Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Oct 01, 2010 9:31 am Hi all and Fu Im an avid reader but newbie poster, more eager gardener than experienced, and Im about to tackle the sandpit that surrounds my new build. Im in Bertram WA, so its sandy, little nutritional value in the soil. Now I have followed Fu's words like gospel, I have got my molasses, seasol and powerfeed ready. I want a lawn free garden, ideally lots of mulch and natives. Definetely not the fake grass and cordylines that are surrounding me!! I have raked all the rocks and Im ready to dig through the soil to improve it before I plant. Heres my problem.... dig what!?!? All the landscaping places are giving me conflicting opinions about soil improvers,soil conditioners, wetting agents, landscaping mix... Im so confused and I just dont want to get it wrong. I know to feed the soil, not the plant!! I know I sound like a total airhead but after years in rentals this is really new to me, any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! Re: total confusion... any advice appreciated! 2Oct 01, 2010 12:01 pm Ha Ha ... you sound just like me ... at least you know "feed the soil and not the plant" which is a good thing!!! I am sure Fu et al will give you good advice. Good luck!!! Built the Driftwood with C*ollier Homes Moved in 8 November 2009 Slowly getting organised ..... Re: total confusion... any advice appreciated! 3Oct 01, 2010 7:35 pm Thanks! Glad to hear Im not the only person on here thats ever been so clueless! I do have a good idea of the plants I want though I have been digging all day, I have managed to get the buried junk out of my yard... some site clean I had, more like dump a pile of sand over it all... I found so many bricks, broken tiles etc My neighbours actually came out just to tell me Im crazy and should just "cover it with fake lawn" hmmmm well I smiled sweetly but u know what I was really thinking! So much hard work ahead, I have a ute to borrow next week and one more week of holidays so if anyone knows what I should be getting to dig in... would be great! Also, Fu, I love your pic of the rock wall you recently took and I saw something similar at an open garden a few weeks ago. I would love to build one but I have been having trouble sourcing those rocks, maybe Im looking in the wrong places? Heard of any landscaping places that have them? Re: total confusion... any advice appreciated! 4Oct 01, 2010 11:37 pm 100mm layer of DSATCO piggy post or cert organic soil (rich mix, you have enough sand). Mix into top 300mm with zeolite, spongolite, sand remedy. Mulch with 50mm straw (pea straw, lupin mulch etc), 50mm tree mulch. Water in well, leave for at least a week. Then go for it. Re: total confusion... any advice appreciated! 5Oct 01, 2010 11:50 pm Shan, I'm currently waiting on my local Better Pets & Gardens to get my supplies in. We ordered zeolite, bentonite and molasses (just waiting for the zeolite to arrive). Fu also suggested I get Olsens greenbio, which I got from Bunnings. I'll be watching with interest for your list of plants that you want. We also want natives, but the ones I had my eye on apparently won't do too good with our water restrictions (wanted low growing acacias & grevilleas). Who'd have thought natives would be so fussy! lol Oceanic with Nautilus upgrades. Handover 8 September 2010 Re: total confusion... any advice appreciated! 6Oct 02, 2010 12:29 am Shan, gardening is a NON STOP LEARNING PROCESS and gardeners love to help new gardeners find the passion for gardening I like my east coast native heath plants and they are my signature in my garden however some people have more broad range of gardening like FU others specialise in food growing, or certain species etc however the common thing amongst every gardener is you never stop learning At H1 we are EXTREMELY LUCKY to have FU as a resource here as his experience is invaluable IMO good to see people embracing natives rather than exotics too Soil prep is paramount however alot of garden natives are just as difficult to keep or moreso than exotics, Just remember if you are plant natives from the Proteacea(sp??)group(grevillea, banksia, isopogon, leptospernum) they are phosphorus sensitive so get a specific low phos garden mix However most other natives dont mind phosphorus Also be prepared to work in your garden as Natives need to be maintained too I went outside once. The graphics were alright, but the gameplay sucked! Settlement:22nd June Slab:27th August Frame:16th Sept Bricked:21st Oct Roof:24th Nov Linings HANDOVER23rd March! Re: total confusion... any advice appreciated! 7Oct 02, 2010 10:52 am Very wise words Mecha Soil, I have posted many times here and there. http://www.gardenersdirect.com.au/comme ... BGO!%2B%2B http://www.greenlifesoil.com.au/soils.htm http://www.dsatco.com/PiggypostBulkBag/ ... roductName Soil amendments like Zeolite, spongolite, bentonite clay as well Then really kick start your soils biology with http://plantmark.com.au/include/OlsensG ... ntmark.pdf or http://bioasis.com.au/ molasses, seasol, powerfeed, seamungus, grow potion all essential after the garden is constructed (and during if you like) for on going soil and then plant health If you are doing just a small garden bed most garden centres will stock high grade composts/soil conditioners/ improvers that are certified organic by BFA or NASAA and sold in bags. Mulch with uncomposted tree lopper waste/mulch with lots of leaf and bark and shredded chips or straw. Often I prefer to alternate or mix the two. Straws will really kick start the soil health as the compost into the soil faster yet at the surface remain an effective mulch staying dry. A few members have done this. A layer of straw and then a harder mulch on top In the start of winter straws are excellent to get down, then as summer winds up, get a layer of tree lopper mulch on Then next winter mix that through (what is left) and layer some straw on to 100mm or so. Then repeat the cycle later in the year This way you are mixing up the nutrients returning to your soil and giving a good structure to the soil as the years go on This can reduce the water required by a garden (compared to how many soil companies and nurseries tell us to mulch) by up to 70%. Using black composted mulches will increase water use in the garden by around 20%. Straws when watered in after application will not blow around and become messy. Nor will the mulch from the tree lopping fellas. I know black mulch (which is called all sorts of names) looks pretty but that is about all it has going for it. Use it by all means but it will be what makes establishing a new garden very difficult and expensive. Plants will not in the long term do very well when compared with waterwise gardens that use straws and tree lopper mulches I find straws bring out a better colour in the plants anyway and the tree lopper mulch smells fantastic That way your new landscape is easy to maintain and healthy for many years to come Re: total confusion... any advice appreciated! 8Oct 06, 2010 10:00 am Thanks for all your advice everyone, much appreciated!! Well today is "digging day!" My soil is here, let the back breaking work begin I found zeolite at a pond shop, im using clay cat litter for bentonite (i hope thats ok!) and have the green bio, couldnt find spongolite, no one had heard of it. I also have lupin mulch and a green tree mulch order from mulch net on the way... neighbours sure think im crazy but i think i will have the best soil in this street now what to plant!? I had some lists, but on closer inspection some of the plants are east coast natives, and they are just not the same. Ive found that water corp plant finder link that Fu put up to be really handy, I already have a grass tree, and im thinking some kanga paws, swan river daisys, lomandra nyalla, i did have prostrate grevillias but now not so sure. Im wanting a waterwise ground cover, native or succulent, I have ticks next to carpobrutis edulis but is it even over here? it also looks like it could take over, but what would i know! ive always had a thing for native wisteria, but i have seen that take over my mothers yard so im too scared to try it. I really like the overgrown kind of look though, no straight lined gardens for me. Well i guess i have another week to research before i start planting... i have heard theres a nusery down my way that sells natives, some german sounding name, anyone heard of it? Ok, enough talking, hi ho hi ho its off to work i go Re: total confusion... any advice appreciated! 11Oct 06, 2010 7:40 pm Excellent ground cover is Grevillea Gin Gin Gem Also Banksia petiolaris Casurina "Cousin it" Re: total confusion... any advice appreciated! 12Oct 06, 2010 10:11 pm Australian Native Plant Nursery (?) on King Road in Oakford is good. You can get some interesting plants. The Lullfitz store is like a cash and carry - you can get some good bargins there. The main nursery is in Wanneroo. Also at the Festival of the Lakes at Bibra Lake are having a plant sale (bit of a plug!). On this Sat! If you'd like a trip to the hills, Zanthorrhoea nursery is pretty good but expensive. And yes it is spelled incorrectly! Re: total confusion... any advice appreciated! 13Oct 06, 2010 10:36 pm Friends of Kings park are having a sale on in November sometime. http://friendsofkingspark.com/ http://friendsofkingspark.com/o/content/view/62/30/ Re: total confusion... any advice appreciated! 14Oct 21, 2010 11:02 pm Thanks so much everyone, lullfitz was what I was thinking of. Sorry about the late reply, my house got broken into and my laptop got stolen, along with everything else Lucky I hadnt done the backyard yet, so I had lots of footprints in the sand for the forensics! Will be tackling the garden soon and putting all your good advice to use Re: total confusion... any advice appreciated! 15Nov 10, 2010 10:11 pm Careful Shan and the rest of you. If you are going to plant natives and banksia etc don't put too much fertiliser and compost in the ground you'll kill them for sure. My experience is to get a load of vegemix and stir it in with your sandy soils, it works a treat. Less confusing also. Re: total confusion... any advice appreciated! 16Nov 10, 2010 10:58 pm Ava, certified composts will not have high levels of nitrogen. Nor will they have phosphorus. However many growers of natives have found that controlled releases that contain nitrogen and phosphorus have been of a great benefit to natives in the proteacea family and acaias. All other natives are not sensitive to anything in particular. Veggie mixes tend to be rich in nitrogen and have alkaline properties which creates yellow leaves and gives big spurts of growth in the first year then winter rains leach the nitrates and leave a very difficult soil to work with in the future.+ As for fertiliser, well that is all about the concept of feeding the pant only and that really isn't how it works at all in nature! It something 60 years of chemical agriculture has conditioned us to think. With good soil structure and soil amendments, the right mulches and on going care of the soil the plants that grow in it are going to go nuts and not gobble water Bentonite clay and zeolite are going to be essential to add to new soils and even every few years won't hurt to re-apply as the they too will work deeper into the soil. Clay cat litter is a the cheapest way to buy Bentonite clay I am yet to find a retail soil place that sells a soil to my standards. Certified organic, other than those in the links posted earlier. Of course I have to say that all the soils sold meet some sort of Australian Standard... Always choose certified organic soils. My garden has rich certified organic compost to 1m deep and I have every native under the sun growing very happily. This is because of my ongoing care of the soil with molasses and some other stuff and it isn't just the soils structure but what lives in it to allow your plants to be healthy. Many of my natives are of course WA sand plain natives, now how on earth can they grow in rich soils? Hmmm.... Always feed the soil never the plant Re: total confusion... any advice appreciated! 18Nov 10, 2010 11:39 pm You got no chance Some of the other mods have seen some shots before Those pics no longer exist Hi All, see above image. The required setback from the rear boundary in my case is 5m, as you can see the shape of the site and location of the boundary is slightly… 0 8451 A question. Im in Queensland and building a new home. We managed to reach practical completion 6 weeks ago but we haven't heard any date for handover yet. Who should we… 0 5806 Versaloc is a mortarless besser block system that still needs a properly engineered footing. If you just do a 400x200 footing it will fail in time. At 17m long you need it… 1 17391 |