In article ,
"Yau-ming Chiam" wrote:

I discovered that the people who owned this property before me- placed a
thick black plastic sheet over the entire garden- and must have killed all
the earthworms. I'm now in the process of removing the black plastic. ;(

Ooh, fun. You'll have practically dead soil under there. I suggest lots and
lots of organic matter -- doesn't matter what kind. Are you on watering
restrictions? Worms like damp soil, as a rule. Most likely you just have
compacted dirt underneath the plastic.

It might be worth buying a truckload of spent mushroom compost or similar and
spreading it across your entire back yard (after removing the plastic, of
course). If you can get a truckload of chipped street prunings from your
council (the boys will drop it off for free after a day's pruning, if you're
lucky), use that over the top, unless you are planning to lay new turf.

If you *are* planning to lay new turf, speak to your turf supplier -- they may
have some better suggestions to make.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue