seeking gardening wisdom

[AngelPants]

thanks girls, yes i have gone to the native nursery and all the plants i bought from there except one have died.... and its not meant to be one that thrives in our particular spot
we have a really good local nursery but it tends to be really expensive and they plants dont seem to survive any longer than the cheap ones...maybe i will poach their knowledge but buy from somewhere else this time

[emc2]

A soil tester might be an idea to find out the pH of your soil.

[AngelPants]

ha ur brilliant love! cos ours is a bit funny, its from quiet deep when they decided to dig up 1/2 the garden to find a leak in the sewage thingo *shudder* can u get one from bunnings?

[emc2]

I think they have them at Bunnings, if the one near you has a good range of things..

[leckert]

You may just have crap soil too - we have to add stuff (soil improver, pea straw) at times to help grow stuff (mainly veg for DH)

[AnyDream]

Yeah I was going to say about adding stuff to improve your soil. A trailer load of organic compost is the quickest way, spread it 10cm or more deep in the spots you want to plant, then dig it through a bit when you dig the hole. Otherwise you can improve the soil slowly with mulches, pea straw, your own compost, etc.

Probably number one important thing in Adelaide is keeping the water up to your garden between October and April. So plan your garden around your watering arrangements.

We had tenants in our house for 5 years and these were the plants that survived: agapanthus, geraniums, rosemary, lavendar, gum tree, almond tree, african daisies, gerberas, apple tree, mandarin tree, grevilleas, roses, a few conifers, and some random native type things that I don't know the names of.