Organic growers know the secret of healthy gardens: "Feed your soil"

Feeding your soil ensures a healthy biodiversity of microorganisms and worms can do their job - making sure your soil is alive.

A healthy soil means stronger growth, greater pest and disease resistance, and ensures vital nutrients are present in any fruit or vegetables you are going to consume.

There are a number of ways for Perth gardeners to improve our poor, impoverished soils.

COMPOST (the upside of having a breakdown!)
Compost is a great way to recycle unwanted organic matter. Many home gardeners like to make their own compost (see our gardening fact sheet page) and reduce their carbon footprint in doing so.

However, for those that don't have the time or patience to do it themselves, quality, Certified Organic compost can be purchased all year round - ready when you need it.

The benefits of using compost include:

• Adding vital nutrients (like nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium etc.)
• Building soil carbon & organic matter - vastly improving sandy soils.
• Increased microbial activity
• Buffering pH levels
• Increasing the soil's ability to retain nutrients, water and air. This means reduced need for water and fertilisers.

It is best to add compost to the soil and mix it through. If it is allowed to dry out, you will lose some of the benefits and it may simply blow away!

Green Life Soil Company offers home delivery to the Perth Metro Area and surrounding suburbs from the Northern and Western suburbs to as far South as Mandurah.

Our Compost products include:

Mushroom Compost
Certified Organic Compost. A rich feeding compost suitable for vegetables, herbs, roses, etc.

Available in bulk or 25 litre bags.

Garden Compost
A general purpose compost suitable for all plants, including natives.  Fine particles.

Available in bulk or 25 litre bags.

MANURE (or why sometimes it's good to be in the poo!)
Preferably, manures should be well aged before using directly on garden beds. Fresh manures can be added to a compost pile, or left (covered to keep out flies) for a month or two until relatively odourless and ready to use. Fresh manures can contain excessive nitrates which can 'burn' some sensitive plants.

Animal manures are a great way of adding nitrogen to soil, and organic matter, and help stimulate microbial activity.

Which manure is best?
Quite frankly, any manure is going to help improve soil - however, different poos do different things. the richest manure (in terms of range of nutrients) is actually pidgeon poop! Chicken and other poultry manure also packs a pretty good punch - but bird poo contains hardly any organic matter.

In contrast, horse and cow manure is lower in nutrients, but is much higher in organic material - which is really useful to improve soil.

Some gardeners may swear by sheep poo for this and cow poo for that - and never the twain shall mix! In our experience, variety is the spice of life and - like us - your soil benefits from a varied diet.

Manure can be used distributed on top of garden beds or dug through the soil. It is also great to add to compost heaps or worm farms.

Our Manure Products include:

Blended Manure
A weed free blend of sheep and pulverised cow manure. Feeds and adds organic matter.

Available in bulk or 25 litre bags.

Multigrow
Composted and pelletised chicken manure. An effective, Certified Organic all purpose fertiliser.

Available in 2.5kg & 6kg tubs and 36kg bags.

MULCH (or how to cover up your dirty secrets!!)
Once you've got the good stuff into your soil, you need to keep it there! Mulch acts like a protective blanket. Best added before summer, it helps keep soil cool and reduces water loss through evaporation. Coarse mulches, with larger particles to allow water penetration between them, are the best to use.

While mulches can be inorganic (eg. rocks/pebbles), organic mulches (eg. tree prunings/straw) which eventually break down and add organic matter to the soil are ultimately more beneficial to long term soil improvement.

How much mulch do I use?

Sandy soils benefit from a thicker application. Heavy, clay soils perhaps don't need so much. The 'right amount' usually varies from 50 - 150mm, depending on your garden.

Avoid mulching directly around stems of plants & trunks of trees to avoid stem rot. Try to avoid compacting mulch once it's laid down.

Raking mulch at 4 - 6 month intervals will rejuvenate garden beds and allow aeration to plant roots. After 12 months, or as the mulch breaks down, it will be necessary to top dress with another layer of new mulch. Spring or early summer is the best time to do this.

(See our gardening fact sheeet on mulch for more ideas and tips.)

Our Mulch Products include:

Feeder Mulches

3 Way Mulch Mix

Feed and Mulch your garden at the same time! A blend of econo mulch, mushroom compost and manure.

Available in bulk.

Native 3 Way Mulch Mix
A blend of econo mulch, garden compost and manure.

Available in bulk.

Water Saving Mulches

Econo Mulch
Save water and retard weeds. A good basic mulch suitable for all plants. Made from aged & composted shredded green waste. Chocolate brown in colour, no artificial dyes.   Made to Australian Standard AS4454, it is processed to eliminate weed seeds, pathogens and disease (including dieback).

Available in bulk or 25 litre bags.

Recycled Tree Prunings
Cheap and effective. A coarse mix of tree prunings which makes an excellent mulch.  The chunky large particles are ideal for water penetration.  Popular for native gardens and larger areas.
Please note:  Batches of tree prunings can vary.  If you are not sure this mulch may look OK for your intended use, we recommend you coming out to view the mulch prior to purchase.

Available in bulk.

 

Vegetable Garden Mulches

Straw
Excellent for mulching and adding organic matter to soils.

Available in bales.

Pea Hay
Coarse, pea straw mulch. High in nitrogen. Excellent mulch for roses and vegetable gardens.

Available in bales.

Lupin Mulch
Fine, long lasting nitrogen rich composted and shredded mulching straw.

Available in 42 litre bags and cubic metre bulkabags.

Image of Lupin Mulch on the garden

 

 

 

Other Important Information!!!!

Please note many of our soil mixes contain RECYCLED product - compost and/or mulch products made from recycled, aged and composted council green waste.  Unfortunately because waste isn't always separated as well as it should be, sometimes small bits of inert waste (eg. wire, plastic and occasionally glass) can slip through the manufacturing process and be found in our end product.  We do our best to eliminate any contaminants during our mixing procedure.  Should you feel this is an issue for you, please contact us to discuss.  Please be assured these inert materials do not affect the soil's performance.
Using recycled product (which passes organic and other compost quality standards) means that waste is saved from landfill and is an environmentally sound practice.

What is a Bulk Load (and how can I get one?)

All our bulk products are sold by the 'scoop' of our bobcat, which equates to 1/3 of a cubic metre.

• one scoop = half a standard trailer
• two scoops = a standard trailer load
• three scoops = one cubic metre

Bulk products can be collected from our yard; bring your ute or trailer, or use our courtesy trailer (please phone to check availability!). We can deliver bulk loads throughout Perth. Delivery charges will vary according to suburb.

How much will I need?

You can calculate how much is required by measuring your garden bed; width x length x required depth (in metres - ie. 20cm is 0.2m)

• eg. if wish to mulch a garden bed 1.5m wide x 3m long x 0.1m deep, you would require a volume of 0.45 cubic metres

If you are still not sure, give us a call and we will help you work it out.

The Plastic Bag dilemma

It's not easy being green! Unfortunately to date we have not found a cost effective and practical replacement for plastic bags.  We are happy to fill your own hessian bags or tubs, but we do ask for enough time to do this. It is not always possible to mix and fill on the spot - so please allow up to a week for turnaround time.