Planting out the new North Face bank – 6th October 2017

After clearing and widening the Dragonfuit level with the excavator we needed to plant out the new bank we had created at the eastern end of the level.

The bank was made with excess mountain soil from the excavation.

The bank is below the deck side of the house on a very steep part of the hill.  For that reason particularly we needed to secure it with plants as soon as possible.

As it is connected with some of the original open grassland forest we planted indigenous native species to ensure we did not creat a problem.

Plants included:

Variable Sword Sedge(Lepidosperma laterale) – A very common sedge growing in our surrounding forest.

Blue Flax Lily(Dianella brevipedunculata) – Another common open forest plant.

Lomanadra sp. (Lomandra confertifolia subsp. confertifolia) – We retrieved these plants from the road after damage from Ex-Tropical Cyclone Debbie in March/April

We planted as closely as we dared, but the loose soil restricted how close we could put each plant next to the other.

To help secure the bank and protect the plantings, we covered the bank with a Mushroom Compost/Forest Mulch mix. This mix we use to rehabilitate damaged areas of the hill, pathways and to help secure banks.

The mushroom compost mixes well with the forest mulch in about a 1:4 mix.  This gives us a sort of sticky mulch mix that does not erode easily, and is resistant to movement.  Loose mulch, if not contained, is quickly “redistributed” by the rain, the local wallabys or the wind.

So this mix helps keep everything in place.