Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Apr 04, 2012 5:38 pm Hello Long time stalker, first time poster here. For the past few months I have been reading this forum avidly and absorbing a wealth of gardening info which resonates very well with me. Disclaimer : I know nothing about gardening and what I know I have learnt off the net... I have maybe 3 months gardening experience to date ! My wife and I recently bought a property in South Sydney and are ripping out whats in our approx 100m2 of garden beds (mainly Privet and Ochna, some Camphor Laurel / Rubber Plants / Agapanthas / Agaves). We are replacing with - a 20m Murraya hedge - a 10m row of gardenias - a 2x10m2 rockgarden of groundcovers / perenials - a 20m bank of star jasmine vine covering a colorbond fence - a 4m bed of roses - two boundary beds (covering 30m) of assorted fruit trees Right now Im looking to improve the soil ahead of all the plantings at end of Autumn Based on what Ive read here, Im currently looking to do the following as a base across all the beds - incorporate 1l of perlite per sqm - incorporate 20kg of zeolite - incorporate 10cm of Composted Cow Manure across all the beds - lay 5cm of lucerne mulch (to help feed the soil over the coming months) - lay 8cm of red wood chip mulch (preserve water / stop weeds / look pretty) I've read about nitrogen drawdown re wood chips - has anyone observed problems here first hand or is theory which is difficult to quantify? The soil is of variable quality/consistency throughout the entire property but is mostly sandy (there was an old sandstone quarry behind us). We're on a slight hill, our property is on two levels and the drainage seems v good. Is there anything else I should be doing here? I'm looking to plant the Murrayas immediately and will be watering by hand until I install drip irrigation next month. Re: Soil Prep for Garden Beds - your thoughts ? 2Apr 04, 2012 7:18 pm get rid of the red wood chip mulch just use a treeloppers mulch add some naked farmer to the soil mix 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: Soil Prep for Garden Beds - your thoughts ? 3Apr 04, 2012 9:15 pm mecha-wombat get rid of the red wood chip mulch just use a treeloppers mulch add some naked farmer to the soil mix too yep so treeloppers mulch will do better for the garden... but my missus doesnt like the look of it and ive had to compromise there. naked farmer - noted and thanks. how about mushroom compost - should I be substituting a 20% of my cow manure for mushroom compost instead ? I read somewhere that having a mix of manure/green compost is better than all of one or the other. Re: Soil Prep for Garden Beds - your thoughts ? 4Apr 05, 2012 5:28 am One other thought - will adding sugarcane mulch underneath the make watering more problematic ? If just the red wood chip was in place, i can imagine the water would flow freely to the soil below... but with sugarcane mulch then sitting underneath, am i potentially creating a water barrier ? Re: Soil Prep for Garden Beds - your thoughts ? 5Apr 05, 2012 7:40 am I pressed the missus and she has now agreed to Leaf Mulch which isnt quite tree lopper mulch but is better than Red Chip. Due to this, I wont bother with the lucerne as I now no longer have a possible nitrogen draw down problem and I have a mulch which does something for the soil. Or... would I be better getting Lucerne instead of Leaf Mulch for Winter ? Re: Soil Prep for Garden Beds - your thoughts ? 6Apr 05, 2012 3:46 pm refs_unperson how about mushroom compost - should I be substituting a 20% of my cow manure for mushroom compost instead ? I read somewhere that having a mix of manure/green compost is better than all of one or the other. I don't think Fu recommends mushroom compost, if you do a search for it you will find his comments ... and don't forget to add molasses when watering every couple of months .. 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: Soil Prep for Garden Beds - your thoughts ? 7Apr 05, 2012 3:49 pm 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: Soil Prep for Garden Beds - your thoughts ? 8Apr 06, 2012 8:45 am interesting - thanks for pointing that out. I'll forego the mushroom compost for now. cheers Were struck with: Colorbond Ironstone Grey roof and cream windows. What color should we render and paint the garage door to tone down the cream windows? Farm House, will… 0 27016 I am not sure whether Perth has its own way of doing things in regards to this. 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