October sees us well and truly into Kambarang - the Noongar season of warmer days, abundant wildflowers and increasing activity in the natural world. And things are certainly getting busy here at Green Life Soil Co too! Spring has gardeners out in force, planting, pottering and tackling all those jobs that seemed much less urgent a few weeks ago.

October is also a rather special month for us - Green Life Soil Co turns 25! It’s quite something to think that we’ve now been helping Perth gardeners build better soil and grow healthier gardens for a quarter of a century. A lot has changed in that time (including us!), and we’re enormously grateful to all the customers, staff, suppliers and fellow gardeners who have been part of the journey.  THANK YOU!!

The business has continued to grow, and we’re getting so busy that we’re looking for another experienced horticulturist/permaculturalist to join our retail team. If you know someone with great plant knowledge, retail experience and a passion for helping people garden successfully, please spread the word - you’ll find the job advertised on Seek - see the pic below/right to copy the link for more information.

This month, we’re also taking a slightly different approach with our articles - looking at some of the gardening habits we’d happily see the back of, and delving into why Perth’s notoriously sandy soils are the way they are. We hope you enjoy it!

Happy Gardening,

Linda & the Team @ The Green Life Soil Co

In this newsletter:

Jobs to do in the October garden
What to plant NOW
Newsletter Monthly Special Offer
10 Things we wish Perth Gardeners would STOP doing!!
Perth Soil - Awful or Opportunity??
Photo Comp Winner
Retailer Update

Jobs to do in the October garden

• Weeds- Many are going to seed at this time. Time to rip these babies out or even slash them, whatever action you choose will help to minimise spread.  See our fact sheet on organic weed control here.
• Seed Raising- It's time to start your summer vegie seeds.  Keep an eye on your seedlings at this time of year when temperatures are fluctuating; keep seedling trays/pots warm & watered.  If planting out directly in garden beds, patience is important.  Things can take a while until conditions are ideal for germination.  See our fact sheet here for tips & tricks for sowing from seed.
• Fertilising- If you haven’t already fed your fruit trees, this is a great time to do so! Adding some organic matter like compost or manures or our Organic Certified Soil Builder will help improve the soil and give it new life.  See our fact sheet on soil improvement here. 
• Mulching- Mulching the entire the garden can be a big job, start now while the weather isn’t steaming hot and while the ground still has moisture. Two of our popular mulches are our Recycled Tree Prunings or our Econo mulch (darker, partially composted).  Also consider our 3-way mulch if you're looking for mulch to feed and protect perennial plants in one fell swoop!  For vegie gardens, we have pea straw & wheat straw in bales , and bagged mulches like lupin mulch, and sugar cane mulch. Need advice?  Call us!  And check out our fact sheet here. 
• Fruit Trees- At this time of year it is important to keep an eye on flowering and fruiting trees. If you have fruit fly in your area, start netting those trees now - as soon as fruit has set.  See our fact sheet here. It's almost your last chance to deal with citrus gall wasp - adults will be emerging & breeding and laying eggs again.  Sticky traps in your trees may help with control.  Make sure you use a protective sleeve around the traps to stop small birds getting stuck on the traps, and remember to remove them in a few weeks once the CGW season moves on.  Traps will also catch pollinators and beneficial insects, so don't leave them in your trees longer than necessary.  Another thing to try is our Clay Spray - superfine kaolin clay you mix with water to spray a coating on your citrus tree branches and stems.  This makes it much less attractive/easy for insects to penetrate the outer bark layer - acting like a protective barrier.
• Improve your soil.  Now's the time to be adding clay (Cassies Clay) & biochar (Charlie Charcoal) to help with water retention over the coming hot months.  Talk to us and we can assist you in making long term improvements to your soil's health.  Bring in a soil sample and we can check the pH, and make recommendations on soil improvement to help your plants flourish. With summer just around the corner - it's never been so critical to build your soil health and have a waterwise garden.  

Newsletter Special Offer

This month, our monthly special offer is Blood and Bone.

This is an honest-to-goodness mix we blend ourselves - with blood meal, feathermeal and added rock dust - no fillers like most commercial blood & bone products have.  It's a great organic feed for your garden.  We sell it in refillable tubs - so you can simply bring your tubs back to pay for refills by the kilo. So you save money AND save plastic packaging, too!

5L (4kg)  OFFER PRICE $22.50 Saving of $5.50

10L (8kg) OFFER PRICE $36.00 Saving of $9.00

So come on in - offer is valid in store until the end of October, while stocks last!

What to Plant NOW

Check out our free 'When to Plant' guide on our website; but as a quick reference, it's time to plant:

Asian greens (Bok Choi/Tatsoi etc.), Asparagus, Artichoke (globe), Basil, Beans, Beetroot, Broccoli*, Capsicum, Chilli, Carrot, Celery, Celeriac, Choko, Cucumber, Eggplant, Ginger, Kale*, Kohl rabi*, Leek, Lettuce, Melons, Okra, Parsnip, Pumpkin, Radish, Rocket, Rosella, Silverbeet, Spring onion, Squash, Strawberries, Sweet corn, Sweet potato, Tomato, Turnip, Zucchini. 

* these vegies are better grown in cooler weather; if planting now, make sure you have a protected spot (they'll bolt to seed if too hot), and watch Kale/Kohl rabi in particular for caterpillars which are more active in the warmer months - insect netting is highly recommended.

There's also HEAPS of herbs that will flourish at this time of year - Basil, Chives, Oregano, Mint, Parsley, Thyme, Sage, Comfrey, Borage - just to name a few! Within each of these, there's multiple varieties available - so get creative and get a herb garden growing for your summer entertaining garnishes and tasty treats. You don't need a lot of space (a pot on your verandah will do!) to reap the rewards.

If you have room around your garden, add in some flowering annuals.  They'll help bring in pollinating and other beneficial/predatory insects, as well as providing colour and decoration.  At this time of year consider Alyssum, Calendula, Cosmos, Lobelia, Petunias (and as an added benefit - if you plant the white variety, their fluttering petals help confuse the cabbage butterfly!), Portulaca, Sunflowers - there's heaps more; just ask us - we've got some lovely flower seeds in stock at the moment (or ask at your local independent nursery).

We've got heaps of fact sheets on specific vegies & growing information for Perth and WA freely available - check out our 'Learn' tab above! (in our website banner).

10 Things We Wish Perth Gardeners Would Stop Doing

We love gardeners. We really do. But after years of talking soil, troubleshooting unhappy plants and answering gardening questions, there are a few things we see over and over again that make us want to say: please… stop doing that!

Most of these mistakes are completely understandable. Gardening advice is full of rules, old wives’ tales and quick fixes - and what works beautifully somewhere else in Australia doesn't necessarily work in Perth.

So, with tongue firmly in cheek, here are a few things we'd love Perth gardeners to stop doing.

1. Spending $40 on a plant and 40 cents on the soil

You've researched the variety. You've found the perfect specimen. You've carefully transported it home.

Then you dig a hole in pale Perth sand, pop it in and hope for the best.

Plants can't tell how much you paid for them. They can tell what their roots are growing in.

Our sandy soils generally have very little capacity to hold onto water and nutrients. Spending a little time and money improving the soil before planting can make far more difference than buying a bigger or more expensive plant.

2. Assuming fertiliser will fix an unhappy plant

Plant looking a bit miserable? Give it a feed!

Sometimes that's exactly what it needs. But sometimes it isn't.

Poor drainage, water-repellent soil, inconsistent watering, incorrect pH, root damage, pests, heat stress and simply having the wrong plant in the wrong place can all cause plants to struggle.

Adding fertiliser without knowing the problem can waste money and, in some cases, make matters worse.

Before reaching for the fertiliser, ask: "What is this plant actually trying to tell me?"

3. Watering soil that isn't getting wet

This one is particularly relevant in Perth.

You can stand there with a hose for ten minutes and feel very virtuous - while much of the water is running sideways, pooling on the surface or disappearing down preferential pathways without properly wetting the root zone.

Dry sandy soils can become water repellent, particularly where organic coatings have developed around the sand particles.

Dig down after watering occasionally. You might be surprised by what you find.

If it's bone dry a few centimetres underneath, more water isn't necessarily the answer. Getting the soil to accept and retain water is.

4. Treating mulch as decoration

A delicate sprinkling of mulch might look lovely, but that's not really what mulch is for.

Mulch is there to protect the soil. It helps reduce evaporation, buffers soil temperature, suppresses weeds and, depending on the material, can gradually contribute organic matter as it breaks down.

It needs enough depth to do the job. (How deep depends on several factors - particle size, garden type etc.  The larger the particles - the thicker the mulch should be.)

And here's another one: don't put mulch over bone-dry soil and assume everything underneath will magically improve. Wet the soil properly first, deal with water repellency if necessary, then mulch.

5. Watering a little bit every day

Plants aren't goldfish.

Frequent shallow watering encourages roots to stay near the surface - exactly where you don't want them when a 40°C Perth summer day arrives.

For established plants, deeper, less frequent watering generally encourages a deeper and more resilient root system. Of course, seedlings, newly planted plants and pots are different, which is why blindly following a watering “rule” doesn't always work.

The goal isn't simply to water the garden. It's to get water where the roots need it.

6. Assuming every bug is a bad bug

See insect. Reach for spray. Please don't!

A healthy garden is an ecosystem, and insects are part of it. Many are pollinators, predators, decomposers or simply food for something else.

Even some of the insects we regard as pests don't require action when numbers are low. A few aphids can become lunch for ladybirds and hoverfly larvae.

Before spraying anything, identify what you've actually got and ask whether it's doing enough damage to warrant intervention.

Sometimes the best treatment is to do absolutely nothing.

7. Thinking more compost is always better

We love compost. But compost isn't magic fairy dust.

Good soil needs a balance of organic matter, minerals, water, air and biology. Continually adding large amounts of rich compost or manure isn't necessarily improving that balance - particularly if nutrient levels are already high.

This is one reason we talk so much about building soil rather than simply feeding plants.

The aim isn't to create the richest soil possible. It's to create soil that functions well.

8. Assuming native plants need nothing

Australian plants have adapted to some pretty challenging soils, but “adapted to low nutrients” doesn't mean “requires no care whatsoever”.

Native plants still need appropriate soil conditions, water while establishing and nutrients - just not necessarily in the quantities or forms we'd use for hungry vegetables or exotic ornamentals.

And “native” is an enormous category. A plant naturally growing beside a creek in the South West doesn't necessarily want the same conditions as something from dry inland WA.

Right plant, right place still matters.

9. Diagnosing every yellow leaf as a deficiency

Yellow leaves! Quick – magnesium! Iron! Nitrogen! Epsom salts!... Maybe??

Or perhaps it's seasonal leaf drop. Waterlogging. Dryness. Root disturbance. Cold soil. Heat stress. pH. An old leaf reaching the end of its useful life.

Plants aren't always perfect green Instagram specimens, and one funny-looking leaf isn't necessarily a crisis.

Look at the whole plant and what's been happening around it before reaching for a remedy.

10. Expecting the garden to behave itself

This might be the biggest one.

Gardens aren't static. They're living systems affected by weather, seasons, insects, soil organisms, birds, animals and the occasional gardening decision that seemed like a very good idea at the time.

Some things will thrive. Some will sulk. Occasionally something will die for no apparent reason whatsoever.

That's gardening.

Observe. Experiment. Learn what works in your patch. And don't be afraid to get things wrong.

After all, some of the best gardeners we know aren't people who never make mistakes.

They're the ones who've made plenty - and kept gardening anyway.

Why IS Perth Soil So Awful?

If you've ever tried to dig a garden bed in Perth and wondered why your backyard appears to be made from something better suited to a beach, you're not imagining things.

For many Perth gardeners, “soil” means pale sand that won't hold water, won't hold nutrients and occasionally seems reluctant to even get wet.

Meanwhile, gardeners overseas and even elsewhere in Australia talk casually about their lovely "loam".

It hardly seems fair. But are our sandy soils really that awful?

From a plant-growing point of view, some Perth sands certainly present challenges. But geologically, they're actually rather interesting.

Perth sits largely on the Swan Coastal Plain, between the Indian Ocean and the Darling Scarp.

Across that plain are several different soil and dune systems. Moving broadly from the coast inland you'll encounter the younger Quindalup dunes, the older Spearwood dunes and then the older and much more heavily leached Bassendean sands.

They aren't all the same.

And that helps explain why someone gardening near the coast may have quite different soil from someone in Bassendean, despite both describing what they're standing on as “sand”.

Perth has been washing its soil for a very long time

Here's where things get interesting.

As soil ages and water repeatedly moves through it, soluble materials can gradually be carried further down the profile or removed altogether.

This process is called leaching.

The Bassendean sands are particularly heavily leached. Over geological time, much of what could once be readily removed has already gone.

What remains is largely quartz sand.

Quartz is extremely durable - which is excellent if your ambition is to remain a grain of sand for a very long time. It's considerably less impressive if you're trying to grow a tomato.

The problem with big particles

A sand grain is enormous compared with a clay particle.  That matters.

Clay has an extraordinary amount of surface area for its size and carries electrical charges that allow it to interact with water and nutrient ions.

Sand has comparatively little surface area and very little capacity to hang onto nutrients.

Imagine the difference between a bucket full of golf balls and a bucket full of flour.

Water can move readily through the spaces between coarse sand particles. And because there isn't much surface area or chemical holding capacity, nutrients dissolved in that water can move with it.

This is one reason Perth gardeners can find themselves watering and fertilising frequently while still having plants that struggle.

The water and nutrients aren't necessarily staying where the roots can use them.

Which explains something else...

Have you ever wondered why Perth has groundwater resources beneath it?

Those highly permeable sands are part of the answer.

Rainfall can infiltrate through the sandy soil and recharge groundwater systems beneath the coastal plain.  (Decreasing rain fall and overuse of bores is having an effect on the availability and quality of groundwater - something Government is trying to regulate - but that's another story for a different day.) 

So the same characteristic that can drive a gardener mad - water disappearing rapidly through the sand – is part of a much larger natural hydrological system.

Suddenly our terrible soil starts looking rather clever - just not necessarily designed with your vegetable patch in mind.

Then there's the strange business of water-repellent sand

You'd think sand with uniform particles would always absorb water in a uniform way.

Unfortunately, anyone who has watered a bone-dry Perth garden bed and watched the water bead on the surface knows otherwise. Sandy soils can become hydrophobic, or water repellent.

Organic compounds can coat individual sand grains. When those coatings dry out, they can repel water rather than attracting it.

The result can be bizarre. One part of a garden bed may be wet while another area centimetres away remains completely dry. Water may find preferred pathways and rush down them, leaving much of the surrounding root zone untouched.

So sometimes when a Perth gardener says, “But I'm watering it!”, the plant has an entirely different version of events.

But Perth sand does have some advantages

Yes, really.

Sandy soils generally drain well. They're easy to dig. They warm readily. They're rarely compacted in quite the same way as heavy clay soils.

Ask someone battling sticky, waterlogged clay whether they'd like to swap soils and you might find they're surprisingly enthusiastic.

In fact, parts of the Swan Coastal Plain have long been used successfully for commercial horticulture.

The problem isn't that plants can't grow in sand.

It's that growing plants successfully in sand requires us to understand what sand doesn't do particularly well.

And perhaps we've been asking the wrong question

Instead of asking: “What fertiliser does my plant need?”

perhaps Perth gardeners should more often ask: “What does my soil need in order to function better?”

• Can it hold sufficient water?
• Can it hold nutrients?
• Does it contain organic matter?
• Does it have mineral diversity?
• Is there enough habitat and food to support soil biology?
• Can plant roots access both water and air?

That's a very different way of thinking about gardening.

You're no longer simply feeding a plant. You're building the system that feeds the plant.

Perth gardeners are actually pretty clever - perhaps we don't give ourselves enough credit.

Gardening successfully on the Swan Coastal Plain means learning how to turn what is essentially a very free-draining, low nutrient-holding mineral material into something capable of supporting productive gardens.

And we've become pretty good at it.

We add organic matter. We use compost and mulch. We introduce clay and other minerals where appropriate. We encourage biology. We learn how to manage water efficiently.

Little by little, we're creating something that behaves much more like a functioning soil.

So next time you're digging a hole and muttering about Perth's dreadful sand, remember:

It's not bad soil. It's just very committed to being sand.

Our job as gardeners is to help it behave a little more like soil - or dare I say - LOAM?

Photo Competition Winner

A big thank you to Yvette from Mt Helena, who sent us in a couple of photos of her garden recently. She had this to say about it:

Good afternoon! I wanted to submit a couple of photos for the monthly competition.

I'm in Mount Helena and this is the best my veggie garden has looked. Despite trying to improve the soil it has always been very hydrophobic, at the end of last summer I added some vegetable concentrate, Cassie's Clay, and the charcoal, all from Green Life Soil and the results are speaking for themselves- I can barely walk through my veggie beds!

Another photo she sent featured very healthy looking peas!  The garden is looking lush and healthy - I'm sure you'd agree!

Yvette wins a $50 store credit to spend with us; next month it could be YOU!  Just send in a photo or two with a short paragraph about your project, what you're growing, and a little bit of info about you and your garden.  It's that easy!  Thanks Yvette and happy gardening!

Retailer Update

Please support your local independent retailer who supports us! The specialist retailers listed here will be happy to give you gardening advice and help you with our products - please call to check what lines they carry as they can't stock all of our products (but may be willing to get stock in for a custom order - if you ask nicely!). Some of these fabulous retailers also offer a home delivery service (marked with *) - so why not go local?  (Please contact the store directly for details.)

All things Stock - Muchea 0480 740 638
Anketell Stockfeeds/Nibali Anketell 9419 5711 
Aquaponics WA / Hydroponic Xpress - Canning Vale 9455 2133 (Aquatic mix only)
Bar Botanik - North Perth 9227 6758 (Indoor Potting Mix & Aroid Mix only)
Budget Stockfeeds - Oakford 9397 1659
City Barn Malaga - 9249 3799
Daisy Field Organics - Fremantle 0450 793 720
Feedman Stockfeed - Martin 9398 2240
Fruit Tree Man - Midvale 0417 949 050
Garden Elegance - Subiaco 9381 2197 
Gosnells Stockfeed - Gosnells 9493 4844
Guildford Town Garden Centre* - Guildford 9279 8645
Harbour Plants*- South Fremantle 0439 967 034 
Hydroponics Guru (Living Soil only) - Wangara 0430527575
Kambarang Garden Centre* - Bentley 9458 5944
Lighthouse Fruit Tree Nursery - Parkwood 0411 166 034
Little Green Nook - Sawyers Valley
Miaflora - Inglewood 9343 6334
Newstead Outdoors* - Greenwood 9334 6334
Nibali Stockfeed* - Hamilton Hill 9433 2211
Plant Playground - Osborne Park 0468 770 193
Richo's 4 Hydro - Joondalup 9301 4462
Snippy's Yard - Dianella 0411 751 645 (Native potting mix only)
Stanbee Stockfeeds* - Barragup 9581 2390
Supreme Plants - West Swan 0499 887 275
Swan Valley Station - Swan Valley 0427 371 001
Tass1 Trees - Middle Swan 0419 988 344
Urban Revolution* - Carlisle 6102 1068 
Utopia Nursery - Bullsbrook 0455 659 622
Waldecks Kingsley* - 9309 5088
Waldecks Melville* - 6317 0939
Waldecks Stirling* - 9254 6730
Zanthorrea Nursery - Maida Vale 9454 6260

Australind Landscaping Supplies 9796 1720
Boyup Brook Co-op (Boyup Brook) 9765 1001
DKT Rural (Kellerberrin) 9045 4221
Great Northern Rural Services (Geraldton) 9964 1274
Green By Nature (Collie) 0475 251 554 
Handy Hands Nursery (Karratha) 9413 1801
Hillview Garden Centre (Bridgetown) 9761 1672
Kalgoorlie Feed Barn (Kalgoorlie) 9021 1921
Margaret River - Nutrient Ag Solutions 9758 7677 (Premium Potting Mix & Compost)
Mitre 10 Margaret River 9757 2455 (Wicking Bed Mix & Veg Concentrate)
Narrogin Valley Stockfeed (Narrogin) 0400 717 755
Naturaliste Landscape Supplies (Busselton) 9754 8081
Nutrien Ag Bunbury - 9796 4402
Nutrien Ag Manjimup - 9771 2788
Nutrien Ag Merredin - 9041 1066
Rising Spirit Store (Exmouth) 0448 102 370
Soils Ain't Soils (Busselton & Dunsborough) 9751 5322

THANK YOU for being part of our Green Life family!  We hope to see you in store soon.  Check out our newsletter next month & stay up to date with our Facebook and Instagram pages for announcements, stock arrivals and general good gardening vibes!