Thankyou all, house bought now mulching needed

[ellie]

Hello forum friends
I have received lots of ideas and help from people here over the last couple of months and have now bought a house!! Thankyou so very much to all who PMed me and helped.

I am very excited since I did not think it would be possible in Sydney on salary of $22K. While my house is probably the smallest and darkest house I saw in my searching, it is my start.

Everything here I can live with.

I do wonder though if any of you have bright ideas for mulching or weed retarding steep dirt slopes. It is mainly for the next 6-12 months until I have some ground covering plants put in - I don't want to be weeding every weekend. It had become extremely weedy with prickly weeds which after two days of hard yakka I have deweeded, I think it will be only a short while before they are back though. I am looking for a very cheap solution (<$500 preferably much less).

The sloping area is 25 square metres and is at an angle of about 70 degress to the ground. There doesn't appear to be much dirt runoff or falling away. Also, it is not uniformly sloping - there are some nooks, crannies and big rocks where mulch could be prevented from sliding off.

I was thinking some pebbles might do the trick but can't really picture what it would look like. I have seen similar areas taped up with black plastic and also with thick newspaper but don't think either would stay in place here. I am not that keen on tanbark or pine chips but if that is the best value solution then that would be ok til I can plant it out. The other thiung I am not keen on is weed killer so would prefer another solution.

Thanks
Ellie

 

[Kristine..]

Ellie

That's wonderful news and it just goes to show what you can do if you are determined to achieve your goal.

The house may remain small but it certainly won't remain dark for long. Your shining personality will light it up in no time!

Regarding the sloping bank, probably the most natural looking presentation would be something like 'Lilydale Toppings'. I'm sure other quarries produce 'toppings', which are almost like the dust produced when quarrying for larger pieces of limestone or other sedimentary rock.

The 'toppings' grade from dust to about the size of a playing marble, and when spread around and watered in, the dust compacts between the larger pieces. Toppings are often used for walkways & driveways where a natural finish is required.

By just shovelling the toppings over the bank, it will settle naturally and inhibit week growth. If any wash down, just shovel them back up again.

It would still be a good idea to give the bank the 'once over' with an organic week spray before you shovel the toppings.

I have used Lilydale toppings which are a light fawn colour, Dromana toppings which are a more earthy clay colour, and Tynong toppings, which have quartz and are almost a charcoal colour. The Tynong toppings twinkle in the sunshine and are quite decorative.

Shop around, you could expect to pay around $35 per cubic metre so it won't be expensive.

Best luck

Kristine

 

[geoffw]

"Backyard Makeover" (I think) suggested sugar cane mulch as a viable inexpensive mulch solution.

On a slope it might need extra securing, but in Cairns may be cheaper and more viable.

 

[ellie]

Thanks Kristine and Geoff.

Am researching the toppings. They look good. They seem to be called crushed or decomposed limestone/granite/sandstone sometimes. Is this right? There are a number of Melbourne places with 3-4 types of toppings and in Sydney and other places they seem to be called crushed sandstone.

Oops, I am no longer in Cairns but Sydney. As nice as mulched sugar cane can look, I believe it is one of the most toxic garden materials and would steer clear of it if
1. had any allergies, asthma etc
2. had pets
3. had kids
4. wanted to grow fruit or veg
5. wanted certain plamts to live (most do fine but others are very sensitive to the checmicals used in cane growing)

 

[DaveP]

what about some turf...? You can buy it for about $4 to $6 per sq.m and possibly cheaper if you want to use second grade stuff.

There are other forms of coconut weed matting you can get from erosion specialists.

Hope this helps

 

[JFEWSTER]

Originally posted by ellie
Hello forum friends
The other thiung I am not keen on is weed killer so would prefer another solution.

Thanks
Ellie

Ellie

I am time poor but have one acre of garden.

I couldnt manage it without the dreaded weedkiller.

Buy a 6 litre pressure sprayer. Buy 1 litre containers of roundup or no-gro or Glypho, or the many other types of Glyphosphate. its all the same stuff.

Initially spray the entire area. Weeds will die but most plants wont. once you get on top of it, reduce the strength of the mix to 75% of recommended, add a little dish washing liquid to ensure it sticks to the leaves, and spray every weed as soon as it appears but ensuring it doesnt rain for 24 hours after. You will soon find that the amount of spray needed becomes negligible, and will reduce over time.

It doesnt build up in the soil. It doesnt hurt animals. It may kill worms and stuff initially (so they say) but if you apply at least monthly, you will find that the amount you use eventually reduces to "stuff all".

For a mulch, try horse bedding straw. Left overs from someones stable??

 

[LearningMan]

Ellie, congrats on the home purchase ! Can I ask how much you paid and in which suburb ?

 

[Apocalypse]

Originally posted by ellie

...The sloping area is 25 square metres and is at an angle of about 70 degress to the ground...

Umm, 70° is almost vertical, for all intents and purposes. Ain't nothing gonna stay on that.

My vote goes for the glyphosphate also. Pretty much the safest and most effective sort of weedkiller you can get.

(as an aside, for those interested, the degree symbol " ° " can be produced by holding down "Alt" and hitting 0176. Go to Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-Character Map in WinXP (I can't remember where it is exactly under other OS's) shows all sorts of fun that can be had...£, ®, ©, ², ¼, ½, ¾...)

 

[Olly]

Newspapers - free. Leafy mulch - maybe free - ring woodchippers/treeloppers. If they don't have a contract to sell to a nursery they often look for people to give it too. It all breaks down and becomes part of the earth which is good for the environment and the soil. Doesn't harm your plants and although it looks light and fluffy it doesn't really blow around or slide away.

Use a few sheets of newspaper for thickness and about 3'- 4' (100mm) of mulch on top for it to be effective.

When we first bought our house we did one rockery with succulents/cacti and surrounded it with white pebbles - huge mistake unless you're someone who can spend lots of time in the garden keeping it looking good. With the movement in the earth from bugs/worms etc the pebbles used to sink and dirt cover them and it never looked as nice as it should and when we decided to change the 'look' picking out the pebbles to re-use in pots was a nightmare.

My 2c

Cheers
Olly

 

[ellie]

Hiya all glorius and helpful,

I bought in a bit of a yucky suburb of the beautiful and far out Richmond area. It is defintely a yucky house and I love it. What a transformation I am making with double elbow grease but not too many dollars. It is a 1 bedroom house with a very leaky and wildlifey roof and on a 400 sqm block so not as good in terms of land content. It was $265K.

Yep, 70 degrees is very steep, I measured it with some tools, I used to be a maths geeko so like to be precise with things like this. I ended up using a mixture of lawn mowing clippings and straw which would probably of been a good and budget mixture for some flat ground in need of mulch but it is slipping off my slope. I am slowly pushing in mediumish rocks (20 cm diameter) to the slope so that when I have enough they will provide some help to the slipping off. It is tough yakka though, I am using a mattock for the first time (is this the best tool for my job?) to get into this rocky slope so the rocks I am putting in will stay in.

Any other ideas on getting the slope to hold on to it's mulch? that is other than coming in with a dozer and making levels.

thanks
ellie