A cautionary tale of topsoil, mulch and hay
Submitted By: sgraham
Location: Bega Valley, NSW
Land Type: Rural Retreat
Affected by Severe Weather?: No
What weed/s are you managing?
Creeping speedwell, cleavers, wild oats, soft brome, panic veldt grass, sweet vernal grass
What is your weed management strategy?
Protect and encourage native vegetation
What have you learnt about managing weeds this way?
ImpactOnLand
What have been the benefits and drawbacks?
The area immediately in front of our house was just subsoil after we finished building. To create a couple of large garden beds we imported some topsoil. Since this is usually "mined" from river flats, it generally comes with a good load of weed seed. I am aware of one weed coming onto our property through imported topsoil, and it has become one of the most troublesome. Creeping Speedwell has pretty little blue flowers and a prostrate habit. When it first appeared I thought it might make a useful groundcover and was slow to remove it. It is now popping up all over the garden and has made it out through the lower fence, and into the gully below the house. Living in a rural area, we tended to collect animal manures from whatever source was convenient, rather than buying prepared fertiliser or compost. This resulted in numerous weed introductions. I have tried cow, horse, sheep and even elephant poo (when the circus came to town). I don’t know about the elephants, but all the rest produced lots of seedlings of common agricultural weeds and pasture grasses in the garden beds they were used on. For a while we collected manure from the local showground, a hotbed of agricultural weeds, and by this means I introduced Cleavers, which took me several years of repeated weeding to eradicate.
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