Author Archives: barbcooper

Long Lasting Stonework

Having areas paved in natural stone, not only looks great, when constructed properly, it is guaranteed to last a long time.

These stone walls, steps and paths were built by Dave Milina well over 15 years time on a private seafront property in Narrowneck Beach, Devonport, North Shore, Auckland.

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The brief was to run with the flow of the land and to create something visually appealing, something that looked different and would require no maintenance.

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The project was completed over a period of time.  The more areas Dave created on the property with his stonework, the more stonework the owner asked Dave to build!  As the paths and retainer walls are constructed of cut stone, a large amount of precision cutting was involved.

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The blue stone comes from the Lunn Ave Quarry in Auckland whilst the stone walls are built of local stone from around the Devonport area.

View more stonework on residential properties.

 

 

Landscaping in Smaller Spaces

If your backyard requires a garden makeover, we have recently added a digger to our range of equipment that helps us to landscape quicker and more effectively. By using the crane truck, we can lift the digger over fences and into tight places. This allows us to complete a job quickly and efficiently.

From start to finish we are able to complete your full landscaping job, be it paving, stone walls, fending, retainer walls, planting. View some of our work on the following page:  View here.

Mobile Home Living in New Zealand

We have decided to lighten our footprint and live in a caravan – our apartment on wheels!  This gives us greater options for travelling, it helps us to live more simply and allows us to really focus on our work, and play!  In fact we enjoy our stone and landscaping work so much, that we don’t really consider it work!

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Our toys!

At the time of this post we are currently staying in one of the most beautiful places you could ever wish to be in – Takapuna Beach Holiday Camp.  We have a stunning view of Rangitoto with plenty of swimming, kayaking and fishing on our back door step.

View from Takapuna Beach Holiday Camp

View from Takapuna Beach Holiday Camp

By choosing to live in a caravan, we have had to make many changes in our lives.  Although it is surprising what you can fit into a caravan, we have had to streamline our possesions and only live with what we really need.  This has been a really satisfying experience – as they say, LESS is MORE!

By asking ourselves, “do we really need it?”, when purchasing or collecting something to bring home, it ensures we really consider what we bring home; there’s certainly no room for clutter!

If you are interested in our work or are merely curious about what it’s like to live in a caravan simply like us on facebook and follow our journeys.   Sustainable Landscapes Facebook Page

Genuine Maori Carvings for Gardens in Auckland

Maori Art in Your Garden?

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Examples of Maori carvings for the garden.

Maori artist William Clarke can create beautiful Maori carvings for your garden. William (Willie) is based  on the North Shore, Auckland.  Be it out of ponga or wood, Willie can create you something special.   William  has a natural ability to create something out of what seems to be nothing.

There are very few Maori artists on the North Shore, so if you are keen to have a lovely piece of custom made Maori art made for your garden, give us a call and we will put you in touch with Willie.

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Wooden carving showing half a face with Maori moko and the other half with Chinese moko.

Should you wish to have your garden landscaped with a New Zealand native theme to fit in with your art work, please call us on 09 414 4503.

Queens Parade Walkway Reparation Work, Devonport

Work commenced in September 2013 on repairing the railings and stanchions along the Queens Parade waterfront in Devonport.  The works were authorised by the Auckland Council as part of the Devonport Transformation Plan.  This is a beautiful area; it is treasured by the locals and visited by many overseas tourists as they stroll from the Devonport Wharf along to the Devonport Naval Base.

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Queens Parade walkway before work commenced.

This area of coastline is very exposed to large amounts of sea spray from the ferries coming in and out of the terminal. The cast iron stanchions consequently had become very rusty, and the iron railings had completely corroded in some places creating safety and aesthetic issues.

Rusty rails were creating a safety hazard.

Rusty rails were creating a safety hazard.

The repair job involved removing all previous coatings from the stanchions.  Rust coating treatment was applied followed by coats of a special rubber coating.  The railings were replaced with 25 micron aluminium.  This is a long lasting material which does not attract any rust.

 

Iron railings were replaced with aluminium railings.

Iron railings were replaced with aluminium railings.

The buttress walls were cleaned and water blasted removing all rust.

Buttress walls showing the cleaned rust area.

Buttress walls showing the cleaned rust area.

With ongoing maintenance, the stanchions and railings will continue to create a smart and tidy, authentic heritage look for Queens Parade in Devonport.

 

Edible Gardens in Croatia

A recent trip to the Island of Korcula, in Croatia (where Dave’s family originated from), not only revealed extensive use of stone, but how well stones are a great mix with vegetables.  As a stonemason, this place is a very interesting place!

 

Fruit and Vegetable garden in Croatia retained by a stone wall.

Fruit and Vegetable garden in Croatia retained by a stone wall.

Stones do not rot, nor do they leach nasty chemicals into the soil; instead they are a hardy permanent material.  Some plants that prefer a good source of heat to grow in, i.e. tomatoes, capsicums or eggplant, thrive particularly well in stoney soil, or planted with larger stones near their roots.

Croatian cabbage in really stoney soil.

Croatian cabbage in really stoney soil.

The Croatian people are particularly resourceful.  Over the thousands of years the island have been inhabited, they have removed stones from the soil, stacked it along walls and used the cleared areas for growing fruit and vegetables.  To ensure the cultivated areas were not stomped down by frequent walking, they would walk their donkeys along the stone walls.

Stones are piled into walls.to create growing areas.

Stones are piled into walls.to create growing areas.

What was also of particular note, is that most people grew vegetables in their front garden.  They would have plots of land further away from the house as well for cultivation of larger crops, i.e. grapes for wine making or olives for olive oil.  Planting food crops in available spaces close to one’s house certainly makes a lot of sense – it makes life so much easier.

 

Edible gardens are often

Edible gardens are often planted in prominent places.

If you are wanting to create vegetable gardens that are raised and require some sort of retaining work around them, or if you want your edible garden to look more aesthetically pleasing, try using stone, it always looks very natural and it has some wonderful properties.   You might even consider placing your edible garden in a more convenient, and even if it means placing it in the front garden or near your entertainment areas, it can still look great!

 

TATONKA truck on the Variety Mini Bash

Our TATONKA truck has just had a makeover and is ready for more action!  What better way than to start off by participating in the Variety Bash, raising money for the children’s charity.  Most little boys (grown up ones too),  can relate to a Tonka toy so we are hoping we can help to put a smile on some of their faces.

We have given the truck a complete new makeover.  With sponsorship from Car Colours in Albany  we have now have a great new paint job.  We begin the Bash at the Children’s Health Camp in Pakuranga, on Friday 20, September.  We travel to Port Waikato, to the top of the Awhitu Peninsula, then on to Pukekohe where we will be taking kids in cars around the Pukekohe Race Track.

Natural Stone Walls in King Edward Parade, Devonport

Stone walls and facade under construction

Stone walls and facade under construction

The owners of this property wanted to retain their steep bank with stone walls that were consistent with the type of stonework seen around the Devonport area.  The stone used in this job is from Northland.  The corners have been cut, aside from that every piece of stone is in it’s natural form.

 

Natural stone facade on side garage wall.

Natural stone facade on side garage wall.

The owner also wanted large boulders to add to a New Zealand themed garden.  These boulders were placed on site using our TATONKA truck.  Note the planting on this project was not done by Sustainable Landscapes. 

 

Stone walls and stone boulders in a low maintenance New Zealand themed garden.

Stone walls and stone boulders in a low maintenance New Zealand themed garden.

Stone of all sizes were used on this project – absolutely nothing was wasted!