Being Neighbourly

SERIES 26 Episode 06

Josh gets stuck into some autumn garden maintenance

Today, I feel like being a good neighbour and for that, I'll need a few things," says Josh.

"You might recall that we've got two houses on this 1200 square metre suburban block in the Perth suburb of Hilton. I live in the back house with my young family and in between the two homes we've got a shared productive garden with vegies and chooks and fruit trees. My neighbour - and sister-in-law - Lisa lives in the front house and about 18 months ago, I helped her to design and build a courtyard-type garden. Overall, it's done very well and she's rapt with it, but a bit of thoughtful maintenance now will keep it looking at its best."


"One of the best performers has been a Hedge Bamboo (Bambusa multiplex 'Alphonse Karr') and I put it in as a screen to provide privacy along a boundary fence and you can see how well it's done. It's grown up right above the fence line which is where I wanted the privacy, but now it's time to come through and clean up underneath to really show off those glorious golden stems."

Josh strips back the loose leaves to expose the fresh growth. "This is a clumping type bamboo, but it's important to note that they can still spread and damage things, concrete-edged planter which is why I've got it planted in a to keep it contained and stop it from pushing over the fence or busting up the deck."


"The next screening plant to tend to is Pittosporum 'ScreenMaster.' (Pittosporum Tenuifolium 'ScreenMaster'). It's often grown as a much more tightly-clipped formal hedge, but I like it grown a bit more informally than that. I clip it quite loosely and rather than using shears, I just go along with my secateurs and just give it a bit of a staggered tip pruning. It's growing it more like an open shrub, rather than a true hedge."

"And whilst I'm here, I'm just going to lift the lower canopy (trim off lower branches) of this young Chinese Tallow (Sapium sebiferum) to make sure it's clear of the hedge to make sure there's plenty of light and airflow in between it. "


"A succulent bed is a major feature of the garden and I reckon it's done just superbly with pretty much no maintenance whatsoever. It doesn't even need a great deal done to it now. What I will do is just go through and give it a bit of a tidy up - like on these purple Aeoniums (Black Rose - Aeonium arboreum 'Atropurpureum' ). I'm going to leave the heads right alone and just go through and just gently rub the stems to get rid of the old leaves. You can see how that tidies it right up."

"Likewise with the Echeveria (Echeveria 'Giant Blue'), which has had no water all summer long and it's just kept flowering. All I do is chop the flowers off when they're spent and again, I just go through and just gently pull out any daggy, dead old leaves to give a bit of room for the new pups to come off the side and to keep it growing nicely."

"Next is the Cotyledon orbiculata or Silver Dust Plant. Again, tough as nails - it just keeps on spreading and all I'm going to do is just tip prune it back to take it away from a bench seat, because people sitting on it get the silver dust on their clothes. It's already sprouting along the stem, so by pruning it back it encourages the new shoots."


"With the pruning and clearing up done, it's time to fertilise - starting with pelletised poultry manure and then rock minerals for trace elements."

"I'm also adding some iron sulphate because the garden is irrigated with greywater which can raise the pH due to the alkaline detergents, locking up iron. The iron sulphate corrects the lack of iron and the sulphur lowers the pH. I put it on at around about 20 to 30 grams per square metre and then make sure that's watered in well straight away."

"Finally, a lay down a 50 millimetre layer of coarse pine bark mulch to keep the moisture in the soil, as well as to smother the old bamboo leaves to help them rot down and feed the soil - and to keep it looking nice and neat."

"You know, I find garden maintenance really rewarding. I mean, before this garden was already looking good, but now, it looks even better and this careful bit of finessing will mean that this low maintenance garden looks great for many months to come."