Apparently This is a Garden

The houses on Glen Road, which actually have a front that looks like a back, are finally having their tiny 'gardens' installed. Not that they are overdue to have been finished in June/July or anything...

The thrillingly named 'entertainment areas' beloved of estate agents, all face the middle away from the road the residents will hurtle out on to (without looking) once several estate agents manage to sell the properties. There was an open home the other week..... yes really and yes, the properties are still unrealistically priced. 

Remember: Stokes Valley is not close to anything much. A very small supermarket. Lots of fast food outlets and the nearest shopping area is Westfield Centre in Lower Hut. There is only one regular bus so people need a car. So, not for the less affluent folk struggling to rise a family then...

The person who put the 'sold' stickers on the map showing all of the properties, before work started seems completely delusional now. 

But, back to the 'gardens'. Well, as far as you can call them gardens. 

There appears to be a small area to be filled in, in front of the properties facing out on to the road. You can see the wooden supports or luxurious breeze blocks underneath. These have been filled in by what seems to be gravel then a topping of earth on top to make a garden.  It looks extremely hard to dig (to me).

I am unsure what they think will grow in these tiny plots of heavy clay. 

Hmmm?  They could do worse than purchase high quality plants from Hutt Council similar to those offered to local rate payers recently (ours are doing amazingly well) but maybe this costs too much? A shame as the quality of the Council's plants were superb, small and strong.

I don't think I could grow anything even imported non-native cherry trees (a usual cheap builders default). I am guessing cheap native grasses tht might last a few years. Sadly, not native pittosporum (which would be really nice).  Leaflands do lovely trees that thrive in local soil so should be perfect for these micro-garden-ettes but they do cost a decent amount (so won't even be considered).

A wooden step (not stone which would be more durable) has been installed in front of each door and gravel/tarmac seems to be being laid to each small looking front door. I believe a final finishing layer will be added so water can flow into the garden.

Although I am not sure how much space there is as this is ground level. You can see that the heavy looking infill is almost level with the concrete pavement. I hope the paths are robust enough to withstand the next 5.4! We shall see. Maybe a raised bed? Although this would need owner maintenance for the very small homes.

If you look below, you can see that everyone is getting a cute wooden fence to remind them where their property ends. 

I'd love to know where they are all going to put their inevitable second car as each little property only has one allocated parking space. Out on the road I would assume, or in Kereru Grove or Tawhai where the current social housing development has little parking space allocated at all......