Landscaping in Bentleigh, from bungalow gardens to courtyards

Most Bentleigh jobs are about the whole yard rather than one trade. We clear out what's past it, improve the sandy soil, then build the paving, garden beds and lawn, with the irrigation pipes laid before anything goes on top. What each yard needs depends on which kind of block you're on.

For a lawn by itself, our instant turf Bentleigh page goes into varieties and watering. For hard surfaces, our paving services page covers bluestone, brick and pavers, and the irrigation installation page explains how we set up Hunter systems.

Walls are usually small here. Council's heritage citation for the streets near the station describes the land as essentially flat at the western end and more undulating to the east. So the walls we build in Bentleigh are mostly low sleeper or block walls for raised beds and small level changes, not big structural walls.

We've laid a Sir Walter Buffalo courtyard lawn in Bentleigh, inside a brick edge and right around a big established tree in the middle of the yard. Near a tree like that we prepare the ground by hand close to the trunk, instead of running a machine through the roots.

Next door in Bentleigh East, we recently finished a large Buffalo lawn with a 19 metre hedge and a drip line. All up we've laid 15,000 square metres of turf across the south-east, and every job is covered by $5 million public liability insurance and WorkCover.

Glen Eira sits in the Sandbelt region of south-eastern Melbourne, and sandy ground is what we plan for in Bentleigh. Sand drains fast. That's handy after a storm, but water and fertiliser also wash straight past the roots, so a garden that would cope on heavier soil can go thirsty and hungry here.

So garden landscaping in Bentleigh looks different from a clay suburb. We dig compost and good garden soil into new beds so they hold moisture, mulch them well, and run drip lines under the mulch instead of relying on a hose. Some blocks have a heavier layer further down where water can sit, so we check for that before we set any levels.

Plant choice matters as much as the soil. Council points out that local indigenous plants cope with low nutrient soils and generally need less water than many exotic plants once they're established. We mix those with hardy hedging like box and lilly pilly where a front garden needs some structure.

You might. Under Glen Eira's Canopy Tree Protection Local Law, you need a council permit to prune, remove or carry out works within the tree protection zone of a canopy tree on private land. That includes any tree taller than five metres, or with a trunk 140cm around measured 140cm up from the ground.

On a landscaping job, the works part is the one that catches people out. A new patio base, a path or deep edging close to a big tree can fall inside its protection zone, so check with council before we dig. The permit is free, and the property owner is the one who applies for it.

Light pruning is allowed once a year without a permit, as long as no more than 10 per cent of the canopy comes off and no branch thicker than 10cm around is cut. Separately, the state's canopy tree rules can call for a planning permit for a big tree near the front or back boundary of a house block.

Council's stated aim is to grow the city's tree canopy from 12.5 per cent to 22 per cent by 2040. We'd rather design around a good tree anyway: lifting a path over the roots instead of trenching through them, and picking plants that cope with its shade.

Some 400 properties near Bentleigh station sit in a council heritage precinct, the Bentleigh Residential Precinct (HO69), across 11 streets between Centre Road and Brewer Road. If yours is one of them, a new front fence and other external works usually need a planning permit, so check before the design is locked in.

The council citation paints a clear picture of these streets. Most of the land was sold in eight back-to-back subdivisions between 1923 and 1929, and the houses are mostly interwar, with the Californian bungalow the main style. They sit several metres back behind front gardens of shrubs and lawn. Original low front fences and old concrete driveways, some with a grass strip down the middle, are listed among the things that make the precinct significant.

That shapes the design. A front garden here should let the house be seen: low hedging, a proper lawn, and a path in brick or bluestone that suits the era. One of our clients, Matthew L., had us lay heritage brick paving and wrote that we laid "a consistent and level brick pattern using a whole range of old recycled bricks". That's the kind of work these houses suit.

To check your property, look it up on VicPlan, as council suggests, or ask at the site visit and we'll look it up together. The same 2019 citation recommended no extra heritage tree controls for this precinct, so the canopy tree rules above are the ones to watch.

It depends on the yard, not the postcode. Access, soil, trees and how much has to be carted away all move the number, so I quote from a free site visit rather than over the phone.

Every quote splits the cost into labour, materials and waste removal, so you can see where the money goes. These are the things that move it most on Bentleigh blocks:

One honest tip: settle the layout on paper before we start. Changing it halfway through the dig is where budgets blow out.

1. Send photos or call 0489 952 492. A rough idea of what you want the yard to do is enough to start.
2. Site visit. I walk the block with you, check access, soil and trees, and look up any overlays on the property.
3. Written quote. Labour, materials and waste shown separately, with any permit you might need flagged up front.
4. Booking. A deposit holds your dates and we order the materials.
5. The build. Clearing and levels first, irrigation next, then paving and beds, with lawn and mulch last.
6. Handover. We walk the finished job with you, go through the watering, and check back in a few weeks later.

Looking for a landscaper in Bentleigh who turns up and builds it properly? Give us a call on 0489 952 492 or send a few photos through the quote form, front and back if both need work. The site visit and the quote are both free.

We also work right through the neighbouring suburbs, including Bentleigh East, Carnegie, Brighton East and Cheltenham. The full list is on our service areas page.