Rotary hoes do a great job, but yes you are right be careful. If I used one when I did my front yard I would have taken out the water main after the meter as it was only about 10cm deep if that.
Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design Re: HELP: Garden prep 21Jan 10, 2011 7:42 pm draco76 you may have noticed from the above posts that i am trying to avoid digging and rotary hoeing because i am trying to avoid bursting the pipes and electrical cables but most, if not all, suggests this method..: Rotary hoes do a great job, but yes you are right be careful. If I used one when I did my front yard I would have taken out the water main after the meter as it was only about 10cm deep if that. Re: HELP: Garden prep 22Jan 10, 2011 7:55 pm I did manage to cut through my water to the house with the rotary hoe... even managed to do it on a sunday when replacement pipe wasn't available. Dad and I made some good progress last week on the front yard... Got the side path dug out and edged ready to lay a gravel path. Got the rotary hoe for a second pass on the main section of the front yard, worked through the compost that was added the last time and removed a ton of rocks from my clay/rock riddled front yard, dug out the side garden bed completely as there wasn't anything that could even become soil with time and effort. Edged that with timber so it doesn't end up in the neighbours yard and then after a party where a bottle of tequila were emptied (not only by me) managed to fill both sections of the front yard with a trailer load of soil. Hopefully it won't rain tomorrow so I can add the Seasol and Powersol I've got planned. Re: HELP: Garden prep 23Jan 10, 2011 10:26 pm lisanne Keen, Mecha-wombat and I are all pretty much saying the same thing! Read this thread viewtopic.php?f=19&t=21938 thanks for that lisanne, i thought it was specific to turf so i was skipping that thread.. but after 7 pages, laptop ran out of battery.. Seems my new plan of action (and questions) would be: 1. dig/cultivate the existing soil (i will call it clay) --how deep? most tillers i find only do 150mm deep 2. buy certified organic soil mixed with sand and mix it through with cultivated clay -- 50/50 on CoS and Sand? -- what type of sand? sandy loam Ok? -- how much/thick of the soil/sand mix? -- does it have to be mixed immediately or can i wait a week before mixing them? 3. mix in gypsum, powerfeed, spongolite, zeolite, "olsens green bio" -- do I mix them also with the tiller or i put them on top after I tilled? 4. level with nail rake, soil spreader 5. dig and start planting 6. cover with mulch i also read somewhere not to cultivate clay when it's wet.. i thought it would be easier when it is damp? got a bit of rain in melbourne this week so if it is alright to dig it up when damp (not very we) i might give it a go with the pick axe thanks again for everyones help.. Oxford 22 @ Stage12a Point Cook Site Cut : 05/03/2010 Slab Pour : 24/03/2010 Frame Inspected : 06/04/2010 Pre-plaster Inspection: 22/04/2010 PCI: 16/07/2010 Final Inspection: 30/07/2010 Landscaping: who knows??? MyHomeoneThread Our Oxford22 Blog Re: HELP: Garden prep 24Jan 11, 2011 2:16 pm -get your soil roughly level, chuck everything on top, spread evenly. -if you are adding sand, you may need to take out some clay unless you dont mind a bit of mounding. -use as close to pure sand as possible as you have plenty of clay (sandy loam is a sand clay mix - something like what you want to end up with, although you will probably get a clay loam due to the quantities involved. Clay,clay loam,loam,sandy loam,sand) -use 100m thick organic matter, then your sand on top plus ammendments. the more sand you use the more mounding you will have so may have to compensate by digging out clay soil first. 50mm sand is probably enough. -once all down mix everything through the top 300mm of the total. spade is good. -mulch over in garden beds and leave for a week before planting in. (I do anyway) see viewtopic.php?f=19&t=39518 btw that garden in that other thread is absolutely cranking! Re: HELP: Garden prep 25Jan 22, 2011 12:51 pm Some very good advice there keen. Water crystals won't help long term. They are known to lock nutrients up. They never were made for horticulture. They are designed to absorb not release so well. They do give positive results in the short term and most info on them relates to planting new small plants. Years later though is very different. poor root structure and in some case nutrient deficiencies. Poor root structure means increased water needs and that then leads to water inefficiencies. You will start to see less of these being used in reveg and more of the water sausage products being shown which are far better for short term establishing of plants. weed mat is for commercial nurseries as a floor covering, not for under mulch. Weeds just don't work like that. We do in our thinking but weeds don't. It is a right pain in the bum too when years later you want to just plant something or you need to do a garden clean up. It will do your head in Mix soils, never layer them, poor root structure develops and increased water needs and nutrient problems develop over the years ahead. When composts are mixed through they are going to improve the overall deeper structure and plant roots will tend to make the transition into the deeper poorer soils with far less problems. Soil amendments, these are critical. Especially with high rainfall. A garden with them and a garden without would be very clearly different in say SE Qld right now. With them the garden will be healthier and recovering faster and have an overall better appearance. That will mean less work and further down the track for you less work Spongolite, Perlite even, zeolite are one off applications when constructing new soils. A very important investment that will pay for itself many times over without you even being aware By all means use mushroom compost but I find the high nitrogen levels give enormous growth at first and the plants do it without adequate root structure so the garden can start seeing issues in 12-24 months and then cost a motza to overcome them. I do understand you need to use what you can get and what is affordable. Many of the local council cheap black "mulches" are going to be an excellent cheap alternative for a soil conditioner/compost/improver. Mulches, straw or tree lopper mulch. If you are fixated on black mulch, throw some Iron Oxide or Iron Sulphate over it all. It will be black in a few hours Soft fluffy black mulches are a big no no in a modern garden. These are being found to work against you, not for you. Use harder tree lopper mulches where an entire ecosystem establishes in the soil and sustains your garden like you thought wasn't possible It's also the cheapest Give your local tree bloke a call. Sometimes a carton of beer is all it costs and is the most efficient and waterwise mulch available There is a heap of study behind that recommendation too Hey everyone, With winter just around the corner, I'm starting to think about how to prepare my home and garden for the cooler weather. Winters can be a bit surprising,… 0 1624 Fig Landscapes has produced an e-book and native plant index, available for purchase from their website. It's a great resource, full of inspiration and tips. Another… 1 12799 |