Redlands Soil

Day 25  February 5th

The Redlands soil is, as you would expect, dark red clay. It is heavy, holds water, and can be almost impossible to dig. It also colours and stains anything it touches.

Almost all the plants and seeds I buy appear to need well drained soil. Redlands clay is certainly not that; it holds on tightly to the water it collects. Yet Redlands used to be the vegetable garden of SE Queensland so it must be pretty good.  Maybe the farmers added gypsum to make it drain better.

Only the very bottom layer of my vegie beds is redlands soil.  The rest is a mix of manure, lucerne, seaweed, straw and kitchen compost. So, as a little experiment I dropped a handful of pumpkin seeds on the land under the palm trees. All the pumpkins I have had in my garden so far have been feral.  They have set up base in a vegie bed with no encouragement from me, so I assume they are pretty hardy.

I'm waiting to see how well the do in the Redlands soil.