Green Gardening Guide - Brisbane

1 Green . Guide Sustainable Gardening tips to save time, money, water and support our native wildlife Sixth edition That's why I'm digging sustainable Gardening Message from the Lord Mayor Sustainable Gardening Growing our Council's citywide vision is to achieve 40% natural habitat cover by 2031. To urban forest reach this target, Council has a number Brisbane is a great of projects aimed at restoring forest and place to live, work wildlife habitat across Brisbane to create and play and we enjoy a legacy for future generations to enjoy. a fantastic climate You can play an important role in keeping and outdoor lifestyle. Brisbane clean, Green and liveable Communities, families and residents by using Gardening methods that are across the city are seeking to reconnect kind to our environment. Sustainable with nature and Gardening . That is why it Gardening methods include mulching and is one of my top priorities as Lord Mayor composting, planting appropriate plants to continue to enhance our environment.

2 In the right place and reducing the use of Most of the Green cover in Brisbane non-organic fertilisers and other chemicals suburbs comes from everyone's backyard. which can damage our waterways. So every tree, shrub or native grass that Thank you for taking the time to read you plant is helping to grow our urban this Guide , I look forward to working with forest. Trees and plants provide a home you to make our city an even better place for Brisbane 's unique birds, animals and to live. insects, give Brisbane its unique character and provide shelter and shade to our city. Graham Quirk LORD MAYOR. Sustainable Green Gardening Sustainable Gardening methods play a vital In fact, you can grow food in pots on a role in reducing waste going to landfill, for balcony, on a sunny window sill or in chemicals entering our creeks and streams, hanging baskets. conserving water and providing food and This Guide provides a wealth of sustainable habitat for our native wildlife.

3 Gardening information to assist you, Sustainable Gardening can be achieved whether you are getting started or have through thoughtful planning. Plants that an established garden. There's everything are well-suited to your garden and local from designing your garden, what to plant conditions, will thrive and need less and when, how to care for and maintain maintenance and watering. Careful choices your plants, and the many benefits of of landscape elements will make your bringing biodiversity into your garden. garden more attractive and provide food, There are tips and advice on balcony and water and shelter to our unique wildlife. small space Gardening , plant selection Growing even a small amount of your own and care and managing pests. You'll find food can make a difference to your budget valuable local knowledge through the tips and to the environment, and the good news and hints provided by Brisbane residents, is that you don't need to have a big garden.

4 Along with fun quotes, to help inspire you. 2. Sustainable Gardening CONTENTS. Sustainable Gardening 4. Garden design 9. Plants and planting 15. Bringing biodiversity into your urban garden 29. Garden care 35. Growing your own 53. More Green information 60. Green Gardening Guide 3. Sustainable Gardening Sustainable Gardening Why we garden Have we lost the skill Gardening is good for your health, of Gardening ? wealth and happiness. It enriches Thirty years ago, many of us had a basic our lives and the world in which we understanding of Gardening principles. live. People have been Gardening As our lives became busier, much of the indoors and outdoors for thousands desire and need to grow plants at home of years and the enjoyment of diminished. The improvements in food Gardening is universal. production technology and modern farming practices, that produce high Creating and growing a beautiful and yields and cheaper imports, have made functional garden gives us a great sense food cheaper and more plentiful.

5 Of achievement. Each time we venture into our garden we are reminded of our Communities across Australia look to efforts because it is constantly evolving reconnect with nature, the outdoors and changing. It is rewarding because the and fresh, healthy food, Gardening is act of growing plants is full of creativity experiencing a real resurgence. and wonder. This Guide aims to give you the tools Gardening is good for your health and you need to convert your interest into a provides an opportunity to be active. beautiful, thriving and sustainable garden Being outside, enjoying Brisbane 's whether you live in a house, townhouse subtropical climate and diverse plant and or apartment. animal life, is so rewarding. Each season brings new opportunities to your garden. The garden provides a place for families to connect. Children can find it a place of learning and wonderment. There is nothing more exciting than watching what you have planted grow and come to life with flowers, fruit or vegetables.

6 Gardening teaches patience and encourages responsibility and commitment. By supplementing some of your family's food bill with organic home-grown produce you may save many hundreds of dollars over a year and improve your health through better nutrition and regular exercise. Backyard Gardening in the 1950s 4. What is sustainable Give yourself a tick if you . Sustainable Gardening Gardening ? Have designed your garden to make the most of cooling breezes and Sustainable Gardening means that it provide shade to protect your home contributes to, rather than takes away from the hot summer sun. from, the Earth. It uses fewer resources Have created a layered garden of trees, and inputs from elsewhere, recycles shrubs, grasses and groundcovers to resources and focuses on holistic create a haven for birds, butterflies, frogs outcomes. It seeks to conserve water, and other native wildlife. reduce waste going to landfill, decreases chemicals ending up in our creeks and Use Australian native, locally- streams, and provides food and habitat indigenous plants, rather than invasive for our wildlife.

7 Exotic plants. Because it is sustainable (meaning it Grow some of your own produce. sustains itself), this Gardening technique Make and use your own compost, can require less work to maintain, making or use a worm farm. it a more efficient, productive and less Use mulch to keep the soil cool, moist time-consuming activity in our already and weed-free. busy lives. Have a rainwater tank. Why we need to garden Use only organic fertilisers and sprays. sustainably Brisbane 's urban forest . Sustainability is a principle that influences our decisions on how to maintain and how you are helping enhance our quality of life, both now Did you know that the backyards of and in the future. Council encourages Brisbane 's suburbs provide most of the all residents to garden sustainably. Green cover in the city? This contributes Sustainable Gardening starts with immensely to Brisbane 's urban forest. thinking about exactly what we want Just try to imagine what Brisbane would from our gardens and what smart look like without our trees and plants.

8 Choices we need to make to achieve this. Every tree, shrub, native grass or Whether we want our gardens to provide groundcover that you have or that you colour, shade, flowers, food or privacy, plant is helping to grow Brisbane 's urban the principles are the same. We can forest. This keeps our city Green , clean, achieve this with thoughtful planning, cool and more liveable for everyone to protecting native vegetation, removing enjoy. For more information on Brisbane 's environmental weeds, mulching and urban forest, visit composting garden beds, using water efficiently, planting appropriate plants in the right place, using plants to help cool our houses and reducing the use of non-organic fertilisers and pesticides. Green Gardening Guide 5. The carbon cycle Sustainable Gardening Sunlight Auto and CO2 cycle industrial emissions Plant Photosynthesis respiration Animal respiration Organic carbon Root Decay respiration organisms Dead organisms and waste products Ocean Fossils and fossil fuels Uptake What is carbon?

9 This means that more carbon dioxide is being expelled and less plant matter is Carbon is a biological element found in available to absorb the gas. all living things, soil, ocean and the air. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas In nature there are continuous cycles that traps heat in the atmosphere. Life on of life and death, of which carbon is a key element. Earth would cease to exist without this gas keeping the planet warm. The rapid Carbon is produced when plants absorb increase of carbon dioxide in the carbon dioxide (CO2) and sunlight in their atmosphere causes the Earth to become leaves and water from their roots. These increasingly warmer, like a greenhouse. plants are then eaten by animals. Carbon is returned to the atmosphere as carbon While planting more trees is a good dioxide when animals breathe and plants start, using less fossil fuels is also critically respire, and then returned to the earth important. By making some behavioural when they die and decompose.

10 Changes such as walking or cycling, using public transport, driving your car less, However, since the Industrial Revolution began in the mid 1800s, the burning of using less electricity or buying Green fossil fuels (coal, gas and oil) and the high power, and growing or buying locally- level of deforestation throughout the grown, seasonal produce, you can greatly world has increased the amount of reduce your carbon footprint. This benefits carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. the world in which we live and the Brisbane we love, now and for future generations. 6. What can you do? Environmental and sustainability grants Sustainable Gardening help the community to undertake Visit for environmental and sustainability more information on reducing your initiatives and environmental carbon footprint. restoration projects. These have included the rehabilitation and What is Council doing? release of native wildlife, support for community gardens, energy Council is continually working to efficiency projects, and projects to protect our natural environment.