rocks, lego, and socks

[lil_clair]

Hi All,

I have been working on a section of our yard that was previously just a pile of soil, weeds, privet, old socks and lego on a giant piece of sandstone under our balcony. There are 3 balcony posts which i wanted to grow something up with complimentary plants surrounding. its west-ish facing, gets plenty of arvo sun.

i'd like to ask some advice about what to plant. i was pretty keen on a couple of kiwi's and a passionfruit up the balcony poles but not sure the beds will be deep enough before they reach the sandstone bottom. one bed is about 1 metre deep (guestimate) and the other much less. the 3rd bed is still in progress but i assume will end up at least 1 metre deep. Some flowers or natives or herbs at the base of the vines for pest control, aesthetics, edibles etc.

i will add some fotos to give a better description.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5309/5889431917_f508f2dd23.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5262/5890000836_08536d22f6.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5071/5890000360_77c8fedbdc.jpg

btw, location is near berowora valley regional park.

[mischief]

Hi lil_clair,
Welcome to the members' system!!!
Love the wee man, he's definitely got the hang of that spade.

I think you could still put your plants in to climb the poles even if there isnt the depth of soil.
If you dig their holes quite big and put in alot of compost when you plant them, that should give them a good start.
Then theres mulch and liquid fert teas you can make up to feed them with .

When you get your Kiwifruit plants make sure there are two plants in the pot. There should be a male and a female plant or you wont be getting any fruit.
They will need something around the poles to hang onto.

You've got a nice brick wall that could have a trellis hooked onto it for other climbing plants.
I was told to make sure it was at least 6 inches out from our concrete walls for air circulation, so I'm guessing you would probably need to do the same.

What natives have you looked at putting in?

[eco4560]

The poles look pretty slippery and any plant would head straight up to your balcony. I'd stretch a trellis between the two. Given that you can grow stuff in biggish post I'd think you have enough soil. You'll just need to feed them well particularly if rain leaches the goodness out of the soil there.

If you can get a healthy Lego plant growing I'll take some seed off you.... ;-)

[Grasshopper]

Looks similar to my set up except Ive got less dirt, before I hit solid rock and my passionfruit is doing ok
I used eye bolts(drilled into the bricks) and nylon rope strung up between it to support the vines.
Plenty of worm wee and mulch and its giving me fruit.

[lil_clair]

thanks everyone,

sounds like the passionfuit will probably work ok. I have a new worm farm and compost bin so hopefully they will start producing some good stuf for our garden soon.

The only other thing i,m not sure about with the kiwi fruits is their root system. How big will the root system get and will it start to push thru my slap dash rock wall? Its held up by soil and gravity.

Lego seeds are growing well eco :p i,ll send u some haha.

Thought about native raspberry,(maybe its too big?) theyre sposed to be yummy...or maybe even native sarsparilla...the leaves are nice to chew on.

Btw, a kookaburra flew in and took off with one of the old socks i,d dug up. Noisy miners mustve thort it was a big catch coz they had a fight for it, and another kookie came in to steal the prized sock :D too funny.

[Grasshopper]

My rock walls are exactly the same and have been there for a few years,with citrus trees and even a pecan,apple,avo and Brazillian cherries they tend to send their roots down not out towards the air,so the rocks should hold them back or move a little to accomodate them. Problem is keeping water up to them in the dry.Just keep mulching.

My Kookies keep trying to kill the black snakes holding up my shade clothe,they havent worked out they are ochie straps yet.