seeking gardening wisdom

oh wise gardening greenthumbs, please instill a chronic plant killer with your knowledge...
despite my apparent knack for killing plants of all shapes and sizes, i am fixing up our garden (currently looks like the saharah with a bull ant infestation) and i need some plants that are hard to kill, kiddie friendly but are not too ugly either.... they will be in garden beds in part shade but mainly sun....

oh and on another note should i put lawn seed in the (massive) gaps in the lawn do u think or wait for the lawn to grow to cover it?

TIA

Not sure about plants for Adelaide.

With the grass, if you have runners that is easier than seed, well it is in Brisbane anyway. You just dig out a small square from another part of the lawn and plant it in another spot.

In my garden here, I find that just planting anything super hardy, even with problems like ants, is better than nothing. Say if weeds are growing there, it's better than bare soil.

Do you have a nursery that sells indigenous natives anywhere near you? I've found that many natives that I plant don't survive coz although they're supposed to grow in Australia, they're often not happy in our specific local soil and climate. Anything that I've planted that's MEANT to be here... that would've been growing on this particular hillside back when it was a forrest... that stuff just thrives. Even with minimal TLC.

I've found that often people who work in these small, local nurseries are pretty passionate and knowledgeable so you may be able to get some great info and guidance about how to make your particular location and soil-type sustain happy, healthy plants and maybe even some local wildlife! Good luck!

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 :rolleyes:
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

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

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?

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

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)

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.