of our gardens, the only downside is the falling leaves can clog it up pretty quickly if they're left to break down.
If you were like Jerry from Gardening Australia you'd have directed all that drainage water into an underground tank, but hey, you've already done an amazing project! The waterfall tweaking looks good too.
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Re: New Japanese Garden WIP

Post by damienw133 »

Howdy all!

Time for another round of festive updates...

Be forewarned...although its taken a lot of work to get to this point, unfortunately there's not that much more to see just yet...

I've been focusing my attention as of late on building up the rock work for the tsukubai water bowl area as the work to come after it will restrict the access to it too much for me to be able to get the right rocks in. Its still far from done as theres still a couple of big 700Kg+ boulders to go in + a couple of 300-400kg longer rocks to complete the surrounding area, but the main 'cutout' for the water bowl is at least nearing completion...
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I ran a drain to it to get rid of any excess water to keep the area from flooding or becoming too much of a mosquito breeding ground and built up a concrete base with a slight basin shape to it to make sure everything drains properly, though i think once all of the surrounding rocks are in i'll have to come back and put a little more concrete in between some of the rocks to make absolutely certain there are no spots for unwanted water to pool or wash out the soil around the rocks.

Once all the rock work is complete i'm planning on planting the area around it with a low setsugekka camellia sasanqua, a japanese maple and a couple of enkianthus or deciduous azaleas as well as some autumn and hares foot ferns to help soften the harshness of the rocks. I'll add in some moss as well though i dont think it'll take too long for it to start growing on its own in that area anyway...
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Re: New Japanese Garden WIP

Post by damienw133 »

Howdy! Apologies for the big delay between posts...there's been lots of work happening but i'd been waiting until i had a bit more to show off.
Be warned, this one's gonna be a bit of a pic heavy post...

The past couple weeks has been seemingly non stop, moving the majority of the biggest rocks i'd set aside for special places...The tsukubai waterbowl area is finally all in place bar the waterbowl itself which i still have to cut the basin into.
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All of the larger rocks were moved using a tripod and chain hoist with a LOT of trial and error and adjusting and readjusting to get things just right, but thankfully everything came together with no real issues....a bonus when the big rock at the back is well over 700kg.

As well as that, i've been dealing with the filthy job of cutting the flat faces into the boulder to sit tight into the corner of the retaining wall ....all i can say is thank god for well fitting dust masks and safety glasses...all up it took around 3 full days of grinding and chiselling to get things square and level before i was able to cut the paving, make the slab and finally fit the rock today.
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I'd been planning on hiring a concrete chainsaw for it, but the kennards guys were doubtful about whether the chain would hold up to the abuses required for it...and i didnt really want to risk having to pay $1k for a new chain if it broke on my watch...soooooo in the end, the trusty 9 inch angle grinder came to the rescue. Unfortunately despite being a cool looking boulder it was absolutely riddled with faults and minor cracks which meant having to do far more cuts than i'd have liked...It worked...though i can honestly say you couldnt pay me enough to do it again...

There were a few heart in the mouth moments while i was strapping and lifting the rock with the tripod today, trying to be very careful of the overhanging portion at the top lest it sheer off in the process, but thankfully it held together and my measurements proved correct once it was finally wiggled into place.
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There's still a huge amount of work left to do, but the heaviest rockwork phase is now nearing its end at last...the next steps will be to build up the rocks along the top of the retaining wall a little more and to bring in more soil to build things up to the next level...stay tuned!

Cheers!
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Re: New Japanese Garden WIP

Post by MJL »

Best thread on AusBonsai! I can hardly believe the work involved in this garden. I’m amazed! I like the updates but with each one I feel incrementally more lazy.


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Re: New Japanese Garden WIP

Post by damienw133 »

MJL wrote: January 6th, 2021, 6:54 pm Best thread on AusBonsai! I can hardly believe the work involved in this garden. I’m amazed! I like the updates but with each one I feel incrementally more lazy. Image


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High praise indeed! Very much appreciated! Happy to hear you're still enjoying it and that the theme of rock, rock and more rock hasnt grown too stale yet...i promise there'll be some more greenery soon!

Its somewhat redefined my idea of what constitutes hard work...now my construction day job seems much more cruisy by comparison ;)
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Re: New Japanese Garden WIP

Post by wrcmad »

MJL wrote: January 6th, 2021, 6:54 pm Best thread on AusBonsai! I can hardly believe the work involved in this garden. I’m amazed! I like the updates but with each one I feel incrementally more lazy. Image


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Agree. That rock cut is fkn brilliant!. Kudos to you my friend.
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Re: New Japanese Garden WIP

Post by Jan »

Outstanding effort!

I look forward to the next installment :cool:
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Re: New Japanese Garden WIP

Post by Keels »

You've really put some work into it. It's looking good now. be amazing when greeny parts progress as well. :tu:

Is there a book or some site that you learnt what a japanese garden consists of etc i would love to understand it more
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