Environmental Landscape Design Specialist

  Creating Bio-Diverse Indigenous Landscapes and Gardens

Planting Shrubs
When planting shrubs here in Mount Moreland due to the nature of the soil it is far better to plant far less and do so properly so that they a chance of growing into strong healthy specimens. My recommendation is for shrub regardless of the size of bag that it is in to dig a hole half a meter cubed then back fill it with one third well rotted compost and approx. 50 grams of fertilizer which has first been well mixed. Plant the tree and water it well keeping the tree constantly moist until it has established thereafter it will need to be watered from time to time for the first year or so during times of drought.

Planting ground covers
First mark out the bed with a hose pipe to obtain the shape required then spray the grass with a herbicide containing the active ingredient Glyphosate such as Roundup® then wait until the grass haas become yellow at this stage check that to see if any portions of the bed have been missed and spray these areas. Wait until the grass has died off completely then spread a generous layer of gypsum and fertilizer such as 2:3:2 (22) at the rate of 100 gram per square metre over the entire area followed by a layer of 150 mm of well rotted weed free compost. Next turn the whole bed well to a depth of a digging fork 150-200 mm. Break up the clods with a digging fork and rake ready for planting. Again do not skim on the materials otherwise you plants are not going to grow well, if you do not have sufficient money to undertake the task do only half the bed and the rest later when you can afford to do so. Do not forget to water your plants well as soon as possible after planting settle them in and keep them on the wet side until they are showing signs of growing then amount of irrigation can be gradually reduced.