Don’t know if there’s a thread already but I would like advice from anybody with green thumb.
I live in a unit and I’ve let my front yard go to the ■■■■. Every time I’ve gone to buy plants, i get flustered by the gazillion plants and end up buying nothing. So I would like advice about plants that i can buy that are low maintenance and dont grow too big. Basically i want plants that not even i can kill.
Don't know if there's a thread already but I would like advice from anybody with green thumb.I live in a unit and I’ve let my front yard go to the ■■■■. Every time I’ve gone to buy plants, i get flustered by the gazillion plants and end up buying nothing. So I would like advice about plants that i can buy that are low maintenance and dont grow too big. Basically i want plants that not even i can kill.
lol…
more info, man.
Where are you?
Sunny/shady?
Rain?
Trees around?
Pets?
Do you see yourself ever actually tending the garden - weeding, watering, trimming, etc?
Alternatively - get plastic plants. Change them every 10 years.
Live in se melbourne (sunny or rainy, farked if i ever know), no pets and as for tendering, just assume the worst ie minimal. No trees around and will be on the south side.
Couch grass is my mortal enemy
Find a specialist native plant nursery and ask them what plants are endemic to your part of Melbourne. They’ll know growth habits, flowering times, preferred location (full sun/part sun/shade) etc. Make your choice from their recommendations. There may even be hybrids that have been raised on local root stock providing a wider variety. Plants from your area will always work better than exotics. You should be able to put together a very handsome and easy to care garden that is low maintenance + will be appreciated by the local fauna.
Agree re finding a local native plant nursery. I live i Knox and there’s a good one there, if you’re anywhere remotely near that area. Depending on your soil, you might want to look at kidney weed (terrible name, but it does look nice), hardenbergia, running postman, and happy wanderer. All are low ground cover type things that’ll help in keeping the weeds down a bit. You’ll probably want some shrubby type things as well, and there’s a million options but it’ll depend on where you are, what your soil is like. Grevillias, banksias, yellow waxflower, various native peas, wattles, austral indigo, native sedges, etc etc.
This isn’t the best time of year for it though - you’re best off doing planting in early autumn, gives your plants time to get established and put roots down before they have to try to survive the summer heat and dry. If you do want to get stuff in the ground, do it asap so they get a few months of spring growth before the heat hits.
The other option is going full kitchen garden. Rosemary and oregano in particular are pretty much invincible, same with parsley and thyme, and you’ll never need to buy herbs again. Passionfruit will grow anywhere too.
my favourite part about gardening is not doing it.
I like watching the grass grow while I’m having a beer. Especially when it’s growing under the feet of the Fark Carlton Footbal Club.
These grow really well and survive on neglect.
I’ve just put up a little board next to the plant to make it look fancy, printed with the exotic Latin name of “Viriditas Ingens Contradicentem” (Weed - Large - Obstinate). Everyone’s impressed.
Grow concrete. Only needs to be planted once and needs no maintenance.
Where in the SE? Can hook you up if your close.
Grow concrete. Only needs to be planted once and needs no maintenance.
Greek?
Where in the SE? Can hook you up if your close.
Oakleigh South
Possibly too far. Can get some info on plant selection to you by email if you like.
So I would like advice about plants that i can buy that are low maintenance and dont grow too big. Basically i want plants that not even i can kill.Get some rocks
Grow concrete. Only needs to be planted once and needs no maintenance.Greek?
I’m a fair dinkum ■■■■■■ 'strayan mate, so much so that the missus and me planted heaps of natives (trees and shrubs, not the “other” kind, we’re not murderers) because we felt like all Eureka Stockade flag ‘n’ that, so whatchya gob, orright?
I thought was about to create a new mega thread for green thumbs and rich wemon that stay at home “pruning” with the gardener.
Arborists. How much are they if you want to get a massive tree cut down that is obscuring my view of mighty Launceston. Anyone done it? Does the neighbors thoughts have any impact? There’s no legislation and as far as I can see no bylaws from council.
This things about 15-25m high and 10-15m wide. I’m thinking of subtle removal but just hacking the basttard down would suit if I bead in the mood.
Give the council a call regardless. Generally your neighbours don’t get a veto unless your council bylaws are REALLY rough, but you may ■■■■ them off if you cut down a really big local tree of course.
It ain’t gonna be cheap. Depending on how difficult the felling job is etc, it could easily run a couple of grand.
Edit: also, if you are going to cut down a really big old tree, be aware that if it has hollows etc you’ve probably got wildlife living in it. You may want to put up nesting boxes for possums/gliders/whatever or else the displaced critters will need to move elsewhere (like into your roof). You should be ok for birds though, most nesting birds will have fledged by now.
Have had 1 x giant gum (20-25m) and 3 x smaller ones (~10m) taken down on my (super steep, zero access for machinery) block.
4-5k for the mega one
~2k for the smaller ones
That’s with them taking away all the wood. Which was a significant amount of backbreaking, unsafe manual labour.
The tree guys should be able to advise on relevant bylaws. Generally if it’s within 10m of the house or 5m of the fence you can go nuts.
Summers been fun in the garden
Battling stink bugs, white louse scale, leaf miners and caterpillars on all my citrus (4 trees), and trying not to kill bees at the same time as some trees are in flower. Tried a bunch of organic solutions, not terribly effective. In the case of the stink bugs just pain-staking physical removal was most effective method in the end.
Was also fighting caterpillars in my vege patch, mainly on my kale and spinach. However i’ve won that battle but something else is still eating the kale, from the bottom mainly. No idea what… maybe rats? Only thing i can think of. Might have to lay a trap or two to find out.