Maintaining the Indigenous Garden

The indigenous garden is at its most spectacular when your plants have found their own ecologies, begun to multiply and are popping up freely around the garden. In this scenario ( generally 3+years post garden installation) you are selectively pulling out indigenous plants to maintain garden structure.

When we plant out an indigenous garden, we are setting in motion a process of landscape change which we can’t completely control. It is a bit like painting with watercolors. Your indigenous garden needs some freedom to be able to move around the page a bit in order to naturalize itself. 

Mulching indigenous gardens

If you are looking to create a ‘natural  indigenous garden’ you need to make sure you are not mulching out the next generation of plants. For a small indigenous garden, I recommend a thin layer of mulch is applied late autumn before the majority of your plants have set seed, and only if the first few years post planting. I choose mulch mixes that rot down quickly, allow water to permeate the soil and which promote seed growth.

I like the idea that the mulch is feeding the soil. In an ideal scenario, you will have the majority of the exposed earth covered with plants which in 2-3 years post planting will have removed the need for mulch.

Fertilizer & Indigenous gardens

A good native mix fertilizer can work well with Melbourne’s indigenous plants, many of which are tolerant of rich soils. Its effectiveness depends upon the existing soil condition you have on site, and the plants you have chosen to use. Try not to over fertilize. Just a bit around each plant twice per year just before growing season and just before a big rain event is ideal. I also find that seaweed concentrates are very useful. Please refer to my site analysis blog  for information on how to understand the soil conditions you have in your garden. You will be much more effective with fertilizer if you know your soil before you start.

Pruning Indigenous plants

Some Indigenous plants can be cut to ground height on an annual basis whilst others will curl up their toes at the hint of a cut. So pruning is something you need to do mindfully. If you are not sure how a plant will respond to a cut, I find it useful to imagine how a kangaroo might have nibbled it. I’d tip prune it a few times first and see what it does and how it recovers. If it seems ok maybe you can take a bit more off next time. Many of the grassy type plants can be cut to the ground. Aesthetically I think many will look terrible for years after this treatment but it and be done. Some of our Indigenous shrubs can be hedged, whilst others will really dislike being cut. Your best bet is to experiment, and to limit you cutting activities to the growing seasons to minimize plant stress.

Indigenous Grasses and rushes

With grasses and rushes, I seasonally pluck/cut out the buildup of rotting foliage from around the base of the tussock. Many of the indigenous grasses will tend to suffocate the small herbs around them if you let them. In natural environments kangaroos, wallabies and grass fires would have kept this issue in balance. Some councils mimic this and periodically burn their grasslands to keep them open and diverse. I you decide to do the same, please take photos and be in touch. It would be great to have some more research about how home gardens respond to this method of maintenance.  

Watering

The indigenous plants that self seed in your garden will be as tough as nails! I often see indigenous plants growing out of cracks in rocks and in crazy tough places – and surviving the hottest days of summer. My guess is this has something to do with the root network a seed forms compared with that of a tube stock plant.

The ‘same’ indigenous plants that  comes from tube stock at a local indigenous nursery may have the same genetics as the wild equivalent, but I doubt they will ever be as tough. I recommend people install water efficient irrigation to nurture indigenous plants being grown from tube stock. You can always turn irrigation off, and when we get a few hot, dry summer months as we often do in Melbourne you will keep a lot more of your indigenous plants alive with irrigation.

The Indigenous Garden

Your garden is a place in which you can nurture. It is a space for specimen plants and ecologies- It will never be a truly wild space and nor should it be. It is after all, a garden.  A survival of the fittest approach to indigenous gardening may sometimes work on re-vegetation projects but often times it fails miserably and incurs terrible survival rates, especially on challenging sites.

So why not give yourself the best chance to succeed and nurture your indigenous garden.

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