Boom to Bloom: Your Granny Flat Garden

Here at Coastal Granny Flats, we love us a good well-lit, open plan flat that ties in with the style of the main home. We get excited by tiny homes in backyards and the potential they offer to the owners. But one thing that is a real downer to us is seeing well-designed granny flats surrounded by weeds, or worse, dirt patches. It’s time to bring the garden to life. 

Okay, let’s start with the classic. Lawn. 

Like it or not the empty expanse of grass in backyards is deeply entrenched in Coastal Australian culture; the Central Coast of NSW is no exception. At its best, it provides happy summer days playing cricket or running through sunlit sprinklers. I think we all have some joyful memories out on the lawn. Maybe it was your first camping adventure or kicking a footy with dad. But for some, the looming threat of the lawnmower can put a dampener on those memories of days gone by. Lawns take a lot of care, at least to keep them looking good it does. They need high nitrogen fertilizers, plenty of deep soaking, watering, and in warmer weather, constant mowing and trimming. There is certainly a place for the well-manicured lawn but with our growing awareness of drought and water shortages throughout Australia, we on the coastline need to start thinking of more eco-friendly, back to basics garden solutions. 

Edible Gardens

Come on. You can see Costa’s beard wriggling as he expounds on the virtues of growing your own food. We don’t need to repeat that here. What we will say is that a practical garden can be a great way to fill that awkward no man’s land that can develop between a house and a granny flat (especially if you getting a rental income from it). Growing herbs and veggies in between can create a positive community feel and can be shared space that both occupants can tend to and take ownership of. A small flat can suddenly feel that it extends out further than before and magically transforms it into an eco granny flat.

Build a permaculture herb spiral, whip up a few raised veggie boxes or go the whole hog and rip up the lawn and plant in rows. Think like Costa. 

Native Gardens

We won’t deny that herbs and veggies take a bit of care and, if not tended regularly, can become a big messy weed jungle that does not compliment your home or granny flat. So take the work out of its landscape around your tiny home with native plants and grasses. Granny flats owners on the east coast of NSW can make use of local plants that have biologically evolved to be drought-tolerant and can thrive in sandy soil conditions. There are countless varieties of Callistemon and Grevillea that will not only splash colour in your yard but will promote native fauna as well. Consider a mix of natives with edible to really throw in the eco edge. 

Themed Gardens

Why not bring a bit of Greece to Gosford, the Tropics to Terrigal, or the Desert to Doyalson. Whether you love writing haiku poems under a weeping Japanese maple or speaking sonnets to the rose garden there is plenty of garden inspiration that you can use to infuse a bit of beauty and culture around your granny flat. 

So if you have made the smart choice of building a granny flat, or buy a kit one, go the extra mile and consider its surroundings. Don’t settle for a garden variety flat – take your custom-built Granny Flat from boom to bloom.