Hi! Liz, For getting an idea of what trees can be tried, look out "Grow, What, Where" produced by the Society for Growing Australian Plants and stocked in most public libraries.
Gil Liz Davis wrote: > Hi Robin > > I'd thought of the wood chips/leaf & twig litter but thought I may be going > off on a personal tangent. > Worms were evident when planting trees. The penetrometer was buried to its > full depth. The geology is the edge of a basalt plateau, which was cleared > in 1860. In the last 18 yrs there has only been grazing of sheep, with that > rarely occurring in the last 10 yrs. The front of the property (on main > highway) was tested for heavy metals and they were found to be low, there > were no heavy metal tests for the tree paddock. Native trees is the aim for > this paddock, Casurinas to be specific. Severe frosts for at least 6 months > of the year, rainfall average of 800ml. and wicked winds which power one of > Australia's largest wind generator projects. > > As for evidence of plants, most of the 700 trees planted have died. > > thanks for your time on this Robin, hope this info has been more helpful. > > L&L > Liz