Also does anyone have any pics of covering a colour bond fence with a vine? and fence extensions as the cubby side of the fence is lower

thankyou!

These are the before photos

It is a big difference but you need to take a breathe and plan your next steps or you’ll be wasting money. It looks like over time soil became heaped against the fence. This is a no-no and needs to be avoided with your new planting. Luckily you didn’t have wooden fences or they’d need to be replaced as well.

I’d suggest. 1. Painting the fences a dark colour. 2. Aim for a 700mm wide garden bed. Plant your trees forward of centre and your under plantings right on the front edge. 3. For edging I’d use wood. 4. Your soil looks clay and/or dry, and those big trees would have sucked nutrients out of the soil. To plant you need to dig a trench the 700mm wide and at least about the same deep. You can improve the soil by putting compost and good quality soil in the trench. Plants aren’t cheap so improving the soil is important. 5. I wouldn’t worry about screening for the cubby house unless there is a definite neighbour problem. 6. For plant selection- have a look at the plant selector on the Gardening with Angus site. You can put in your conditions and it will suggest appropriate plants. Stay away from box hedging. It’s not appealing and doesn’t suit your yard but the suggestion of a tree at the back and a smaller plant type or two at the front is a good one. 7. You don’t need rubber pour. A good layer of mulch will be fine for the kids. Make sure the area is big enough and then edge in wood.

Good luck.

I had a few thoughts, probably too many.

Why ASAP?

Which way does it face? For eample does it get a lot of western exposure, lots of sun especially in the afternoon?

What do you want shaded? Cubby, lawn for playing, oudoor entertaining, all of it?

What is rubber wet pour?

What's in the pots, are those the suggested murraya and box? Do you like them?

How wide do you want the garden bed, or to put it another way, how much of the lawn area do you want to keep and how much does that leave around the edge?

Is it now flat or do you need to have some kind of retaining wall again? Or will a gentle slop do the trick?

Grass will struggle if there's too much shade. Supposedly some varieties tolerate it better.

Even with that original hedge it doesn't look like there a serious lack of sun? It looks more like no decent soil and the area was maybe used for parking? It's a shame the hedge wasn't kept pruned.

So when planning a replacement, you need to consider maintenance, otherwise eventually you'll have a similar problem, an overgrown hedge. I have to say the Murraya and box suggestion sounds very nice but formal, which means regular clipping. If you're not up for that much yardwork an informal hedge consisting of plants that do not naturally grow very large might be a better choice. And some trees for shade. But that's where even more planning is needed, to get the shade where needed without making the whole lawn too shaded to grow well, deciduous if you want more sunlight in winter, check for underground utilities and avoid anything with invasive roots.

It sounds like a lot to think about but it's doable, it can be fixed.

I came back to finish what I'd started writing and I see bigreader has posted lots of good advice. I agree, don't heap soil against the fence. Unless you are sure you are planting something really hardy it is worth improving the soil, and even with the plants labelled hardy and tolerates eveything I've found the same plant will grow better where the soil is better.

Definitely the right call to remove the pines. That suck water and destroy drainage pipes, And are acidic. It is a change for the best ultimately. .

Take a breath, mark out your garden beds and get your turf laid,
You can plant some pittosporum up against the fence where you want the screening initially.
It looks like a Robina tree next to cubby. They are beautiful trees, but can have barbed roots running out,some rubber rock around the cubby would be great.

Bunnings sell a spit it yourself rubber rock. It is a wet pour

https://www.bunnings.com.au/pour-in-place-1-5m2-forest-green-wetpour-rubber-surfacing_p3321476?store=6299&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5fO__uXH9QIV3JlmAh1BSwDsEAQYAyABEgIsG_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Thankyou all so much! at this stage im thinking charcoal concrete edging all the way around and planting a Murraya hedge. just worried about concrete near the cubby but it will be about 30 from the slide edge then just more Sir walter buffalo for the whole area and a sleeper and mulch or rubber tiles under the cubby as the grass wont grow under there

i wouldnt mind a couple of ornimental pears down the track

i like the idea of wooden edging but worried it wont last and might cause splinters?

i am going to replace the fence panels on the cubby side and also getting a quote on having it raised with a wood plank underneath to stop the fence rusting out moving forward just have to get the neighbour on board with that idea