Basic gardening tip for good soil balance

As a new gardener, and I'm talking many, many years ago, I was lucky to have gardening mentors all around me, especially my Dad.  As a child I saw him planting everything from, fruit trees, grapes, veggies and an array of flowering shrubs and plants.  Coming home from school was always a delight because as I jumped over the front fence, practicing for high jumping, I would pass the grapes and fruit trees snacking as I went.  My Dad built my first shade house when I was 10 and taught me how to propagate, how lucky was I.

But, the most important lesson he taught me was that all plants needed different soil types, whether it be natural, acidic or alkaline.  Such a simple act but the bases of a good garden.  In his day it was just instinctive to know what plant needed what, but today we have the wonderful soil testing kit to help us out.  It can be purchased at garden centres.

Last year I had some very unhappy grevilleas, which are Australian native plants, and like most Australian native plants they prefer natural to acidic soil.  After testing the soil it showed high alkaline levels, in part due to an over exuberant husband who fertilised heavily, native plants don't like a lot of fertiliser, hence the end result.



After using the test kit to establish the PH,  I added powdered sulphur, sprinkling 1 handful per square metre and you can see the results in the picture (grevilleas pink flowers at the back) the Lillie loved it too, they were covered in flowers and the birds loved them.





Happy gardening

Bronwyn