Hello! I live in the subtropics and garden in clay soil. I have more questions than a kindy class!

[Tish]

Hello! I live in the subtropics now, and everything I knew about gardening is useless again. This is what happens if you end up living in every state of Australia... this island is wild!
I'm in the process of turning a little suburban block of clay into an edible garden with a bit of a vanity garden at the front. The lawn is slowly being eaten up by trees and raised beds and I badger anyone who will listen about what they are growing around here... I'm constantly amazed by what survives and flourishes. The weather is madness and I can't wrap my head around it - we moved here the year after Black Summer just in time for the Year That It Rained Forever and appear to heading into the Years That Rain Will Ignore Us On Purpose.

I'm a 'what a time to be alive' gardener, I like both sage old wisdom and modern solutions, so my gardens end up with a mix of ollas in one, water crystals in the other, and so far so good. I have very sharp memories of growing up in drought, I never take water for granted (I agonise over emptying the bath down the drain if there's been nothing but a baby in the water!) and I am trying my best to get a microclimate of plants around the house to take advantage of the shade. Its all in the beginning stages now, all the prep is done, all the rubbish, muck and old things finally shifted out, and now is the planning-to-execution phase.

I cannot WAIT to go plant shopping!!!

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Welcome to the forum @Tish !

I come from The Netherlands, but now live in sub-tropical Australia. I can totally understand that! Thankfully we can all grow and learn together

That sounds amazing. I feel like that's a pretty good way to garden too - you will literally see live in action what works and what doesn't. Up where I live we've had a pretty wet Winter, and are worried for how hot and wet Summer might be. Last summer was very dry, even though they said they expected many cyclones (we had none).

What plants do you have growing currently? I'm getting new plants ready for the upcoming seasons! I've got some cape gooseberries grown (never grown them before), and am thinking of starting up a new batch of tomatoes. I've got anvellopes full of seeds too, but lack the time and soil, haha.

 

[Tish]

Welcome to the forum @Tish !

I come from The Netherlands, but now live in sub-tropical Australia. I can totally understand that! Thankfully we can all grow and learn together

That sounds amazing. I feel like that's a pretty good way to garden too - you will literally see live in action what works and what doesn't. Up where I live we've had a pretty wet Winter, and are worried for how hot and wet Summer might be. Last summer was very dry, even though they said they expected many cyclones (we had none).

What plants do you have growing currently? I'm getting new plants ready for the upcoming seasons! I've got some cape gooseberries grown (never grown them before), and am thinking of starting up a new batch of tomatoes. I've got anvellopes full of seeds too, but lack the time and soil, haha.

Hi! That's a big change of climate!

I lived in northern Australia in the full tropics, then in south Australia in the desert, so nothing makes sense here. There are sub-tropical apples now?! What a time to be alive!
The last two years have been misery for trying to garden, everything drowned! I don't have much left, just potted things - flowers, herbs and a tired jalapeño plant. I do have a pretty good citrus collection in giant pots, I'm going to move them to the ground soon. I've been looking into the best way to plant them, and I've settled on my own version of the "Ellen White Method" which basically boils down to 'dig a giant hole, fill it with everything that isn't clay, plant the tree'. I'm collecting a lot of organic matter like leaves and sticks, crumbled concrete instead of rocks and I'm going to be using water crystals and planting gel to make sure all the trees I plant never have to worry about me forgetting what day is watering day!! We are pulling down an ancient wood-paling fence soon, and I'll be recycling the palings into borders so the trees are raised a bit too... I just don't trust this clay.

My big plan is to put in the veggie patches and trees, then sort out what I can grow in the empty spaces in pots. I keep a sharp eye out for bargins with second-hand pots, especially terracotta, as I love the rustic look of them, and have a pretty good collection. I can't wait to bring in all the things I like that can actually grow here - coffee plant, tea plant, lemon myrtle, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, cinnamon tree, hazelnut trees, fruit of all kinds... this little garden is going to be a food jungle! I'd really like to be able to rely on most of what is in my garden for food, for my physical and mental health. I LOVE gardening and I ADORE food. I'm very motivated!

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Haha it definitely was! It snowed when I left my country, but landed at the end of Summer here. It was so weird, haha.

I think we have similar conditions. My garden mostly consists of clay too. I intend on putting raised beds in, in the future. That way I can control the soil in them and assure that they drain pretty well. At the moment I'm a container gardener. All my plants grow in pots of varied sizes and materials.
I've found that with clay ground, water doesn't drain very fast at all, so watercrystals might keep the ground a little too wet. But to be fair, I've never used them large-scale. They might behave differently when planted with trees.

That sounds super exciting! And I would definitely recommend growing the plants in pots before you can put them in the ground. That way you don't have to start from scratch and can simply plant them once the beds finish. That way you give yourself a pretty good headstart.

Don't be afraid to ask any questions you have, or to share your progress. We have members who basically keep a garden diary on the forum, and I absolutely love them. It really shows you the difference throughout the seasons - or even years! Good threads to scope out are @DThille 's and @Lunai 's. Though there are many, many more members who do it of course. These are just two names off the top of my head.

Thinking about it... I should update mine one day.

 

[Tish]

Great idea, I think I might! We can see if my crazy ideas will work!

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Bonus tip! Whilst sharing your progress, it also helps to ask for peoples opinions when you're stuck with something. It's helped me too - I'm learning how to grow flowers. I think I should revive my thread and ask if my orchid needs repotting now though...