Cheers GL,

Hmmm. heavy clay soil......the .locals here in Sheldon refer to it as
Shaledon. It seems that nothing wants to grow in it other than gorse type
shrubs and gums.

I'll take your advice on filling the hole with potting mix. Luckily I'm
containing the planting to a few isolated beds so don't have to bring in a
few semi loads of new soil.

My main issue at the moment is coming up with effective screening shrubs to
hide a few of the next door neighbours outhouses (approx. 20m long x about
3m high). Because of the dappled sunlight caused by the gums most of the
natives seem to be out of the question as it only gets about 4 hours of
direct sunlight at most in the summer. I'd like something that has a
natural form rather than a hedging type plant.

Thanks for the links too. I'll give them a look. And yes, I've already found
out about the cost of Hawkins. Not the place to visit for purchasing plants
for mass planting.

Which Bunnings do you use?


"gl" wrote in message
...
Hi - for some basic idea of what types of plants are suitable have a look
at
http://www.floraforfauna.com.au/planner/
I live in the same district as you. We have very heavy clay soil which has
made it difficult to grow a lot of plants successfully. We've found that
digging a large hole for each plant (using crowbar & mattock, when clay is
dry) then filling the hole with potting mix & planting into that is quite
successful. It's a lot easier than trying to condition/improve large areas
of heavy clay. We use very thick mulch (mainly sugercane) for water
retention & over time it improves the soil consistency.
So, you'll probably have similiar soil - unless you're closer to the water
where it's more sandy. Then you'll want to add lots of organic matter
(like
mushroom compost) to enrich the soil. We also get very humid summers, so
it's a good idea to avoid any plants that are prone to fungal diseases
(something we learnt the hard way).
There are some good nurseries around the redlands (lots of native
nurseries) - have a look in the Yellow Pages. I actually buy most of my
plants from the local Bunnings Hardware store. They have a surprisingly
good
range & are very reasonable. Avoid Hawkins Garden Centre - extremely
expensive.
For tube plants & native seedlings you can visit the Redlands Indigiscapes
centre on the first saturday of each month. They have very cheap local
plants, around $2 or so (not a huge range, but they're cheap). They can
also
give you tons of free advice http://203.18.196.55/indigiscapes.cfm
Another place to get cheap tube stock is at regional forestry centres -
some
of them sell heaps of varieties for around $2-5.



"Magoo" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I'm new to Australia (Redlands, just south east of Brisbane) and am
looking
for advice, websites, etc. that deal with plant selection, maintenance,
and
some good cheap nurseries / garden centres in the locale.

We've got a 2.5 acre block that is mostly eucalypt and so is very shady.
I'm
having problems choosing some good understorey plants and ground covers.
Has
anyone got any ideas / tips / /advice?

Thanks all.

magoo