rover all over: The answer lies in the soil

Before we began our last garden in Fadden in Canberra, the soil resembled finely ground concrete. Light grey, no structure, no life, it turned to slurry in the wet and set like concrete in the dry. It killed a lot of plants. A lot of plants. So when folks around here in Diamond Beach complain about the soil, we shake our heads. They have no idea how good this soil is, by comparison. We have been doing a lot of planting in our new garden in the last few days and every spadeful turns up worms. Mostly the soil is dark brown, moist, friable and has quite a bit of life in it. There is clay in places, but clay is pretty easily manageable.

The first plant I put in here was a grevillea in the embankment outside the terrace. This gluggy clayey slope is where the cut was made down to a lower level for the concrete slab for the house. The cut exposed a profile of shale and clay. This embankment has the worst soil on the whole block. I invited the plant to say its prayers as I put it in, being pretty sure it would expire in a matter of days. Weeks at the most. Well, about 10 months later it is healthy and big and going like the clappers, despite the rubbish it was planted in. And so are all the others we planted in the same embankment over the next few months. So how well will the rest of the plants go, the ones we are planting now in the decent soil? I'm hopeful.

But still, we're taking no chances. Because the answer lies in the soil, it pays to improve even good soil. Just for the record, this is how we plant each and every plant. Time will tell if we're on the right track.

First, make up a barrow full of magic mix. Include crushed rock for drainage and trace minerals.

Blood and bone for slow release fertilising.

Gypsum for clay breaking.

Dolomite to help release nutrients

Nice big hole. Pick out any curl grubs and throw them to your little planting pals, the butcher birds.

A spadeful of the magic mix. Mix it in with the soil in the hole to make a nice soft bed for the new roots.

Plant in, gently. Minimise root trauma.

A slurp of seasol solution to ease the root shock and bed the plant in.

Back fill the hole and mulch.

Label. We make these out of old venetian blinds, cut up. Pencil lasts the best.

Tree guard keeps the wildlife off and provides a microclimate rich in CO2.

It all takes a while, but we think the extra care at planting pays off.

Today we did about 40 plants. Mostly natives, rainforest species. Some home grown banksias, some groundcovers. Last Sunday we planted about 45 casuarina torulosas that David had propagated. Hopefully this summer we'll be able to see a few of them poking up above the tree guards. For the time being, the block is just scattered everywhere with these green plastic triangles.