More trees for a cooler greener west:
Site Preparation

Preparing your site for planting

This is one of the best things you can do to encourage a healthy start for your new trees and shrubs.

We’ve collated some tips, tricks, and resources to help!

The Cardboard Catwalk

  • Cardboard can be a great way to knock out competition from other plants while you wait for a mulch delivery.

  • Lay the cardboard down and water it in to make it heavier.

Newspaper Newsflash

  • If you don’t have cardboard, you might have some newspaper!

  • Lay the newspaper down and water it in to add density.

Hand Weeding

  • A great meditative activity to complete with students or parent volunteers.

  • Encourage pulling up of runners and roots.

  • Mulch immediately after hand weeding.

Weed Killer

  • Spray on a still day well before planting, and mulch after weeds have died.

  • You will need suitably qualified staff to complete spraying, and to ensure that all protective clothing is worn.

  • Check the withholding period on the weed killer that you use.

  • A Materials Safety Data Sheet will give you more information.

Digging holes

  • The seedlings we will be using come in 50mm punnets. We recommend using a Hamilton Planter, or an auger a day or two before your planting day.

  • See our Equipment page for more details.

Mulch

  • Mulch is your best friend! It helps keep soil moist, and reduces competition from other weeds.

Sophie from Gardening Australia explains the perfect mulch lasagne.

MONITORING

It’s important to think about monitoring early so that you can collect ‘before’ information. Use this guide to help with planning your monitoring activities.

This project is supported by the Victorian government through the “More trees for a cooler greener west” program.

Helping schools prepare for Climate Change through increasing urban tree cover.

Learn more here.