The New Citrus and Olive Grove

We've finally give up on what we lovingly (or laughingly) called our lawn but what was really just mown weeds! It's right at the top of the block behind the pool and unconnected to the entertainment area where it would be useful. To make matters worse, the ground is so rocky with poor and very thin top spoil in this area, that grass wouldn't grow well.
​So we decided to take it back to the original garden plan of having trees in this area but this time, rather than natives, we've planted four olives (two kalamatas and two manzanillos) and a fig tree to go with the orange and mandarin planted a couple of years ago.

As I said, the top of the block above the house is very rocky immediately under the top soil and the higher up the block you go, the worse it seems to get.
To give the new trees a chance, I dug a hole for each 600mm deep and about 1m diameter, removed the rocks (that wheelbarrow load came from the one hole), mixed the clay soil 50/50 with compost and a bit of blood and bone, and then filled the hole in again.

It's backbreaking work taking over an hour per tree but it should give them a fighting chance to become established.