No aeration (as the ground get more and more compact) the grass slowly turned yellow due to unhealthy root with plenty of dead or stale carbon dioxide. The root breath every day, every minute and every second. Under water it dies. Of course it get oxygen also from the leave but not enough for a healthy living.

This post has been edited by stevie8: Oct 21 2013, 04:37 PM

Thank you Stevie8, you have been very helpful.

Can u advise if i will to demolish / hack off tis pond.
Lets say that the pond depth is 3 feet from the ground level, i plan to hack the wall down 2 ft from grd and cover the remaining 1 ft depth with the hacked rock. and the start filling the 2 ft wil mud soil and top with sand ( as your advise before on others ). The rest of the land i will also dig another 2 feet to accommodate the layer of soil and sand as mentioned.
Izzit OK if i wan to grow some nice grass on it...

Hacking and removing the wall as much down as possible. 1 1/2 feet fr grd is better because it should be 1/2 foot lower than the rest as you intend to dig 2 feet for mud/sand. Then hack and crack the remaining wall so that water can seep between walls and most importantly hack and break holes on the base so that it will not contain water as a underground pond! The base is hard to break as it should be a solid reinforced concrete. If so hack holes on the bottom of the wall few feet apart so that water can still flow and drain to all sides of the base.

You can fill the remaining pond with the hack debris but there will be a lot of voids. Meaning in time to come the top soil will sink as the top mud and sands will fill the voids especially during heavy rain. To avoid that as you fill the remaining pond with debris you also pour sands into it filing the void one foot at a time and hose with tap water. Sands cost money but it is better not to save these money becasue in time to come when it sinks bit by bit over time how are you to replenish it? and it will cost even more money. So first fill debris to one foot then sand, hose it, then repeat add more sand and hose water till it is almost level then fill more debris to and repeat till it is 2 feet below ground. You can then add mud and top with sands and grow your grass.

Wow well said..now i have clearer idea on how to do it and avoid future problem.
Stevie8, i should say u really helpful in this aspect...thks

You are most welcome.

By the way, you should hack and crack or make hole to the bottom first before hacking away the top walls so that debris can be left there.

Also, pond usually have bottom drians. From main pond to filter chambers. The bottom drains as it is named are at the bottoms of the pond and filter chambers. And usually 4 inch or 2 inch pvc pipe are used. So, that make your job easier making holes by breaking the bottom drain pvc pipes with chisel and hammer all of it at the bottom of the pond and the filter chambers.

Well...u really helpful...now it become more easier for my planning ...

To add on, top soil also very important.
After planting the grass, do spread some sand on top of it, especially those sink down area.

OK. i noted this

I don't know why you want to DIY when you can get the professional do it with MYR50k, with nice grass, plants, water pond and water features for a bungalow...Landscaping can be affordable if you know where to get it..

Wow...maybe escargo really from French...

1st - DIY, u get sort of satisfaction ( this is not about MONEY )
2nd - Save some money ( maybe that is not worth at all for some ppl but not me )
3rd - 50K for landscape..i cant afford it at all..with this money, i can almost cover all my renovation cost.
4th - I don own a bangalow..just a terrace hse.

That is why i 1 2 DIY....

Have started with a vertical garden about 2 months now, and some plants are growing quite well, but some plants are not growing as well, so if any experts can advise (hint hint stevie8) will be great. Here's the current state:




The area is at the balcony, but I do not get full sun light. Area is airy and I do watering every morning.


This just doesn't seem to grow - any idea? lol


Yellow leaves - too much watering, or insufficient??


OK - what happened here?! Suddenly layu

Much appreciated

This post has been edited by urb7: Nov 20 2013, 03:15 PM

I am not expert in planting but just some experience.

If you have been growing till such stage all by yourself then I should be learning from you. Over all the plants are thriving

When you say 2 months, I assumed you bought from nursery and it has been with you for 2 months. You know they are the experts and if they actually and professionally growing till this usable size then all of the plants should still be thriving and none should be dying. Some yellowing of leaves is expected.

You see what behind is that not all plant are suitable to grow in the same condition like this. But in order to attract customers to buy you have to have varieties. Meaning have as many different species as possible, some big leaves some small leaves and some tiny leaves. But as said some are not meant to be planted this way. So, they take from pots and put it there and it should live but not thrive. Dont sound convincing? Ok you pluck a flower and put in a vase with water, that will last you few days to a week. You pull a plant with root and put it in a flower vase with water, it last you one month, 2 months? Ok this is only one of the theory.

When leaves turn yellow not due to aging it is because of too much fertiliser that "burn" the plant. Just like when you eat too much durian day after day you get "heaty" and fall sick. Too much of a good thing is not good. This will usually affect grass like plant with small long leaves. But why not the big leave? Size does matter! A 2 yr old kid eat one durian and a young 60kg young adult also eat one durian. It is not too much for the 60kg man. Ok this is also another theory only.

It is not over watering, over watering will have fugus growing. It is also not insufficient watering otherwise same shuould happened to all of them and the big leave should die first because it need more water than the smaller leaves as it has bigger surface areas.

The best way is to take this to the nursery where you bought them from. 2 things to do. First is to ask them why some are dying and, 2. Request they help you care for a month and pay them a small fee. After a month make sure they did not replace the dying plants with new ones. They will die (again). Sorry things dont die twice, you live once only

This post has been edited by stevie8: Nov 20 2013, 07:27 PM

This plant requires good sunlight to thrive.
Generally, waxy leave plants dont require as much water, because the wax is to prevent water evaporation from the leaves.
If only one leave turns yellow, it could be either the stem is injured, or it's simply old. If bottom leaves r yellow, it could be they r prevented from getting sufficient lights by other leaves on top. If all the leaves are turning yellow at the same time, most likely they are not getting sufficient lights. If they turn yellow, stem getting soft, most likely there's injury to the roots, likely cause overwatering, not adequate drainage or fertilizer injuring the roots.

This post has been edited by newbie99: Nov 20 2013, 08:07 PM

urb7, your vertical garden looks nice.
I think the yellow leave is due to insufficient sunlight for the 2nd pic.
As for 3rd pic, it seems normal to me.

You can try and see whether you can find answer in this blog... http://scapexpert.com/blog/

Good luck

Here's a pic of my small garden and pond from a couple of months back. The plant behind the pond has grown beautifully.

Selection of plants was proposed by a gardener after the first bunch i bought died because not compatible with the limited space in the planter boxes. It took some time to reach the desired effect... and am pretty much happy with the result.

How it looks now?

Obviously you standard is very very high, at least from my point of view. There is no way I can do anything close to what you have

I need help .
I have problems growing grass in my garden as there is not enough sunlight.
So I chose the grass that is easiest to grow ie pearl grass.
It was not to bad with about 65% coverage since I moved in 3 months ago.
After rain some part collects water. I asked a nursery to level the ground but the lady said that since the water drains off within an hour of heavy rain, then there is not problem with drainage so I did nothing.
For the parts that could not grow grass I have removed the clay looking soil and replace with brown said and some compost. I don't know it it worked yet because ......
About 10 days ago I went to a nursery and asked for some grass fertilizer to help them grow better.
They recommended this.

I dissolved some into water and spray through out the garden.
7 days later some of the grass died and my garden now looks like this - only 30% coverage.

I think either the urea is the wrong thing to use or I put too much.
What should I do now ?
Replant all over again or just leave it and hopefully it will grow back eventually ? I am at the verge of deciding to use artificial grass if I can't get them to grow naturally.
Appreciate some sifus advise here.
I can't seem to grow any thing.