Tree Care

A year and a bit on from planting the new flowering gum and it is not doing very well.  It seems mostly healthy, but it has not grown as much as expected.  In summer I had a look at the soil, and it was very compacted and dry, with no organic content.  So over the last day or two I made some changes.
1. I pulled back the weed mat and removed all the kikuyu grass stems criss-crossing under the weed mat.
2. I dug out a small amount of soil and replaced it with compost.
3. I mixed in the compost a bit, keeping to the surface area ( I didn't want to damage the tree roots).
4. I added some rock dust around the sides of the tree.
5. I put the weed mat back down, and covered it with a fresh layer of mulch.
6. I watered the tree and surrounding plants with seasol.

Now to wait and see if this has helped.