XScape

From Monday 25th March 2019, XScape will be closing down. We would like to give a huge thank you to the people who work with us on a daily basis, to make XScape what it is - Kerri Mewett for her fantastic landscape designs, and days spent with us planting. Ryan Brown for the hard work he's done with us over the last few years; a more loyal bloke you will not find. Patrick O'Connell for the hard work he's put since teaming up with his Dad; I've not seen a guy who has learnt as fast and taken on responsibilities as quickly as Patch has over he last 18 months. Josh Taylor, who came to us a green, wet-behind-the-ears kid and left 9 years later a confident, truck-rolling man. And Keegan Thompson, the quiet achiever; I don't think I've ever seen one bloke who remained so calm the whole time he worked for us. It would be remiss of me not to give a big thank you to our wives for the support and guidance they have given us over the years, so thank you Annemarie and Rosie; We truly appreciate it.

Finally, I personally want to thank my business partner and good mate, Chris O'Connell. When we started XScape 12 years ago, neither of us dreamed we would go this far or achieve so much. I have learnt a lot from Chris and had tonnes of laughs along the way, and more than a few beers! This business partnership was really more like a marriage; At times we wanted to throttle each other, and had some mighty disagreements, but we always walked away mates and could always have a laugh about it later. We've been hanging it on each other since we were 12 years old, and to this day, nothing has changed.

As I move on to a new chapter in my life, I am filled with mixed emotions - Happiness and excitement for what lies ahead, tinged with a little sadness, as an era has come to an end.

Finally, to all our clients over the last 12 years - some were small jobs, some large, and some people we did multiple work for. One thing above all else is, we pride ourselves of the fact that on every job that XScape did, we succeeded in not only meeting our client's expectations, but exceeding them. Thank you for trusting us to make your landscape dream into a reality.

Kind Regards and good luck for the future.

Jack & Chris

What a great idea; a removable step which you can fix easily to the door-lock bracket on your car. Fabulous. 😉

Finally started the Deakin St job. With two ‘false-starts’ in Decmenber 2018, the client was overjoyed that we were finally able to get on site. We’ve cleared all the weeds from the back yard and side areas, then added compacted crushed rock for the service area at the left side of the house. Today we used Ecodynamics to blow in 20m3 of garden/lawn blend soil. If not for them, we would’ve had to barrow the soil in! Thanks to Luke, Tyson and the other boys from Ecodynamics. Now to add compacted crushed rock to the right side of the house.

Completed the Almendra Ave job last week. What started out as just a block retaining wall, turned to completing the back yard landscaping. Added Lilly Pillies to the garden above the retaining wall and Liriopes in the side area gardens, then finished with pine mulch. Finally, laid Kikuyu instant turf over the remaining back yard area. All in time for the client’s family get together on the weekend, with family from Malta.

With all the rain we’ve been getting in Melbourne lately, the grass is growing at an extremely fast rate. I’m mowing my lawn every two weeks, but I may have to switch that to weekly! Healthy, good-looking grass boils down to the prep work you do in Spring - Weed’N’Feed in September, then granular lawn food in October, and regular mowing. Cant go wrong. 😊

Perfect day to re-stain or re-oil your timber deck. After lightly pressure-washing, I applied a good coat of stain using a wide brush. I then applied a second thick coat to the areas of the deck exposed to direct sunlight and weather. This included the three sides. Make sure you use the same stain/oil which the deck was originally done with. Before staining/oiling, check to see if any nails are sticking up, and hammer them back down. If screwed, check that no screws have come lose.

If you haven’t re-applied stain or oil for a long period of time, you may have to sand the decking boards back first. Better to do regular staining/oiling to avoid this, normally every 12 months (maximum). Every 6 months even better, if the deck is exposed to the elements. 😉

Last job done for the year! Almendra Ave retaining wall built using ADBRI Versasmooth blocks and cappers (in charcoal colour). Now to do the back lawn, but that’ll be next year. 😁

Almendra Ave - drying out our site so we can start building the retaining walls. 🙏🏾

Nah, not working today!! Good time to catch up on some admin. 😉

To all my tradie mates out there who own a Paslode Bradder, I'm after the nozzle which attaches to the top of the fuel cell (see photo) which is to be used with the older style Paslode Bradders. If you have a newer Bradder and you don't use this adaptor, can you please put them aside and I'll grab them off you. I need some extras. Thanks. Jack

Started the Almendra Ave retaining wall job this week. Had to use a 1.2 tonne excavator to dig out the back yard, as there was limited access. With Chris on the excavator and three blokes on wheelbarrows, we moved over 30m3 of material and knocked it out in less than two days. Now to build the wall, if this bloody rain would stop! 🌧

More than half way through the Caroline Street landscaping job for two new townhouses. Working from a design supplied by the client, the landscape includes a rain garden for each dwelling. Access to the back yards was a bit challenging as we had to go through the house and up & down stairs!
Now waiting for the concrete driveways to be poured and the rendered planter boxes to be finished, so we can do the planting in the new year.

Fantastic night at the Gladstone Park Hotel for the XScape Christmas Function. Thanks to Ryan, Patrick and Kerri for their hard work and dedication to provide the best quality landscapes for our clients. We appreciate all that you guys do.

To all our clients, thank you for trusting us with helping to transform the outside of your homes. Even though this is a business, we find more satisfaction out of seeing the smiles on people’s faces once we have finished their job. I always take immense pride when ever I pass by a landscape we did in the past, and see how good it looks.

Finally many thanks to our wives, husbands and partners who put up with our long hours and dirty clothes clogging up the washing machine. I’m sure all of us would agree that our job would be a lot harder with out your support.

So, as the year draws to a close, and we all look forward to a well deserved rest, we wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy & Prosperous New Year! Cheers. 🍻

Jack & Chris

Front yard landscape for a house in Cairnlea, which needed to be done in time for the client’s engagement. We decked the front porch and installed five decking pontoon steps, then planted out and mulched the rest of the area. Client extremely happy with the end result. 😊

Grosvenor St - paving repair

A small front and back yard landscaping job, installing a climbing plant structure and adding some more plants to the garden area. Also fixed the existing brick edging and installed drip irrigation to replace the old sprayers.

Mitchell Grove back yard lawn, using Kings Pride Buffalo turf. A present from the client’s mum and dad. The finishing touch to their back area landscaping project. 😊

XScape is currently looking for a landscape apprentice to start work in January 2019. We are looking for a person who has passed Year 12 (preferably), is motivated, reliable, can work without supervision, and has a driver’s license and reliable car. The successful applicant will be trained in all aspects of landscaping, with the opportunity to step up to a Supervisor position. If you think you have what it takes, or you know someone who does, please call Jack on 0425 732 176 or send your resume to [email protected]
Thank You

PS: If preferable, we could start the new apprentice as casual Labourer between now and the end of the year.

Now that the weather is warming up and we are still getting a bit of rain, feed your grass with a good quality lawn fertilizer. This can be purchased at your local Bunnings, but always make sure the fertilizer you choose is compatible with your species of grass. Granular lawn fertilizer can be either applied by hand or by a seed spreader (see photos). Alternatively you can use liquid lawn fertilizers. Lawn fertilizer can be applied on a regular basis (every 8-12 weeks) over spring, summer and autumn. This will help keep your lawn looking it’s best. 😉

It's that time of the year again. Now that the weather is starting to warm up, its time to get your lawn prepared for summer. In about a week or 2, give your lawn some Weed'N'Feed to get rid of the winter weeds and to fertilise the grass (make sure the product you use is compatible with your type grass). Then, in about mid October, give your lawn some granular lawn food. This will help the grass to grow lush and green. Both products can be purchased from Bunnings.

The first cut after winter should be a 'crew-cut', so set your lawn mower to the lower setting. From that point on, cut the grass every couple of weeks, but set your lawn mower to a high setting so you are only removing 10 to 15mm of grass.

Norwood St - small retaining wall in a back courtyard, using concrete sleepers and galvanised C & H channels. Chris was able to skilfully manoeuvre the excavator in and dig the post holes, which made the job go a lot quicker. The client will use bluestone blocks as steps to the upper level and will tile the lower entertainment area. Once done, we will come back and lay synthetic turf and install the garden beds.

Silvan Terrace - a large retaining wall job on a sloped block. The treated pine sleeper retaining wall was only 800mm tall at its highest point, however, the job was quite challenging due to the large amount of rock just below the surface. Luckily for us (and the client), the volcanic rock was not your normal basalt, but more like scoria. This made the breaking relatively easy, though still time consuming. Wth the right equipment and perseverance, we managed to get through all the rock and dig the holes deep enough for the galvanised steel C & H channel posts.

The client was pleased with the end result was, which will now enable them to concrete the entertaining area at the side of the house, and put a lawn and garden in the upper back yard area.

Lebanon St - a small synthetic turf job for a small area next to the pool, and planted a few Magnolia Little Gems at the end.

Did a small job in Sunshine North - removed existing grass (mud) and replaced with a small paved area for the client to put an outdoor table & chair, as well as for access to the clothesline. The rest of the courtyard will be planted out by the client, to create a tranquil environment to sit and have a wine on a summer's night.

Market St front & back yard landscaping - used Formboss Corten steel for the garden and lawn edging. In the back yard we created a raised lawn area using the 230mm profile Corten steel. To cordon off the vegetable garden area, Cypress posts were concreted into the ground and F82 concrete reinforcing mesh fixed to the front to create a 1.5m high climbing plant structure, for the client to grow Star Jasmine on. The client will add plants to the front yard and additional plants to the back, then cover all garden areas with fine timber mulch from The Green Centre.

Finished Market St excavation work and brought in the bulk of the soil needed for the lawn and garden areas. Installed Cypress posts for the climbing-plant structure, which will close off the veggie garden area. Now for the new concrete driveway and front path.

A great start to the Market St job. Got a lot of the 4 day excavation work done in the first 2 days, and before the rain! Instead of rocks we hit numerous large tree roots and stumps. Many thanks to Shane from East Keilor Tree Stump Removal, for coming straight down and grinding them out for us...twice in one day. Also, really proud of Patrick, who did a bang-up job on both the excavator and the Bobcat. Doin’ his Dad and us proud. At this rate, he’ll surpass his old man’s skills on the machines in no time! 😂

Nerida Court paving