One of the advantages of being on a lifestyle block is it enables you to develop gardens unlike those in a simple town garden. 

A corrugated goat welcomes the visitors.

That is of course if you enjoy gardening – which happily both my wife and I do. 

For the past fifteen years we have spent a lot of time establishing gardens in areas of our block that are no good for anything else and we are very pleased with the results. The pond shown in my photos – yes I took them – was just a swampy area  the cows used to trample through. 

We got a guy to come in with a digger and turn it into a pond.  That pond has added great value to our garden – and I don’t just mean dollar value.  We have had much more enjoyment from it than we ever thought we would.

Really the photos speak for themselves and we do have some areas we are still looking to develop.  Why not have a look at your own property and see what you can do – if you don’t have a feel for landscaping, have a read through this month’s liftout, you may find someone who can help. It really is worth it.

See you next month.

Brian's pond was dug out of a swamp.

The formal garden.

• Brian Neben publishes Rural Living, and during the weekends is an avid lifestyle farmer.