guru j

When i get to OZ my family and i will probably be settling in the Brisbane area we are going on my wife's skills and i want to get back into landscaping or just general gardening such as mowing/planting/garden maintenance.What i would like to know is do Aussies keep a well maintained garden, are there job opportunities for someone like myself in the gardening business,do they have restrictions on how much water you are allowed to use on your garden and so on?Thanks for reading, anything to do with gardening will be greatly received may the lord make us truly thankful AMEN!!!!!!!!

A dogs life

Ohhh Just a few...

Water Restrictions

Sprinklers, including automatic systems, are not permitted to be used at any time.
• Attended hand-held hosing only permitted at the following times and days:
− ODD numbered properties. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, between midnight and 7am, and
7pm and midnight
− EVEN numbered and unnumbered. Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, between midnight and
7am, and 7pm and midnight.
• No watering permitted on Mondays.
• Watering of gardens and lawns with hand-held buckets permitted at any time.
New gardens, lawns and
landscaping
• Watering with an attended hand-held hose or sprinkler with timer shut off for:
− one hour only on the day of establishment
− one hour daily from 7pm to 7am for 14 days (including Mondays) after the day of establishment.
Receipt of installation required.
• After the establishment period (15 days) you can only water using a hand-held hose on your allocated
watering day. Refer to watering times and days that apply to your property number.
Washing of vehicles, houses,
external windows, boats and
trucks etc (other than by a
commercial service provider)
• Washing permitted at any time with:
− a hand-held hose with a trigger nozzle or twist nozzle
− a high-pressure water cleaning unit with a trigger nozzle
− buckets filled directly from a tap.
Permanent swimming pools
and spas
• Topping-up of pools is only permitted at the following times and days:
− ODD numbered properties. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, between midnight and 7am, and
7pm and midnight.
− EVEN numbered and Unnumbered. Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, between midnight and
7am, and 7pm and midnight.
• No topping-up of pools is permitted on Mondays.
• When topping-up pools it is not required that the hose be held by hand.
• Portable child play pools of a capacity less than 1000 litres may be filled at any time.
• New or repaired pools or spas may be filled at any time.
Fountains and ponds • Topping-up of fountains and ponds is only permitted with an attended hand-held hose at the same times
and days as for pools.
• Topping-up with a hand-held bucket is permitted at any time.
Water play toys • Use of hoses and sprinklers for water play toys is not permitted at any time.
Roof sprinkling or washing • Spraying or washing roofs is not permitted at any time.
Hard surfaces (paths, outdoor
entertainment areas and
driveways)
• Hosing of hard surfaces is not permitted at any time.

steve`o

wow red tape city

A dogs life

We are level 2 water restrictions now. Thats what all that red tape is. Just wait till Level 3 restrictions hit in December if we get no rain.

Then it will be drinking your own urine, and getting the dog to 'sprinkle' your grass

guru j

WOW!I am alot wiser now than i was 30 mins ago.CHEERS

steve`o

is this why the plumbers jobs are so scarce ??
( see sunshine coast -- jobs thread )

Badge

Many aussies keep a lawn mowed once a week and that is moreorless it, maybe a few pot plants here and there, and a lemon tree or creeper.

Where we are, people have lawns and trees, and bush, there are a few though, and my wife has had some success with maintaining (well she employs a gardener) flower gardens at back, out the front of the house, and in a corner on a block on the front drive at the gate. We have the most complicated garden of sorts I have ever seen on any aussie home for a while, millionare sydney homes in magazines not withstanding, quite a lot of people remark on the 'variety of specimens'.

badge

PS the gardener is an euphemism for a funny old bloke who comes around once a week all winter and pulled out half of what had been growing. Just as well, photos show that our garden was out of control all last summer.

cranni

Hi there did you get my email, Denise

cranni

Hi there, i will give you a straight answer, here in WA there are water restrictions. Yes people keep there gardens well here, a bit like keeping up with Joneses.
Im sure you would do quite well as everybody has gardners, even me.
Denise

cranni

sorry, i think i have the wrong person, senile dimensia setting in. Denise

Bella Donna

Are these just for Queensland, ADL, or are they national restrictions? Is it normal for Queensland to be short of water at this time of year or are you having an unusual drought? (Sorry, never paid much attention to Queensland's weather, never having intended to live there )

steve`o

no probs but you can email me if you like

A dogs life

I walk the dog about 9pm, around a posh area here called Raby Bay. They all have lovely automatic sprinkler systems to keep their lawns looking lovely and green.

Of course with the new water restrictions, those sprinkler systems are now banned.

Its the weirdest thing to be walking the dog at night and see men hosing their perfect lawns in the pitch dark. They all do it. It is exactly the ethos of keeping up with the Jones's. If one of them lets their lawn turn brown they are an outcast!!

A dogs life

The link and the restrictions I posted are for Queensland. BUT, there is an Australia wide drought, and its been getting worse for a good few years now (not just this time of year), thats why we are now at level 2 water restrictions (this happens when the resevoirs drop below 35% capacity). There are exceptions, for example where I live we have an overflowing aquifer of water that could easily supply the whole of our region for the next 50 years, but to show solidarity with the rest of QLD we are under the same restrictions.

For water restrictions in Victoria see here

For NSW see here (they're as severe as QLD)

For Western Australia see here (they seem just as bad too)

Basically Victoria seems in the best condition, though I do remember a few years ago when I worked in Melbourne they were always complaining about the low water levels in the Murray river system, so its not exempt from the drought.

A dogs life

Before anyone starts complaining that I left them out...

Water restrictions for South Australia are here

The Northern Territories doesn't have any water restrictions despite using three times more water per person than the national average

What the hell are they doing with five wheelie bins full of water anyway? Do they bathe in them? Or is that their idea of a spa?

And tasmania water restrictions are here , though it doesn't look like they've got any restrictions at the moment.