I will be moving into my newly built home very soon.
The front will be landscaped professionally with waterwise plants and winter green roll on lawn.
My question is....what do I do with a back yard of only sand. Where do I start? My preferences are natives and very little lawn. Something nice to look at from the alfresco area and big windows.
#1. make sure its well drained, even though its sandy it may still have areas where water collects. If you do then lay some ag-pipe surrounded by blue metal to get the water to run away.
#2. Then get some good humus on it - compost or composted topsoil - its a waste of time doing anything about establishing a new garden until you have good drainage and lots of good humus rich topsoil. You may need many truckloads and plenty of effort to spread it all about but it will be worth it.
#3. Now you can plant some nice natives around the edge/fence and get them going. Lilly Pilly makes a good screen if you want to block out your neighbours and it grows quite fast too, though its nice to have some Grevillea and Callistemon too to attract the birds and insects.
#4. Now you can sit out in your alfreso area with a glass of wine or cup of tea and let your imagination go. Planter beds with intertwining pathways are a good way to fill a garden area while avoiding having to sow lawns. Then put taller plants at the back of these areas with increasingly shorter ones to the front.
By choosing natives you'll have a waterwise garden and generally not need to do a lot of maintenance.