We have a naturestrip to the side of our house - which is on the other side of the side boundary fence, so we don't actually see it. We were going to turf this area (approx 9m x 2.5m) but because we can't see it from our side of the fence and because we have mulch being delivered in the next couple of days which is more than we need, we hit on the idea that we would just turn the soil, spread the mulch and scatter some grassy plants amongst it (lomandra, kanga paws, dietes) with a manchurian pear that will hopefully provide some shade to our yard in the years to come. I thought it would be easier to plant after the mulch so it is easier to spread.
Saturday hubby and I got out and we turned the top 20cm and broke it up (it hasn't been touched since we built apart from being sprayed with roundup) and now I am considering soaking it all with a mixture of powerfeed and molasses before the mulch goes down. The soil is quite a nice consistency once you get through the top 5cm of baked clay and has plenty of worms doing their thing.
Is this a good idea and is this sufficient?
I figure seeing as we won't be getting any real benefit/use from it that a self-sustaining approach is probably best - just the occasional water and top up of mulch.