On Wed, 01 Oct 2003 08:50:12 +1000, len gardener
wrote:

g'day jeff,

Hi Len

i'm here in sth east qld, just north of gympie on near 70 acres. don't
do all that hard yakka ripping up the lawn leave it there and plant
over the top of it raised beds are the way to go

I tried that, I bought an amazing array of plants touted by various
nurseries as ground cover and tried to have them overcome the lawn. It
was a draw, I got sparse ground cover with pockets where lawn poked
through. This time I am giving the ground cover an advantage or at
least a fighting chance.

and depending on your
soil type most often heavy clay you will need to plant your fruit
trees slightly raised then mulch between them do it all on the
contours.

I have a piece of land with extremes. The high (away from the river)
part of my land is very rocky, sandstone, thin topsoil and hard clay.
The area that slopes to the river, in natural terraces, is very rich
with several feet of topsoil. Extraordinarily fertile. It was like a
rain forest before I began clearing it, all manner of plants, vines
and creepers. I have kept a number of them, palms, ferns, flame trees,
Jacarandas, and Monsteria etc., and am still in the process of
clearing the rest. It was a battle until I began putting some ground
cover down behind me. Some of those plants would grow more than a foot
per day. The useable portion of the fertile area is about one thousand
square meters, and I have another five hundred or so square metres
that was lawn on the high (rocky/clay) area. On the high side, as well
a lawn I have Mango trees, PawPaw trees, some citrus (not in good
shape) and some stone fruit and Macadamias.

I am about to experiment with a few thousand worms on a part of the
poor area. I have had success with worms in the past. See if they can
make the soil a little more plant friendly. With this drought, the
areas that haven't been watered are so hard that a mattock bounces
off. I have been breaking the soil on the high side up with a heavy
crow bar. I now have a water licence so I will soak it for a week or
two and then continue. I will just work the river bank area until
then.

just some thoughts

ted still isn't online he is still setting up hus home and gardens and
much too busy, hasn't finished unloading the first 40 foot container
yet and another still in brissy waiting to be transported and
unloaded, this job will keep him young for a long time yet i reckon.
we hope to get to see them soon as we are looking at doing a business
type course at maryborough TAFE in ted n sheenas territory.

take care all

len

Thanks Len

Regards

Jeff

Whereabouts in Qld are you? In the South East?
I'm in Tassie.

Judanne
"Jeff Anderson" wrote in message
news:73sinv8u5ho63gdapqn2ksg3l1f1jd704q@primus...
Well, I'm Jeff Anderson, I am in Queensland Australia, a sub-tropical
area,

"Jeff Anderson" wrote in message
I tried that, I bought an amazing array of plants touted by various
nurseries as ground cover and tried to have them overcome the lawn. It was a
draw

** Try some Sheet Mulching. That should solve all your problems.

With this drought, the areas that haven't been watered are so hard that a
mattock bounces off. I have been breaking the soil on the high side up with
a heavy crow bar. I now have a water licence so I will soak it for a week or
two and then continue.

** I remember reading many years ago in one of the self sufficiency mags
about a couple who bought land that sounds just like yours. They composted
and sheet mulched the whole are and it became workable. They didn't do
things by halves, though, went out and asked all the neighbours for their
lawn clippings, went to the local supermarkets for spoiled foods, composted
them all down and applied them generously.

Judanne