"Trish Brown" wrote in message
...

I've seen fruit trees doing well with tractor-tyre collars. I've always
thought that would be a very easy way to raise a bed for a single tree,
but sadly I have no tractor tyres!

heh. i have some.

i also have a tree (not a fruit tree) that some ninny planted into a car
tyre. now the tyre won't come off & can't be cut either (steel belt).
sigh!!! the trunk is as big as the hole in the tyre. we are flummoxed!

I *so* love your idea with the willows and that was my first thought.
However, fancy putting willows cheek-by-jowl with town water and sewage!
Brrrrrrr!!! Doesn't bear thinking about! I figured casuarinas would be the
nearest native alternative and I do love them too.

hm, are willows a problem in that context though? i thought they only give
people the shits if they're near a watercourse & bits can break off & go
downstream & root everywhere.(?) having said that, i personally think feral
willow is 4 million times better than nude eroded banks anyway!

but of course, the "native alternative" is going to sit better with
everyone.


(he thinks lizards & snakes are the same thing, unfortunately). at the
end of the day, the few blue-tongues which are foolish enough to hang
around our yard have to protect themselves. my reasoning is that they
have a great deal of room away from the yard (47 hectares). clearly that
is where most of them live out long & alarm-free lives. i just go out &
try to rescue whatever it is that he's bailed up when he does his "snake
bark" (does not happen much any more). the blue-tongues just don't come
around so much any more. they seem to be fast learners ime, so perhaps
you could train them into pipes with fruit or meat - you just don't want
to be encouraging a difficult situation though where you're just luring
them to their deaths. ;-)

Yeah, I take your point. Our dog thinks exactly the same thing. We had a
Red Belly living under the house for nearly two years (didn't see a single
mouse in all that time), but sadly, the dog got him in the end. (Actually
she got him in the middle and for the life of me I can't see how she
didn't get bitten!)

most dogs get lucky a few times.

The other battle is with the #)%*%^^&#^ veldt grass that's taken over
the place. It looks fabulous left to its own devices, but it's nearly
two foot tall now! The frogs and blueys are loving it, but it gives me a
pain in the face: when you mow, the cables just rise up like spikes and
refuse to be squashed!

Ah, the problems of the flustered gardener! :-D

it never ends!!
i'm a fan of letting things work for themselves though - fighting it
constantly is just never going to work. when you decide how to work with
what you have & what you want within those limitations, it will go really
well, i am sure. for e.g. i spent some time frustrated beyond belief with
all the rocks we have. then i decided the rocks are a resource, not a
"problem". the soil is still full of rocks, but it no longer bothers me.
:-)

otoh, it breaks my heart we can't have a peppercorn tree, because it gets
too cold here. i love peppercorn trees insanely. but there you have it!
kylie
Yes, I thought the same thing about the recalcitrant grass. I'm going to
try to reduce the lawn area by putting 'things' in at the edges and hoping
some casuarinas will deter it a bit as well. Beyond that, it can just
grow! ;-D

well, if it likes the bog,....!
kylie