Episode: #9 28/10/06
Presenter: Fiona Bruyn

During the years Fiona has spent landscaping it never ceases to amaze her that people have a phobia of leaves as they seem to prefer the look of bare dirt or concrete to that of a good mulch.

It is not only bad for your soil but it is also bad for your plants and you could compare it to putting someone out in the garden in the hot sun without any clothes on; they are going to fry.

Mother Nature normally does a good job out in the bush. Leaves fall and build up on the surface giving the soil an insulation blanket against the elements. The leaves eventually breakdown and replenish the organic matter in the soil, which inturn feeds your plants. It is a never ending cycle.

Some people really don?t like the look of leaves on their garden so there are other alternatives. Basically, anything that covers the soil and protects it and allows water to get through can be classed as a mulch and that includes pebbles and gravel.

The disadvantage of the inorganic materials is that they don?t improve the soil structure as they don?t break down over time.

One product that Fiona really likes are Swanes Gro-Cubes. They are nice and compact, easy to handle and they won?t blow away on a windy day when you put them in the garden. There is also no dust associated with them, unlike a lot of other products on the market.

It has high leaf content and as the cubes break down they will add important minerals to the soil. It will also improve the structure allowing water to get down to the plants roots. It will even drought proof your plants and is actually one of the best mulches available on the market.

Once you have them on your garden the worms will come because they just love it and the more worms you have in the garden, the better.

The cubes are made of premium lucerne, a renewable resource and there is no chance of weeds either as it comes from the top of the crop. If you are not sure how much to use, a 25 kg bag covers 7.5 square metres.

It can be used on both natives and exotics and should be applied at least twice a year in Spring and Autumn but Fiona suggests that ideally it should be four times and throughout the warmer months.

It comes in two bag sizes 10 and 25 kg and if you don?t use all of it just put it in a dry place until you need to top up the garden.

At Swanes in Dural they use the cubes right throughout the garden so the proof is in the pudding when you see how healthy all the plants are.

Swanes Dural
490 Galston Road
Dural 2158
(02) 9651 1322
www.swanes.com.au