Cronulla is built on sand. Not sandy soil, actual dune sand in places, and it holds almost nothing. Getting a garden to establish here is a soil job before it is a planting job.
Cronulla sits about 26 kilometres south of the city on a peninsula bounded by Botany Bay to the north, Bate Bay to the east, Port Hacking to the south and Gunnamatta Bay to the west. The Cronulla sand dunes along Captain Cook Drive are heritage-listed, and around 72 per cent of homes here are flats.
Water and nutrient pass straight through dune sand, so a plant put into it unimproved is living on whatever lands that week. Building the soil up with organic matter before planting is the difference between a garden that establishes and one you replace every second year.
The ocean side takes the full southerly, while the Gunnamatta Bay side is comparatively sheltered. Those are different planting lists, and they are a few hundred metres apart, so we specify per block rather than per suburb.
With roughly 72 per cent of dwellings being flats, a lot of the work here is private courtyards, podium planters and common areas. Those come with weight limits, waterproofing underneath and a committee to satisfy.
Courtyards, planters, common areas and the houses in between, all specified for sand and salt.
New lawn over sand that has been properly built up first. Turf laid straight onto dune sand cannot hold water long enough to carry a dry week, let alone a summer.
How we lay new turfCourtyards, paths and entries paved to a level, free-draining finish. On sand the base compaction is everything, because an unprepared base simply migrates and the paving follows it.
How we approach pavingLow walls, raised beds and planter edges, built with footings suited to sand and fixings that survive salt air rather than generic hardware.
How we build retaining wallsMulch at a depth that slows evaporation on free-draining ground, and at a grade that does not blow away in an exposed position.
More on mulchingScreens and boundary planting cut to a clean line, kept dense low down where they are doing wind and privacy work between close-set properties.
How we trim hedgesLifting growth off roofs and gutters and thinning canopies for light. On exposed blocks we prune to balance the windward and sheltered faces rather than cutting everything to one line.
See our pruning and trimmingBeds, planters, paving joints and building entries cleared back to a clean finish, roots included. In a courtyard or at an entry this is the work that reads as maintained.
More on weedingOld paving, cleared planting and green waste taken away, with lifts, driveways and common areas left clear. Removal is planned around the building's access rules.
See our rubbish removalRemoving a tree that has outgrown its position or is damaging a structure. Sutherland Shire controls removal and significant pruning of many trees, and we check before quoting.
About our tree lopping workHow much soil has to be built, and who signs the work off.
Three steps, a fixed written price, and the site left clean.
Courtyard, planter, common area or a house, and which side of the peninsula. That tells us most of what we need before visiting.
We check the soil, the exposure, the access and the structure if it is a planter, then put a fixed written price in front of you.
One crew from start to finish, common areas kept clear, and all old material and waste removed.
Terry and his team are fantastic to work with.
The team have been very professional with their work, communication and they were also fast paced.
They use very high quality materials and workmanship is flawless.
Cronulla sits at the end of the Sutherland Shire peninsula with Caringbah, Woolooware, Miranda, Sutherland and Engadine nearby.
For upkeep rather than a build, see our garden maintenance in Cronulla or everything we do across the Sutherland Shire, and browse every Sydney suburb we service.
Partly, but on this peninsula the sand is usually the bigger problem. Water and nutrient run straight through it, so a plant is living on whatever rain fell that week. Building the soil up with organic matter before planting changes the result more than switching species does.
Yes, once the ground underneath it is built up. Laid straight onto dune sand it cannot hold water for more than a day or two, which is why so many Cronulla lawns look good for one season and then thin out.
Yes, within the limits of the structure. A planter on a building has weight limits and waterproofing underneath, so the soil depth, the mix and the drainage all have to work with that. We check before specifying anything.
Often which way you face. The ocean side takes the full southerly and the Gunnamatta Bay side is far more sheltered, and those are only a few hundred metres apart. We specify for your actual position.
Yes. We supply a written scope and fixed price in a form a committee or managing agent can approve, and work to the building's access hours and loading rules.
Yes. We work across Cronulla 2230 and the surrounding Sutherland Shire suburbs including Caringbah, Caringbah South, Woolooware, Burraneer, Miranda and Taren Point.
Send us the basics and we will come out, check the soil, the exposure and the access, and give you a fixed written price. The visit costs nothing.
Prefer to talk it through? Call 0451 267 287.
Whether it is a courtyard that has been replanted twice or a common area that needs lifting, we will come out and price it properly.