Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design Re: Opinions on my soil, organic compost and grass 21Feb 28, 2012 8:52 am Also, for those in brisbane wanting to know where to source some of the soil additives, here is where I got them from: Zeolite Bunnings $19.60? per 15kg bag. Called 'Zeo-Clor' in the pool section with the Poseidon range. Ring first to see if they have stock. I tried Globe Australia Brisbane and they said they had not stocked zeogreen for like 10 years? They could ship it up but they were doing a business re-shuffle and weren't keen on doing it right now. Decided it was easier to buy from bunnings. Perlite Hydronation Unit 13/22 Allgas St, Slacks Creek $31.50 per 100L bag Molasses Rochedale Produce 3509 Pacific Highway, Slacks Creek $28.50 for 20L Seasol Bunnings $75 I think for 10L bulk Powerfeed Bunnings $60 I think for 10L bulk Bactivate direct from Vic. was $55 for 2x 3kg buckets shipped. Will edit with e-mail contact tomorrow. Seamungus Green Bunnings They sell the big buckets, cant remember the price Organic Compost There's a couple of options: Centenary Landscape Supplies. http://centenarylandscaping.com.au/ These guys have BFA certified for about $100/m2 Redback Landscaping. http://www.redbacklandscaping.com.au/ Theirs are not listed as BFA certified but price is a more manageable $72/m2 Re: Opinions on my soil, organic compost and grass 22Mar 01, 2012 10:34 am Sounds like you have it very nicely sorted out, and I'm sure you'll thank yourself for doing the hard yards with the proper prep work. I remember when we did our turf prep we had so many people saying 'you're crazy - just put sand and fertiliser down and the turf will grow in anything' - now of course the same people have issues with their lawn and ours is looking excellent. Will look forward to seeing some photos of your efforts. Re: Opinions on my soil, organic compost and grass 23Mar 01, 2012 10:55 am I'm a believer too ... still haven't done the back yard but out front things were dying (developer had put in some top soil and plonked in a load of natives) so I have added some organic compost and some of Fu's additives and things are zooming along nicely now. We had a lot of rain yesterday and the holes that I haven't done anything with yet just fill up with water so drainage is the problem hence the need for the compost etc. For info on our build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=43093 Built the McLaren by Dechellis - slab down 22 Feb - handover 30 Aug 2011 - and gardens finished 9 Dec 2012!! Re: Opinions on my soil, organic compost and grass 24Mar 13, 2012 10:46 am Well I have just been flat out the last 2 days on my backyard landscaping project. Garden edging done, back fence fruit trees planted and cedar chip laid, riverstone edging done. Yesterday I did the Fu soil prep. I used a dingo with trencher attachment to dig and mix to 400mm or more for the 190m2. 8m3 of BFA compost spread as well as zeolite, perlite, bactivate, seamungus and all mixed in. Unfortunately things have gone a turn for the worse. I used the dingo with spreader bar to roughly level the yard. We went out this morning to try and get a good level on it. The areas where the dingo has driven (mainly up the side out to the front of the house) have been heavily compacted. The soil has also dried and is very hard to dig into. The soil is also quite uneven and bumpy and its back breaking work trying to dig it up. Luckily I have 2 more days before the lawn arrives but I will be working myself to death having to manually loosen it with a mattock and then spread it. Sucks a lot and I am worried I still may not get an appropriate finish:( I am also worried that it will be too hard now for the EZ turf to get its roots into:( I had not read of anyone else having this problem, maybe its just due to my backyard layout. Also open to suggestions but I don't think theres an easy way out. Re: Opinions on my soil, organic compost and grass 25Mar 14, 2012 10:05 am I have just finished downloading some photos from the work we've done. Everyone loves photos. You can see on page 1 of this thread what the yard looked like before. Spreading the giant hill of dirt with the dingo Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Trencher has made short work for the hardwood sleeper edging Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ We only found 2 of these but we do believe they are indeed the dreaded lawn beetle Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The Cedar chip mulch and hardwood sleepers have arrived Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The back fence edging and mulching is all done. We actually planet some more flora 2 days later. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Now there is a bit of a time jump to these photos. I did not stop from 12 hours work except 10 mins for morning tea and lunch and the wife was at work so no photos were taken. These 3 photos are after all the garden edges are finished, cedar chipbark on the back fence area and riverstone everywhere else. These show the backyard soil after it has been ripped up to over 400mm with the trencher and had 8m3 of organic compost dumped as well as the other soil additives. Everything was then mixed in again with the trencher and this is what you get: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ This is after I have used the dingo with levelling attachment to try and get a flat finish Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Unfortunately it is still quite bumpy and up the side to the gate it seemed a bit too raised. I tried using the Mattock to dig it up so the soil could be loose enough to spread for a flat finish. As mentioned in the above post, things have not gone well. The organic compost comes up like clay and its very chunky rather than fine. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ We plan to hire the 5 blokes laying the lawn to work on the soil before hand to get a good finish. Hopefully they can do it. Lastly, a photo of the newly planted flora. 2 frangipanis and a nectarine tree. These complement the other frangipani and 2 apple trees along the fence (plus the tree in the left corner which I don't know what it is) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Opinions on my soil, organic compost and grass 26Mar 14, 2012 10:35 am Well done ... that's a lot of effort - gardening is hard work but so worth it For info on our build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=43093 Built the McLaren by Dechellis - slab down 22 Feb - handover 30 Aug 2011 - and gardens finished 9 Dec 2012!! Re: Opinions on my soil, organic compost and grass 28Mar 19, 2012 9:48 am For info on our build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=43093 Built the McLaren by Dechellis - slab down 22 Feb - handover 30 Aug 2011 - and gardens finished 9 Dec 2012!! Re: Opinions on my soil, organic compost and grass 29May 07, 2012 12:15 pm Congrats applor! Looks great... I hope it's still growing strong? Thanks for the links and info - we're in Brisbane West and will certainly be looking at those tips and suppliers when the build finishes and we start our landscaping prep. Did you get the Dingo at Kennards? I ask because I'm looking for a local Brisbane Hire company that has a Vermeer Skid-steer track drive unit (basically the same as a dingo - see below) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Thanks, Jaans Re: Opinions on my soil, organic compost and grass 30May 15, 2012 2:14 pm Hello Jaans! Sorry for the late reply, haven't been on for a while. It is still growing very strong - well most of it. I have one small patch which still gets heat stressed (curling leaves) while the rest of the lawn is fine. The 'bad' squares of lawn still have a long way to go but they are slowly improving. The downside to low maintenance EZ turf is that it takes a long time to grow. I also spend a lot of time weeding my new lawn. I have a lot of seedling grow while I easily pull out but I have also had to remove a few patches of couch, a few crab grass weeds and some Paspalum. Nothing I can't handle though and haven't needed to use chemicals or anything. I didn't get my dingo from kennard, they cost a bit more. I went with: http://www.diginhire.com.au/default.htm Roger was a top bloke and I had no problems. My only mistake was leaving choke at full the whole time so I burnt twice as much fuel as I needed to:( Roger only has the Dingo and a Kanga so if the Kanga won't do then you may need to hire from kennards anyways. DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair Please help me to answer this question , it will help me a lot as i can go to buy confidently with your recommendation: I want to put synthetic turf in our backyard for… 0 5543 Hi Building Expert, Thank you for the feedback, much appreciated, there is also a code of conduct for building surveyors which they need to follow as well. I am looking… 4 3680 I am not sure whether Perth has its own way of doing things in regards to this. Most of Perth has class A (sandy soil), except for some areas near rivers or hills. 2 13107 |