How to maintain native garden?

georgiepie

Greetings and thank you for taking the time to read/offer advice~

I would like to maintain the garden for the home I rent rather than get a gardener. The owners have created a really lovely native Australia garden, they will be doing the shrub and tree pruning, but I would like to remove the long grass that is taking over in the garden beds and weeds that are growing through the mulch.

Aside from pulling out the weeds by hand with gloves on, and using a path spray for the weeds in the paving, which just has me going around in circles, I would like to know if there is there a routine I can create that is the smart way to stay on top of a garden like this?

I don't own many gardening tools..

I am thinking about buying a hoe type tool to loosen the ground around the weeds (although that's not effective for the sour sobs because of the bulbs, btw will they die out in summer? I'm in Perth), and a whipper snipper for the long grass?

The photos show what I'm dealing with, thank you again and I'm looking forward to hearing your response 🙂

MitchellMc

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @georgiepie. It's brilliant to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about managing a garden.

Thanks for sharing the photos. You have a lovely garden to look after and with a simple routine it will be very manageable without needing a gardener.

From the first photo it looks like the front area may have originally been lawn. A lawnmower would be the easiest way to keep the grass in check there, but a line trimmer (whipper snipper) will also do the job if you do not want to invest in a mower.

For the mulched areas you are right that you can either hand weed or use a spray. A non-selective weed killer works fine in these spots, just be careful to direct it only onto the weeds and avoid overspray onto nearby plants. Often it only takes five minutes once a month to walk around and spot spray, which is much quicker than pulling everything out by hand.

On the paved areas, a path weeder is the best option. These products leave a residue in the joints that prevents new weeds from germinating for up to tweleve months, which saves you from constantly going around in circles.

As for sour sobs, they are tough to eradicate because of the bulbs underground. Pulling them out as you see them will reduce their spread, and they usually die back over summer in Perth’s heat, although they will return next winter. Hand-pull small patches during flowering, making sure to remove the bulbs. For larger areas, use the non-selective weed killer applied carefully and consistently. The most effective time to treat is just before flowering, when the plant is weakest and bulbils have not yet detached.

With a whipper snipper, some gloves, and a good weed spray, you will have all the tools you need to stay on top of things. A quick routine once a month for spraying and trimming, plus a little extra hand weeding when needed, should be plenty to keep the garden neat.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell