Starting from scratch - finding resources to create a garden

[Gardening Rob]

We live on a small acerage in a temperate area of southern Australia. Having lived and worked (and gardened) all over Australia in the hottest, dryest parts, we decided we would like to spend the rest ofour lives somewhere pleasant for a change!

Our block is an 11+ acre wind-swept hill. The topsoil is shallow and the soil underneath is clay and crumbling shale. The covering vegetation was grass, which had been grazed by horses for many years. It was iron hard and not very fertile.

The first method of gardening we tried was the usual dig-up-the-ground. This activity did not last for very long... The next was trying to find stable manure and piling it on the ground. This worked a little better, but there was a lot of saw-dust in the mix and it tended to leach out the nitrogen as it broke (slowly) down. The I found the local sale-yards. There I could get as much manure as I wanted to shovel. Over the last 6 months I have shovelled tonnes of the stuff and lost 21 kilos! I put the manure onto ground that has been sprayed with glysophate (to kill the invasive grasses) to a depth of about 30cm. That is topped with straw, which stops it drying out and prevents any weeds coming up. The earthworms turn this into an super rich, crumbling soil in about 2 months, but I usually begin planting out a week or so after the manure is put down. After the worms get to work, the ground is easy to dig over. The hardest part is shovelling the manure, but it is free and has had a very positive effect on my health as well as the garden. A win, win situation.

[Mont]

Sounds good Rob. Just an idea - at the Permaculture Research Institute they use as their 'herbicide' beer cartons they get for free from the local pub. They overlap them when they lay them on the ground so they starve the grass and weeds of light, then start piling their soil etc on top of the cartons. The cartons will eventually break down but by then the weeds beneath won't be a problem. Might save you some money and be better for the soil in the long run.

Mont

[Gardening Rob]

We have tried the cardboard and rejected it in favour of really thick layers of newspaper. We found that because the manure was not touching the soil, it took a lot longer to break down and the earthworms took longer to get into it. The manure is best when it has contact with the existing soil, so that the microbes and worms can get into it. I would use the carborad/newspaper method if I wasn't in such a hurry to get garden beds established... I guess I am just another addition to seething hordes in the haste race!

Robyn

[derekh]

If I understand things correctly, the purpose of the cardboard is to prevent weeds from germinating and coming up through the mulch.

How about solarizing the weeds by laying out a sheet of plastic / tarp over the proposed garden bed. Heat from the sun will kill off the existing weeds and seeds. I think solarizing even kills off difficult weeds like Nut Grass. When ready, remove the plastic and place the manure / mulch mix directly on the soil.

Just my 2 cents worth.

derek

[Chook Nut]

Hi Rob,

Good luck with your garden.

I thought seeing as ppl were putting their 2 cents in that i might join them.... as out of character that may be for me

I have quite a few sheets of old corrigated iron lying about so i use that to solarise weeds and grass.... its takes about 2 months for this to be totally effective. I 'borrowed' this technique from the 2001 ABC gardener of the year... its a method he used on his property in Armidale.

I am hoping this will save me quite a bit of work when it comes time to planting!

Take care and welcome to the forum.

Dave

[d_donahoo]

ah. killing invasive weeds...

solarising, depriving of light.

but still haven't found a way to kill couch grass or kikiu grass...

many a raised bed have been destroyed by these monsters!

dan

[Gardening Rob]

We have the dreaded couch grass (as mentioned by Dave), and we have found the only thing that kills this particular couch is glysophate. Believe me, we have tried everything else, including digging it over and sifting it. It only takes one tiny piece and it's back again. (ask me how I know)... Since no other sprays are used in the garden, I don't mind using a bit of glysophate.

[Gardening Rob]

Oops, as mentioned by Dan, not Dave...

[d_donahoo]

hey robyn.

can you explain glysophate? is it very bad in the scale of chemicals????

not too worried - we are now developing our bush block...8 acres...poorest soil you'll ever see, no grass, let alone couch so in some ways i'm excited about that.

my only fear is how close can i let the gums grow to the vege garden. i've heard they'll find a water source up to 20 meteres away!!!

dan

[vix]

Glyphosate is a chemical so it's best not to use it if it can be helped but couch is the evil scourge of the planet as far as I'm concerned, and it does need to be destroyed in whatever way possible. I have heard there is a pine oil based weed killer that desicates the plant it is applied to but don't know where to get it.Try the organic nasaa or demeter folks.
Glyphosate is dodgy as it is applied with a surfactant (detergent type thing), which means it can leach down into the soil and into rivers. It is best not to use it near any watercourse as it will kill frogs too.
But it's worth using in some cases.
Good luck.