Often gardeners treat fertilising their gardens like some people treat feeding their kids. Before they consider whether the child needs anything more to eat, or whether they're getting the correct nutrients and balance in their diet, they just allow them to shovel in more food just in case they're hungry. Even "Blind Freddy" could work out that this modus operandi is going to have detrimental effects.

Yet when it comes to our plants and garden soil we take the same route. It's the start of spring: pour on some fertiliser. It's the start of summer: pour on the fertiliser. It's been two weeks since I gave my plants a feed: pour on more fertiliser. We can easily get carried away with over-feeding our plants that we take little time to consider what they need, or whether they need anything at all.

And with today's technology there's not really any excuse for knowing what's happening with your plants. Any one of the simple soil testing kits will quickly tell you whether your loam is lacking in nutrients, and possibly which elements they are. It takes all the guess work out of keeping your plants on track.

As I flick through many of the online gardening forums, or answer questions here on my blog, it amazes me how many relate to plants missing out on the nutrients they need. Leaves starting to show their veins lack manganese or iron. Rhododendrons not flowering is usually a lack of lime and so on it goes. Yet if we took the time to consult the soil we could clearly assess what was missing and whether our soil was capable of feeding our plants in a balanced form.

Interestingly enough, the examples above are only trace elements - nutrients that are usually found as a by-product of some other required mineral. So, while it's easy to dispense the matter-of-fact remedy and then seek out the individual element at your local nursery, hoping to cure the problem, the issue is most probably much easier to solve than finding which element is lacking.

Testing the soil, unless you have it professionally assessed, usually won't reveal the missing trace elements. Instead, it highlights the pH levels of the soil indiciating whether it's acid or alkaline and what level of acidity or alkalinity it is. This then enables you to consider the ways to remedy the balance, or at least improve it.

If you don't test the soil then, in reality, you're very much working in the dark hoping to fix the problems without knowing what they are in the first place. If you keep doing it for too long your garden beds may become obese and have health problems just like this tubby little kid at McDonalds.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (3)

The toughest materials to compost are by far; palm fronds and strappy foliage plants. Their innate fabric always proves to be tougher than the bacteria and bugs that do the decomposing. And months later, when everything else has become unrecognisable, palm fronds and grass foliage remnants look like they've only just hit the compost heap.

Even trying to mulch them through a chipper shredder proves equally futile. The strands that make palm fronds up will usually wrap around the blade forcing the motor to seize and making you spend hours trying to unravel it again. Strappy foliage from plants such as cordylines, agapanthus and other grasses can be even worse and often most gardeners will resort to just binning the waste.

However, there is a way to compost this seemingly indestructible garden refuse. The first method is to let it dry out first. This may take some time but the palm fronds and strappy foliage need to be left until they are dry and brittle. Once this has been achieved then shredding them is a cinch - they will begin to breakdown like any other organic material after this point.

The second option is to chop the palm fronds by hand and then place in a container, covering them with compost tea. This will break the items down individually and within a few weeks. From there, they can be transferred back into the compost heap where they will continue their decomposition in a similar time frame to the rest of the materials.

A third option is to dig a hole large enough to hold the palm fronds (cutting them in half or thirds prior is a help) and then covering with a non-composted manure - chicken or cow are best. Replace the soil over these and they shall break down within a few months.

So, as you can see, composting palm fronds and strappy foliage plants isn't impossible but it does require a little more effort.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (2)

For me, composting requires no apologetics. Ever since I began gardening compost has been part of the deal and it's always made sense to produce it. Yet, to an outsider looking in making compost may seem like the most bizarre activity and demands some sort of explanation.

So, what is the point of composting?

Obviously the first and foremost reason is that composting is a form of recycling. It takes all our plant material waste; lawn trimmings, fruit and veggie scraps, prunings, dead leaves etc and decomposes them. This decomposition then transforms back into a rich humus that can once again be used in the garden. This saves our landfill areas from expanding too fast and gives us back a resource that will eventually become useful in our own gardens.

Second, it provides organic matter for our gardens. It seems a tad bizarre when I watch neighbours haul away their green waste to landfill only to pick up a trailer-load of mulch on their way home. Duh! Sure, the time factor of creating compost may seem a little inconvenient but with the range of compost tumblers available these days, the time lag is significantly reduced.

This organic matter then becomes the predominant fertiliser in the garden. It can be used to amend the soil in your garden beds, become a liquid fertiliser in the form of compost tea and provide a feeding mulch during the warmer months.

The benefit of re-using compost in your garden is two-fold; (1) it saves money, and (2) it diminishes any future problems caused by using inorganic fertilisers, pesticides or bringing sordid mulch onto your property.

One side benefit that I enjoy is that because I turn my compost heaps by hand, it gives me a free workout each week. People pay heaps to join a gym and get their fitness and muscle tone in shape when all the workout you need can be accessed within your own yard.

Composting can only be seen as a win-win situation. Every form of green waste remains in your yard and the result of the composting process means you get cheap, possibly free, inorganic matter. How can you lose?

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (0)

Harvey Ussery wrote an article for Mother Earth News titled "8 Steps for How to Make Better Garden Soil" where he describes, in-depth, the process of improving your soil through low-tillage avenues. This is such great content that I wanted to add some extra commentary for newbie gardeners to help you get the most out of your garden soil.

1.Add Manures for Nitrogen.

Nitrogen is the number one chemical required for plant growth and if devoid from your garden soil your plants will continually struggle. Animal manures are a great source of nitrogen and if you can source them easily, either through your own animals or via livestock farms, they can radically improve your soil and keep your fertilising costs to a minimum.

However, there is always a balance between introducing any fertilisers into your soil because of problems with leeching or contamination of food sources. Ussery recommends a book by Joseph Jenkins: The Humanure Handbook: A Guide to Composting Human Manure (aff.) that may even give you some insight as to how to utilise your own families manure for your garden purposes.

2. Try composting.

As they say, there is nothing new under the sun. Here are some posts I've written over the years that may help you get started on this important garden practice;

• How to Make Compost: by someone who did it...


• How to build compost bins


• Can compost be used as mulch?


• Making Compost Tea

Compost is the engine room of any garden soil amending program and contains the complete circle of life in your garden.

3. Tap chicken power to mix organic materials into the soil.

I love this idea of getting natural workers to do the job for you. I once saw a gardener set up a garden shed on some fairly unarable soil and introduce thousands of earthworms into the shed. On the outside he encouraged chickens to scratch the surrounding surface in search of the earthworms. In effect, he had two sets of workers; the first (earthworms) working the soil from beneath and the second (chickens) working the soil from on top. Within a few weeks the soil had completely changed having been worked over by both but also by being fertilised with worm castings and chicken manure.

Ussery's idea here is a good one by encouraging the chickens to forage through piles of organic matter and, in the process, mix it into the top layers of the soil.

4."Mine" soil nutrients with deep rooted plants.

Some of our least loved plants, including "weeds", often have a usefulness that we as gardeners don't often appreciate. These plants, such as the examples used by Ussery (comfrey, nettles and yellow dock), are able to bring nutrients to the uppermost soil from deep beneath. Plus they add back nitrogen and offer great benefits by being used in compost - especially the comfrey.

Deep-rooted weeds are usually disliked by us because of the mass of seed heads they produce which is why we're so tempted to rip them out. However, these seed heads can easily be removed from these weeds before they flower and the weed can continue growing and 'mining' nutrients for your more preferred plants.

5. Plant cover crops.

Cover crops are the plant kingdom's alternative to using manures so heavily. Growing legume crops allows the soil to take in the nitrogen that these produce but also benefir from the organic matter of roots and foliage as they break down.

The best time to plant a cover crop is when your garden bed is lying fallow - usually in the winter months. Broadcast some seeds over the soil and rake in before watering. It will take some weeks, depending on which cover crop you chose, before they can then be dug back into the soil. You will want to do this before they begin to flower and set seed as you don't want these crops to continue growing once your plants have been bedded in.

6. Cover the soil with mulch.

Ussery holds tight to the no-tillage philosophy of gardening which makes a lot of common sense. Me, I prefer a low-tillage strategy instead because I believe the soil benefits from being aerated occasionally to reduce compaction and to increase the depth of fertile topsoil. Having said that, I'm also an advocate of mulching your soil and not allowing bare spots.

Mulch is like an organic blanket for your garden beds and provides decomposting material to increase soil activity but also shields the beds against erosion and weeds.

7. Use permanent beds and paths.

This is wise advice because it deals with the problem of soil compaction. If your soil is often tread underfoot it will result in any air being removed and drainage becoming problematic. Therefore it's much better to use permanent beds than to continually change them and increase this risk.

Likewise, paths should follow a similar line as well. Keeping your access to a minimum and treading in places where plants don't grow is always the best way to work.

8. Try low-tech tillage.

While being the last point, this is truly Ussery's piece d'resistance and his philosophy speaks loudest through this point. He balks at using power tillers and prefers to use organic alternatives - and he offers many alternatives to choose from - instead.

His list consists of using these options;

• Chickens


• Potatoes


• Cover crops


• Mulch


• Compost

The article is well thought out and offers a heap of alternative ideas to many that are expressed within gardening magazines and the general media. I hope it helps you with making your garden soil healthy.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (4)

One of the easiest mulches that you can obtain for, and from, your own garden is leaf mulch. If your garden is host to one or more species of trees, whether they are deciduous or not, they will still shed an ample amount of leaves that can be readily turned into mulch for your garden beds.

The key to using this wonderfully free resource is shredding them before application. Running over a pile of them with a lawn mower or passing them through a chipper shredder helps to aid the decomposition process so that your leaf mulch will feed your beds at the same time they provide protection to your plants and soil.

One of the common misconceptions with leaf mulch is that any leaves will work. While this is almost true there are definitely leaves that should not be included, and for very good reasons. Here are some of them;

• Leaves heavy in oil - leaves that have high levels of oil in them such as Agonis flexuosa (Peppermint Tree), Corymbia citriodora (Lemon-Scented Gum) and Camphor laurel will be detrimental to your garden. The oils will excrete over time and integrate with your soil producing a water-resistant shield. Your soil will then be in danger of becoming hydrophobic and your plants will suffer, if not die.
• Diseased leaves - leaves that have become host to fungal diseases such as sooty mould or leaf spot can spread even after they are removed from the plant. If your trees are affected with a leaf fungal disease then you are best to incinerate them to remove the threat of spread throughout your garden.
• Leaves with parasites - if your trees have been infested with parasitical insects such as lacewing, scale and leaf-miners then they are likely to still contain larvae that will spread once they hatch. These infested leaves should be incinerated just like diseased leaves.

Leaf mulch has an enormous amount of benefits for your garden beds but gardeners should be wary of what leaves they're using. While ignoring the problematic leaves listed above will not change the mulching effects they will create other problems in the future.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (1)

Straw mulch is gaining in popularity, certainly amongst gardeners in my gardening zone. As an alternative mulch it's becoming cheaper, more available and far easier to apply to garden beds. But, like most mulches, straw has its own pros and cons that could help you decide whether you use it for your garden.

Obviously, the availability of straw determines whether straw as a mulch is an option. If the only way you can access it is through third-party onsellers then it's likely not going to be affordable compared to traditional mulches. However, if you can access it cheaply from local farmers or distributors it will make a very useful mulch indeed.

I'll use the terms straw and hay interchangeably but I'm referring to the same thing. Pine straw mulch is a different beast altogether and refers to pine needles collected from plantations. This type of mulch is good for acid-loving plants and takes a longer time than straw/hay to breakdown.

Can any straw make good mulch?

If you're looking for a good straw mulch you will come across terms like meadow hay, lucerne hay, cereal hay and oaten hay which may throw you into a sense of confusion. Which one is best and are they different or just interchangeable terms as well?

Lucerne Hay: comes from mown alfalfa pastures. It offers great nitrogen benefits as it breaks down and is usually weed-free.

Meadow Hay: is more likely to come from any pasture growth rather than a specific crop. It could be a combination of grasses or feed crops and usually contains weed seeds so is not best as a straw mulch. This type of hay is best composted before being applied to the garden and is often considerably cheaper.

Oaten/Cereal Hay: comes from the stubble of cereal crops. This too is likely to have few weed seeds although it may still contain grain seeds which can easily sprout if applied to a garden bed.

How to apply straw mulch

Most straw is sold in bales and can be broken off and applied in square chunks. This is helpful as a it gives you a measure for how thick they should be (2-4 inches is best) and a garden bed should only require one application per year.

To make your straw a feeding mulch that suppresses weeds at the same time apply sheets of newspaper - between 5 and 10 - and then cover with sheep manure before covering with the straw. Then deeply water this in so that it starts to break down and feed your garden bed.

If you want to get the most out of your straw try straw bale gardening first. Then when the bales have had a season of providing a growing medium for your plants, use them for your garden beds as a straw mulch.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (0)

When it comes to making compost I'm not the complete purist - which is why I needed a compost sifter. Often my compost pile will incorporate a raft of objects that don't belong and have little, to no, chance of ever breaking down. Items such as; kids toys that are inadvertently picked up by the lawn mower, shards of plastic from numerous sources, nails and screws that got missed in the sawdust and a plethora of other bits and pieces.

Not only these but sticks that the electric chipper spat out instead of mulching, large blobs of paper that merged together instead of composting and hunks of manure that wouldn't separate, remain. The final compost heap, while perfect for the garden beds, can look unsightly and be hard to manipulate through the soil.

This is the reason I built my homemade compost screen and Sunday was the first day that I got to try it out. I built the frame months ago but trying to source the correct sized wire was a bit of a trick. It was available at our local big-box in 10m rolls (wasn't sure what I do with the other 8.5m!) at a price that could almost reignite the financial crisis. Fortunately I found a local salvage yard that sold it by the metre and at a price that would still enable me to put food on the table.

It's always a little disconcerting when you make something, having never tried it out, and are completely unsure as to whether it would do what I was hoping that it would. Fortunately my fears were allayed quickly as I tossed the first scoop onto the compost sifter and heard the filtered material fall onto the tarpaulin beneath it. It was working.

Scoop after glorious scoop was thrown onto the compost sifter with the refuse remaining unfiltered.

There are a couple of options that a gardener can take with this leftover material.

1. Throw it back into the next compost heap to continue breaking down. The refuse was already in varying states of decomposition so adding it to another pile would just continue the process until, over time, the larger sticks would completely break down. The benefit of doing this was that it also allowed the bacterias that had started decomposing this material to continue growing into the next heap, hopefully speeding up the process.


2. Some of this refuse could be taken as material for compost tea. It has all the trademarks of compost but just hasn't had the time needed to completely break down. Using it as compost tea material would enable the tea to still draw out the benefits and help speed up the decomposition process so that the refuse could be added to another heap for further breaking down.


3. It could also be re-shredded. I wouldn't recommend this if your chipper shredder struggles with wet material but if it can handle it then re-shredding will make it mush easier for your compost heap to break it down.

Needless to say, my refuse went straight back into the next compost heap and will continue the process there.

I only filtered half of my heap through the compost sifter and ended up with a full wheelbarrow of this wonderful material. It was light and fluffy and obviously better for having been screened with the main benefit being that now it was available for a heap of other uses.

In this case, the whole barrow went towards amending one of my front garden beds, and the next one will probably go the same way. But, at this level I could quite easily use it for potting soil or even straight as seed raising mix. It would seem a waste to use it in compost tea but, as I mentioned earlier, the refuse from the screen would work great instead.

IMHO, the compost sifter has certainly proved its worth and I'm glad I went to the trouble of building it. It will certainly become one of my best gardening tools.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (0)

In a nutshell, a kitchen compost crock is just a glorified name for a food scraps bin. They come in all shapes and sizes - ceramic, stainless steel, plastic and even bamboo - and can even colour co-ordinate with your kitchen.

If left too long sitting on your kitchen bench, a scraps bucket will begin to produce odours not too dissimilar to your compost heap as the waste starts to decompose. No matter how much you wash it out after emptying, the smell seems to linger and increase with use.

And this is where the beauty, and ingenuity, of the compost crock comes into its own. Inside the lid is stored a replaceable charcoal filter that screens out any odours that may emanate from the crock. It allows the crock to sit on your counter-top for longer while you store your kitchen waste, meaning that trips to the worm bins or compost heap are reduced to a weekly affair rather than daily.

What happens to the carbon filter once it's useful life is complete? In effect, these filters are just as biodegradable as the kitchen waste that the compost crock holds. So after 2-3 months, when they don't seem to be screening as much of the odour, they can simply be disposed of in your compost heap to break down further. Cleaning them with your refuse washup water will extend their life and keep your crock working at its best.

It seems we've come a long way since grandma stored the chook scraps in a pail off to the side of the kitchen. Nowadays these designer kitchen compost crocks are all the rage but if that's what it takes for people to begin recycling their food scraps then I, for one, am keen to champion the idea.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (8)

Like most things in life you get what you pay for and the rule doesn't change when it comes to free mulch. For a while, our Shire was offering help-yourself mulch where any ratepayer could come and take their own. Now, they charge for it. We still have to shovel it ourselves - not the most pleasing of tasks - but they also demand $5 for a trailer load. Yet, it hasn't gotten any better.

In comparison, the local soil companies charge a minimum $40-60+ for a trailer load so, relatively speaking, it's still free. The difference is that the expensive mulches have usually been packed with composts, organic manures and materials sourced from who-knows-where. They have cute names like "Jungle-Mulch" or "Enviro-Mulch" and you can feel the rich earthiness from each shovelful.

Yet, when it comes to performing the task of a "mulch", do free mulches function any differently to their more expensive counterparts?

In my experience, having used both, I have noticed one glaring difference. The free mulch that I covered some of my garden beds in 3 seasons ago is still there while the expensive stuff that I bought at the start of this season has almost dissipated. What was the difference? Size.

The free mulch consisted of very loosely chopped twigs, branches and leaves with the odd weed thrown in for good measure. The expensive stuff was so finely shredded that you couldn't decipher any of the individual ingredients. And while it looked great for the first month it's now breaking down so quickly that, as a mulch, it has almost become useless as we head into the season where my garden needs it most.

Is this a ploy by the soil companies to get me to keep buying their product? Or, are we blurring the lines of mulches and soil improvers so much that they're becoming almost as indistinguishable as their individual parts?

Emilycompost.com gives the definition of mulch as;

MULCH - Any loose, usually organic material (can be small pebbles) over the soil as a protective covering or for decorative purposes. Common mulches are ground bark, saw dust, leaves, pine straw or eucalyptus.

while dictionary.com defines mulch as;

1. a covering, as of straw, compost, or plastic sheeting, spread on the ground around plants to prevent excessive evaporation or erosion, enrich the soil, inhibit weed growth, etc.

One says that it's for soil protection while the other adds an enriching component. Which is it? Or has it just taken on a multifunction like 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioner?

I guess it depends on your own personal view and what you're trying to achieve in your garden. The feeding mulch that enriches your soil is never going to come for free while the free mulch will never look as stylish as the glam-mulches that eat into your gardening budget.

Where can you get free mulch from?

• Local waste facilities - most regional centres offer a free, or almost free, mulch. They usually consist of plant material that the local council has removed in their pruning activities and/or have been contributed by residents offloading their green waste.
• Garden litter - your own prunings, leaf litter or grass clippings can provide great free mulches. You can partially compost them before applying to your garden beds or add them straight away and allow the composting to occur in situ.
• Tree loppers - unless they already have contracts with soil companies or they sell their own mulches, local tree loppers can be a great resource for free mulch. Many now operate with large shredders cutting the refuse into mulch-able sizes. You may be saving them a trip to the waste facility or even tip fees by getting them to dump it in your front yard.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (8)

I really enjoy the debates that gardeners have regarding this issue. For the frugal-minded, it's a no-brainer. The purist, on the other hand, has no qualms discarding potting soil after a single use. So why the difference? And who is right? - if there is a right and wrong.

Here's some background reading [link since removed] if you've never contemplated the question. In summary the arguments feature like this;

Advocates of recycling claim sphagnum peat moss, perlite, and vermiculite, the main components in soilless potting mixes, are mined or manufactured from non-renewable resources. The relatively high price of commercial potting mix is also cited. So, in view of these reasons, they say used potting soil should be rejuvenated and recycled.

Opponents of recycling contend that used potting soil could contain disease pathogens and usually loses its nutrients, porosity and much of its organic content. They also say nematodes may have invaded the container during the past growing season.

Whenever I contemplate this argument I'm amazed that no-one brings the question back to, "Do we reuse our garden soil?" The answer is obvious. Yet, if we considered the debate from this vantage point then we wouldn't really have any discussion, would we?

Garden soil can't be discarded after a single use even though it harbours the very same problems that proponents of single use potting soils argue. However, gardeners know that to continue growing similar plants and vegetables in the same spot year after year without doing anything to improve the soil will in fact reap a whirwind of plant failure. Instead we alternate crops, amend the soil and even leave fallow for a season.

The same logic needs to extend to potting soils. If you were to use the same potting soil for one plant family (for example Solanaceae - tomatoes, capsicums, eggplants etc.) every year without doing anything to the mix then indeed you would face many growing problems.

While I would argue that potting soils can be used time and time again, I would qualify my comment that unless the potting mix were to be rotated through different plant crops or amended after each use, you may as well discard it.

Soil is a medium for plants to grow in. It's where they get most of their moisture and nutrients and it's the glue that supports the growing plant. Each plant will suck out as much nutrients as it needs thereby rendering the soil inadequate again for that plant. Therefore the soil needs to be replenished so that it can accommodate other plants.

We understand this when it comes to our garden soil - so maybe we need to apply it to our potting soils as well.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (12)

To be honest, I'm a big fan of sheep manure. It's a deserved attraction because, as animal manures go, it has countless benefits - one of the major ones being it won't stink out the garden and be the cause of neighbour angst.

Odour aside, sheep manure is an incredibly versatile animal manure. One of the benefits that I like the most is its ability to be used for more than just a soil ammendment. As it's so cheap here in Australia, being the 2nd highest producer of sheep in the world (China -1st, NZ - 6th, UK - 7th and US - 11th), I've started using it as mulch. Mulch? Are you sure that's wise?

Sure it is. Sheep manure is low in nitrogen - compared to other animal manures - so it won't burn your plants. Plus, it's a natural slow-release fertiliser and this is part of the versatility of using it as a mulch. I usually pour it on to about a depth of 50mm (2") ensuring that it doesn't touch the plant's stem. Then I just water it as I would normally reticulate the garden.

I've found a local supplier where I can get guaranteed weed-free marbles at a rate of $10 for a 100L bag which is fairly cheap (comparably cow manure costs $8 for 25L and chicken approx $11+ for 25L). The only down-side is that the manure is very dry and takes a few days before it will retain enough moisture to begin breaking down.

Some gardeners will only ever dig it in to their beds arguing that unless you do it will become so hard that it will never break down. This is not the case, and when piled as high as I do you can dig into the manure mulch within a few weeks and see the layer directly above the soil beginning to decompose.

So what are the myriad of benefits for using sheep manure;

• Natural slow-release fertiliser
• Can be used as an organic mulch
• Low-odour
• Easy to handle
• Relatively inexpensive
• Fairly easy to obtain and most providers usually offer door-side delivery
• Lower in nitrogen than other manures yet still high in Phosphorous and Potassium - great for plant growth
• Depending on the source can be obtained weed-free
• Looks great

While I do use other manures in my garden - chicken in the veggie patch, horse and cow as additives for the compost heap - I much prefer sheep manure in my garden beds.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (9)

My garden maintenance area is finally well under way. After years of moving temporary compost bins around as each section of the garden was landscaped they have now taken up their final residence behind the kid's cubby house.

This is one of only two sections left that still need to landscaped. This area will eventually cater for our vegetables and aquaponics setup but will most likely be the last area completed. We're still researching the whole backyard aquaponics deal and are noticing many others are starting to take it up - so we can learn from their successes and mistakes.

This maintenance area will be kept out of view by the kid's cubby and I plan to use the roof from their play house as a water catchment zone for some rain barrels. These barrels will hopefully store enough water to keep the compost moist enough to breakdown quickly. And, to save space they will sit just above the compost heaps on a specially-made platform.

The other area left to be landscaped is this one below.

It's where my temporary compost bins have stayed for the past year or so and as you can see there's a large pile of prunings yet to be shredded.

This area is next on the To-Do list. It will be our Tropical Rainforest garden consisting of bamboos, palms, bromeliads, mosses and cannas. It will have a waterfall and pond taking up most of the space and at the opposite end will contain a large 10-seat spa - not one of those fibreglass jobbies, mind.

No, I plan to construct the spa myself out of limestone blocks and mosaic tiles - reminiscent of a Roman bath. This will be covered with a thatched roof and overlook the pond and boardwalk.

I've been looking forward to creating this garden area since we first built the house but it's had to sit on the backburner while other more important areas were erected around it. And, it's still some time before we finish a few of our other projects and get into this one but I'm hoping that next summer might be the start date.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (3)

We've seen gravel mulch, glass mulch, rubber mulch - darn it, we've even seen coloured mulch. But just when you thought we'd seen it all, along comes a Kiwi vigneron who wants to try his hand at mulching with mussel shells. Mussel shells?

It makes sense, really! In New Zealand they're hardly short on a steady supply of these little molluscs yet they're only valued for their meat. The shells end up as a wastage product.

So is this just a case of reusing a material in another format? Not at all. Apparently the Renwick vineyard is trialling the side benefit of ripening their grapes through the increased light mirrored into the vine's canopy as the shells fade. It increases the ripening characteristics of the fruit without increasing the levels of sugar.

How could Mussel shell mulch be useful for home gardeners?

It doesn't necessarily need to be mussel shells, it could be any type of shell that is used (Abalone may be a little too hard, and not easy to source either).

If this vigneron's trials are successful it could mean a boon for cold climate gardeners who struggle to grow fruit trees because the produce won't ripen in time. New Zealand's a good climate to be testing this in and if it proves true the reflective qualities of this mulch will become highly prized.

If you plan to try this mulch in your own home garden you may want to wash them a few times before applying to your fruit trees. The salt that can become encrusted on these shells will eventually break down and will increase the alkalinity of the soil - hardly a bonus for lime-loving fruit trees.

Due to the interlocking shape of these mussel shells they do work well as a mulch. They will restrict the growth of weeds and retain moisture in the soil.

Is there anyone else who's been using shells as mulch in their gardens and found similar benefits?

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (4)

Once you've made all that beautiful compost, the next challenge is deciding what to do with it all.

You could dig some into an impoverished garden bed as soil improver, mulch your plants and even turn it back into potting mix or garden soil.

Yet, as the ultimate gardening resource compost isn't just limited to these options. In fact as a fertiliser it rates almost as high as worm castings. And depending on whose opinion you seek, it may even be better. So while most gardeners have come to appreciate 'worm wee' as a bona fide organic liquid fertiliser, there are still a few that need convincing that compost tea is just as good.

In fact, using your compost as a tea rather than applying it straight to your garden beds will actually make it far more efficient in boosting your plants growth. As a liquid, compost tea will cover nearly 3-4 times the area that normal compost alone could achieve and also prepare your plants to better source their own nutrients from the soil.

How do you brew compost tea?

For making compost tea the ratio of compost to water is approx. 1:10. So, if you have a 20L bucket then you will only need 2kg of compost.

Heap the compost into a hessian or cheesecloth bag and add to your half-filled 20L ( 5 Gallon(aff.)) bucket of water. Then increase the volume of water until it is completely full. Leave this to draw - as you would a teabag - for about a week agitating a couple times per day. The agitation provides oxygen which is essential for the process.

When the tea is a dark earthy brown colour it's ready to use. Dilute one part compost tea with 5 parts water and then you can start applying to your plants. And, they will love you for it.

As you can see, it's not really a difficult process and if you've gone to all the effort of making your own compost then turning it into a liquid tea is merely a formality.

Tips at a Glance

Making the tea - 1 part compost : 10 parts water
Time to brew - 1 week
Agitation - 2-3 times per day
Dilution - 1 part compost tea : 5 parts water
Application - Once every 2-3 weeks

What's available in the Compost Tea market?

This Compost Tea starter kit might be a good option or thos who want an organic product without all the fuss and mess of making your own. Obviously, it's not as cheap as making your own compost tea and with individual tea sachet bags one wouldn't expect that it could be. But, the benefit of this product over already mixed compost tea is that it can sit on your garden shelf ad infinitum and be ready to use when you want.

This product makes 100L (24 gallons).

An easier alternative is buying a liquified concentrate that can be added to your watering can at a rate of 5tbsp per gallon (80ml per 4L). With a liquified concentrate you waste no time at all in brewing you compost tea as all the work has been done for you. It's the most convenient organic product available when it comes to compost teas.

This product makes up to 50L (12 gallons).

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (2)

With Starbucks, and now other cafe's, giving away their used coffee grounds to home gardeners what are we supposed to do with this free resource?

Fortunately Sustainable Enterprises have come up with a few pointers to help us out;

• Sprinkle used grounds around plants before rain or watering, for a slow-release nitrogen.
• Add to compost piles to increase nitrogen balance. Coffee filters and tea bags break down rapidly during composting.
• Dilute with water for a gentle, fast-acting liquid fertilizer. Use about a half-pound can of wet grounds in a five-gallon bucket of water; let sit outdoors to achieve ambient temperature.
• Mix into soil for houseplants or new vegetable beds.
• Encircle the base of the plant with a coffee and eggshell barrier to repel pests - this is the one that most interests me. I'm going to give it a try around my agapanthus and see if it does the trick.
• If you are into vermi-posting, feed a little bit to your worms

If you have other uses for Starbucks coffee grounds in the garden let me know.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (2)

There are two ways to feed plants and gardeners are often divided as to which method is the best. Some swear that foliage fertiliser sprays are the most efficient and effective method at delivering nutrients to a plant. Others, especially the permaculture set, are adamant that ground based fertilisers are the better of the two.

Well, it may just be that both are essential. In fact, using both foliar spray and slow-release fertilisers may be an even better outcome for you plants.

We've been re-indoctrinated to believe that the soil in which a plant grows is the most important element in our garden's health. And quite rightly so. However, this has come at a cost because our perceptions of foliar spray fertilisers has become more negative.

We know and understand that plants receive most of their nutrients through their root system. If the soil is healthy and well nourished then the plant can feed well and grow with a minimum of fuss and problems. Even pests and disease are less likely to trouble our plants.

What we may not know is that using foliage fertilisers may actually increase that intake - and exponentially as well.

This report explains the process;

By applying a foliar fertiliser directly to the leaf, it increases the activity in the leaf, at the same time increasing chlorophyll and thus photosynthesis. Because of this increased activity, it increases the need for water by the leaf. In turn this increases water uptake by the plants vascular system, which in turn increases the uptake of nutrients from the soil.

So, in actual fact while we need to maintain the nutrients in the soil the use of foliage fertilisers can increase their effectiveness and the plants efficiency at using them.

How to use foliar spray fertilisers

Foliage fertilisers always retail in liquid form, or at least in powder form that requires them to be dissolved in water. This is the best way for your plants to draw their nutrients from the fertiliser.

Most plants will only require a slow-release fertiliser application once at the start of each growing season. However, foliage fertilisers can be applied much more often and this depends on the type of plant grown.

• Perennials - should only require a foliar spray every 6-8 weeks during their flowering or growing season.
• Annuals - are much heavier feeders because their whole growth needs to be completed from seedling to producing plant within one growing season. Therefore, their fertilising needs are heavier and they will require a foliage fertiliser every 3 weeks at a minimum.
• Vegetables - on the other hand, vegies need even more and should be fed through their foliage every week during their production season. This will stave off any pest and disease problems and increase the yields of your vegetables.
• Fruit - if you compare the speed of most fruit trees from flower to produce you will notice that it is considerably slower than say, a carrot crop which can be ready within 12 weeks. Therefore, there is less need for fruit trees to be fertilised and these should be treated the same as your annuals.

With foliar spray fertilisers, the key nutrients you want to impart are potassium and phosphorous - in that order. Nitrogen, which is responsible for leaf growth, is your least desired element as the foliage will grow well to the detriment of fruit and flowers.

One of the most popular foliar spray fertilisers is fish emulsion. However, it's not the best as most fish emulsions usually have a ratio of 5:1:1 which is great for growth to the exclusion of blooms and fruit. You would be better finding a liquid fertiliser with an NPK ratio of 1:1:1.5.

So, the final outcome is that both are necessary. We need to feel our soils with slow-release fertilisers, compost and other organic materials but we should also be feeding our plants with foliar sprays to help them grow.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (5)

Your garden soil is your greatest asset. If it's kept healthy and alive then growing plants won't be a problem. But, if you ignore it, abuse it, or work it too hard you will find that your plants aren't going to stick around.

Organic Gardening came up with this great list of tests that you can perform in your own garden to bring your soil up to speed.

1. Soil structure & tilth Dig a hole to the depth of a shovel and crumble the soil in your hand. It will either be cloddy, powdery, or granular. Granular is the ideal as it allows better movement of air and water.
2. Compaction
   Drive a piece of thin wire into the soil. The point at which it bends displays where the soil is becoming too compact. A foot or more of easily penetrable soil is ideal as compacted soil inhibits root growth.
3. Workability
   Simply judge the effort necessary to prepare beds for planting. If it's too hard to work with your soil then you will have many problems with your plants.
4. Soil Organisms
   Dig a hole about 6 inches deep and inspect the animal life present. This includes earthworms, centipedes, spiders and other insects. If you count less than 10, your soil does not have enough active players in the food chain. The reason why this is so important is that the more active life beneath the surface of your soil, the less chance of disease and other pests.
5. Earthworms
   As with the last test, dig another hole and count the number of wriggling earthworms. Three worms are good, five are better. No worms = low quality organic soil.
6. Plant residue
   One month after turning over your cover crop, re-dig the area and inspect the decomposition. If you can still recognise plant parts as well as plant fibers and darkly colored humus this demonstrates that the soil activity is good.
7. Plant vigor
   All factors being equal (no adverse climate problems or seed timing issues) then your plants should be healthy. They should also be relatively uniform in their growing stages, size and colour.
8. Root development
   Dig up a growing weed and inspect its root development. The roots should have white, fine strands that appear healthy. Brown roots indicate drainage problems and stunted roots may show that disease has set in.
9. Water infiltration
   Remove the bottom from a tin can and insert it into the soil leaving 3 inches above the surface. Fill with water and time how long it takes for the water to dissipate. Repeat this several times until the rate of absorption slows and your times become consistent. Anything slower than 1/2 to 1 inch per hour is an indication of compacted soil.
10. Water availability
    After a soaking rain record how long it takes for your plants to show signs of thirst. The basic lesson is that if plants require more frequent watering than typical for your region, your soil is probably the culprit.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sure. Anyone can make compost. But, can they really make it?

Compost isn't the hardest thing in the world to create - it's just a matter of mixing a whole heap of dead organic matter and leaving it to its own devices. A few weeks to rest, then turning it over every few days and Voila! you have compost.

Six weeks ago I set out to journal the process of making my own compost. From the start, through each turn and then the final product. I didn't want to bore you with all the photos so I limited it to just the ones you needed to see.

Here's how I make compost and what I use it for...

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (3)

Many home gardeners opt to buy in mulch when the weather begins to warm. In an effort to protect their garden beds from water evaporation and help combat weed growth they instinctively purchase large mulch loads and then spend the weekend dispersing it.

But, have you ever considered what goes into making that load of mulch?

Presumably it's bark and leaf matter that's been recycled as a byproduct of the timber millers. And, in many cases this is what you're getting. However, if you expect it to be 100% of the overall product you're either living in denial or ignorance is bliss.

Many mulch wholesalers and manufacturers will substitute a variety of items to bulk up their volumes. Wood pallets and crates - usually made from foreign timbers are a great alternative to sourcing natural timber fibres. And, while we would like to believe that it is just the waste products that are being used, many times the whole tree including the inner core is ground.

While this is still all natural it means that you're the one getting the raw end of the stick. The inner trunk of the tree will decompose far quicker that the bark which means you will have to mulch your garden more often. Suppliers who mulch the whole tree and imported softwoods benefit from cheaper overhead costs and also from increased customer orders but usually charge similar prices to quality providers.

And, what about those articles that warn us of bringing ants and termites onto our properties. Is there any cause for concern? The simple answer is no.

How can you tell what's in the mulch?

Before you allow the mulch to be offloaded onto your driveway, check the contents. Here are some things you should be able to look for and discuss with the supplier;

• Check for green or light-coloured wood - bark mulch should be fairly dry to moist if it is old enough and should have a dusty feel about it. Softwood that has been sitting in a mulch pile for some time will look greenish and have a slimy texture.


• Ask the supplier where they source their mulch from - many tree removal companies run a mulching arm as part of the business operations. While this is not a bad thing and the mulch produced will have no ill-effects on your gardens, it is an inferior product compared to milled bark and should be much cheaper.


• Ask how long it is stored for - the longer the mulch is stored the more decomposing has already taken place. If the mulch has been sitting in their yard for some time then it may rot down too quick in your garden beds, and thereby force you to buy more later in the season.

The best mulch you can get is from recycling your own plants and materials, and it's cheaper too. But if you must buy from a mulch supplier, take the time to find out what you're getting and don't just settle for what you've been given.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (6)

Many home gardeners opt to buy in mulch when the weather begins to warm. In an effort to protect their garden beds from water evaporation and help combat weed growth they instinctively purchase large mulch loads and then spend the weekend dispersing it.

But, have you ever considered what goes into making that load of mulch?

Presumably it's bark and leaf matter that's been recycled as a byproduct of the timber millers. And, in many cases this is what you're getting. However, if you expect it to be 100% of the overall product you're either living in denial or ignorance is bliss.

Many mulch wholesalers and manufacturers will substitute a variety of items to bulk up their volumes. Wood pallets and crates - usually made from foreign timbers are a great alternative to sourcing natural timber fibres. And, while we would like to believe that it is just the waste products that are being used, many times the whole tree including the inner core is ground.

While this is still all natural it means that you're the one getting the raw end of the stick. The inner trunk of the tree will decompose far quicker that the bark which means you will have to mulch your garden more often. Suppliers who mulch the whole tree and imported softwoods benefit from cheaper overhead costs and also from increased customer orders but usually charge similar prices to quality providers.

And, what about those articles that warn us of bringing ants and termites onto our properties. Is there any cause for concern? The simple answer is no.

How can you tell what's in the mulch?

Before you allow the mulch to be offloaded onto your driveway, check the contents. Here are some things you should be able to look for and discuss with the supplier;

• Check for green or light-coloured wood - bark mulch should be fairly dry to moist if it is old enough and should have a dusty feel about it. Softwood that has been sitting in a mulch pile for some time will look greenish and have a slimy texture.


• Ask the supplier where they source their mulch from - many tree removal companies run a mulching arm as part of the business operations. While this is not a bad thing and the mulch produced will have no ill-effects on your gardens, it is an inferior product compared to milled bark and should be much cheaper.


• Ask how long it is stored for - the longer the mulch is stored the more decomposing has already taken place. If the mulch has been sitting in their yard for some time then it may rot down too quick in your garden beds, and thereby force you to buy more later in the season.

The best mulch you can get is from recycling your own plants and materials, and it's cheaper too. But if you must buy from a mulch supplier, take the time to find out what you're getting and don't just settle for what you've been given.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (6)

In Helotes, San Antonio Texas (a mere drive southwest of Austin) is a fire that has been burning since almost Christmas and continues to burn. The cause of this month-long fire - a mulch pile!

Measuring 80 ft high (24m) and 800 ft wide (240m) - the size of five Olympic swimming pools - this mulch monstrosity has been pouring out smoke since Dec 26. Residents have been displaced from their homes and billeted at local accommodation outlets throughout the city.

Even after a specialised firefighting team were brought in to extinguish the fire - costing more than $1.7m - it appears that the fire won't be brought under control for at least another month. That's one very hot mulch pile.

It's tragic that this problem even occurred but it highlights how hot organic matter can become once bacteria begin to do their work. Gardeners are always talking about how hot the centre of the pile needs to be in order to kill any wayward seeds but this story borders on ridiculousness.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (3)

Every year more than 700 million new rubber tyres are created replacing a similar amount that ends up getting burnt or discarded in waste sites. In fact, in Australia alone more than 70% of all rubber tyres are still being tossed away annually.

Fortunately gardeners aren't wasteful people and we've used them to stack potatoes, add a rubber swing for the kids and even turned them inside out and planted flowers in them. But there are only so many potato tires, swings and planters that one yard needs.

So the new trend is to apply rubber mulch on your plant beds and why not? Rubber comes in a range of colours, doesn't break down (not in your lifetime anyway) so you shouldn't need to replace it and it's easy to apply. Plus there are no smells that keep your neighbours indoors.

With so many benefits it seems hard to bypass an obvious solution to the rubber recycling problem.

That is until you find out whether it has any detrimental side effects to your garden. And, alas, rubber has a plethora of them. Recycled rubber mulch contains enough zinc, cadmium and other heavy metals to destroy your favourite ornamentals in one foul swoop.

Rubber mulch is often extolled with the virtue of containing nitrogen but it is so minimal that the heavy metals far outweigh any pre-conceived benefit.

This would be okay if it were where the story ended. You could easily decide to steer clear of applying rubber mulch to your beds and planters and resume normal organic mulch applications. But it seems that recycled rubber mulch is becoming more common as a bulk filler for normal organic mulch as well.

This is a little disconcerting for gardeners especially when you can't identify many of the ingredients that go into the mulch you buy from your soils provider.

The solution: It pays to ask. If your mulch retailer can't tell you if recycled rubber is used as a filler then find one that can. At the very least, if you are still in doubt, go back to composting your own natural waste products and applying them as a mulch on your beds.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you're a fan of making your own compost - and if you garden you should be - then building your own compost screen is the next step.

Compost screens can perform a few different functions. Firstly, they can have a broad mesh that allows most of the compost through but retains any larger uncomposted items such as chunks of bark or large twigs that found their way into the heap.

They also can be interchanged with a finer mesh that allows even smaller compost particles through to produce a high-quality potting mix or seed-raising mix for you. These screens are easy to use and if produced effectively can be stored away quite easily.

If you're looking for some plans to build your own check out these very practical detailed tips from the Pennsylvanian DEP.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (7)

Of the estimated 36 million Christmas trees expected to be bought this year in the US 93% will be recycled into garden and landscaping mulch. While this is a worthy back-slapping statistic it needs to be considered that 7% still won't be.

Considered as a ratio, 1 in almost every 10 trees will find their way into landfill, disposed of unthoughtfully or worse still - incinerated. Which must make us wonder why we even bother to educate people to use 'real' Christmas trees instead of their artificial counterfeits.

Sure, a 'real' Christmas tree will break down within 5 to 10 years while a plastic wanna-be will take aeons but the environmental effect of disposing rather than recycling is of paramount importance.

Assuming the average Christmas tree weighs 4.5kg this calculates as 11.5 thousand tonnes of rotting plant material in places where the nutrient run-off may be detrimental rather than helpful.

Scarier than this is the thought of having 11.5 thousand tonnes of pine incinerated causing creosote deposits and harmful smoke polluting the environment.

What's the Answer?

People are truly lazy beings. If something becomes an inconvenience then as a species we will find the easiest way to deal with it. So, when it applies to waste we would rather dispose of it than drive out of our way to have it recycled.

Therefore, each retailer of 'real' Christmas trees should become responsible for the recycling and mulching of them. If this means raising the price so that the trees can be collected and recycled accordingly then so be it.

Let's be a little less consumeristic at Christmas and make sure that 100% of 'real' Christmas trees are recycled into garden mulch.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (2)

If you've been following Lisa's blog Millertime recently you would have enjoyed her posts on growing mushrooms indoors. It's a great concept for gardeners wanting to experiment with growing mushrooms and will keep you busy during the cold winter months when everything else in the garden is hibernating.

What was even more exciting about seeing these mushrooms pop up was finding out that it had only taken Lisa 5 days beore she was able to harvest them. The variety Lisa started with was the Oyster Mushroom but any gardener can grow Shiitakes, Enokis and even Morels.

The beauty of growing mushrooms via a kit is the convenience. Most mushroom kits come complete with the substrate (or growing medium) and includes the mycelium ready to bear. Combine the two and Voila! you have an alternative meal for dinner.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (0)

John Curtin of Spade Work : From Plot to Plate fame wrote a post recently asking readers the question Bagged Compost or Farmers' Manure?. Choosing between sterile crap and organic crap!

It's actually a question that I thought would have had much more heated debate as gardeners jostled to have their opinions heard. Nevertheless, it did uncover some great thoughts and topics for further discussion.

Patrick from Bifurcated Carrots made a poignant claim that manure can carry the E. coli virus. So true in fact that it is quite possibly the reason for the recent outbreak in spinach which killed 3 people and made hundreds sick.

Now, no gardener wants to unwittingly introduce a deadly pathogen into their vegetable patch so it would seem that sales of bagged compost are set to skyrocket. Gardeners just won't take the risk.

But, if gardeners and agriculturalists have been using the stuff for centuries, even millennia, and bagged compost uses it as a main ingredient, why would you steer clear of it? My take on buying bagged compost is the same as buying a pre-packaged pizza over making one yourself. The homemade variety wins every time.

I would much prefer to use farm manure any day. So how do you eliminate the risk of carrying bacteria?

Continue reading "Bagged Compost vs Farm Direct Manure" »

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (6)

Is it possible to over-mulch your garden?

Like anything, moderation is good. As shown here before mulch volcanoes around the base of trees can actually prohibit the tree's success. The same can be said if too much mulch is applied to a garden bed. When landscaping your garden the most mulch you would want to apply is 10-15cm (4-5in) of organic material and approximately 5cm (2in) of inorganic material.

In spring we will commence the annual mulching of our garden beds before the summer season arrives. This will aid in halting evaporation that removes the water from our plants that we pay so much for. I'm a big fan of mulch, not only for its purposes but also for its aesthetic qualities. It's like putting a black background behind a photograph.

If you want to neaten your garden before you put it on the real estate market - mulch the beds. It makes an incredible difference. I've seen homeowners who have done this and instantly the house looks better.

So what types of mulch are there and what are their purposes?

The types of mulch are varied and can be anything organic or inorganic.

• Straw/Hay/Lucerne - These are great to put around fruit trees and look great in cottage gardens. They're inexpensive materials and will keep down weeds very effectively. The best way to apply this type of mulch is to first put down some blood and bone fertiliser around the base of the tree. Overlay this with some newspaper to cover the spread of the tree and then cover the paper with sheep or horse manure (slow-release fertiliser). Finally apply the straw densely over the manure and water in.
  


• Manufactured Mulches - we've just applied some mushroom compost to our beds because of the ease of use and high manure levels within the mulch. Mulches purchased this way have a uniform colour, usually very dark, and can be easily spread across the garden beds. In our ornamental beds we applied some blood and bone before adding the mulch while we just applied the mulch (no fertiliser) to our native garden. The reason, Australian natives don't mind some fertilising but not in abundance.
  


• Material Mulches - these mulches are used predominantly for aesthetic purposes. They may consist of broken coloured glass, pebbles, woodchips or any other material than can still allow water to seep in and yet minimise evaporation.
  

What are the purposes for laying mulch?

• Aesthetics - this may or may not be the biggest reason for your desire to mulch. It all depends on what you're trying to achieve. You may be trying to create a particular feel to a landscape and these materials help convey that. It may be that you just want to neaten up your garden and are laying a backdrop for this.
  


• Feeding Your Garden - we usually purchase feeding mulches because we prefer to put these items onto the garden in the hope of improving soil quality. As these mulches break down further, they condition the soil and add to it.
  


• Keeping Weeds Down - this is a great strategy for using mulch and the reason why it should be applied generously. The heat and density of the mulch will slow down weeds from germinating and also being able to penetrate it. It also means that you shouldn't put your mulch right up to the base of the plant as it is possible to kill them.
  


• Slows Evaporation - one of the big reasons you would mulch your garden is to stop evaporation. During the hottest months it's quite possible to see more water being evaporated from your garden than you're applying to it. Mulching will slow down this process and allow the plants to retain their required moisture.
  

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (1)

When the leaves on your plants start turning mottled colours or they begin to wilt and drop off without any explanation it may be a clue that your soil is having a few issues. It could be too alkaline or acidic, it may be missing some essential nutrients for the type of plants that you're growing or it may even be that there is just not enough organic matter to give your soil the structure it needs.

The biggest areas of trouble that most people have with their plants are (1) pests, (2) virus strains and moulds, and (3) their soil. If you get the soil right you may have inadvertently fixed the other two because healthier plants can usually ward off, or at last handle, an attack from pests and diseases.

So how do you know whether the problem is with the plant or with the soil?

The more experience you have as a gardener will help you to answer this question. You can probably tell instantly that the leaf discolouration you're shrub is experiencing is from a lack of manganese, or the stunted growth your plant's suffering is due to a lack of magnesium. While this is great when you're experienced you have to start somewhere and learn the basics.

The best way to begin learning about your soil is by analysing it with a soil testing kit. These are usually available from your local nursery or hardware store and can vary in price and the things they analyse.

What to expect in your soil testing kit

The very least you should expect from any testing kit is an analysis tool that can test your soil for it's pH levels. This test will show whether your garden is becoming too acidic or alkaline or possibly if it's neutral. None of these conditions are bad in them self but they could be if your plants are requiring a specific soil type. For instance, if you have a garden bed filled with camellia's, gardenia's and azaleas you would want your soil to be fairly acidic (approx 5.0 - 6.0 pH). Alkaline loving plants prefer a soil of 7.8 to 8.5 pH.

The test kit should also be able to measure the amount of nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and potassium (K) in your soil. These readings can help you find out the cause of some of the problems with your plants. If there is too much nitrogen the leaves of your plants will burn.

Read this article for further definition of these problems.

How to remedy your soil after you have tested it

If your soil is becoming too alkaline you may want to change the brand of fertiliser you're using because it may be made up of too much salts. Try mulching with compost or adding blood and bone to the soil plus other composted manures rich in nitrogen.

If the soil is becoming too acidic, lay off composting as a mulch and add some lime to the soil.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (0)