Bush-friendly garden guide

Most plants need a certain type of soil to flourish. By working out the type/s of soil in your garden, you can choose plants that will thrive there.

The types of soil are:

• Clay: tiny particles that bond closely, holds water, prone to compaction and waterlogging.
• Loam: a mix of sand and clay combined with organic matter. This is the best soil for growing a wide range of plants.
• Sand: large, course particles, does not hold water, low in nutrients, well aerated.

How to work out your soil type

Roll a marble-sized chunk of moist soil between your fingers and try to form a ball:

• If the ball stays together, your soil is mainly clay.
• If the ball falls apart once you stop applying pressure, your soil is loamy.
• If you can't form a ball because the soil will not hold together at all, your soil is sandy.

A bush-friendly garden includes different native plant species and a range of habitat features.

If you choose plants that flower and fruit at different times of the year, you'll provide a constant food supply for animals.

You can create more places for animals to shelter in your garden if you:

• choose plants of varying height, shape and form
• add different landscape features, like logs and rock-walls.

Birds

• The more layers of vegetation your garden has, the more bird species it will attract.
• Include a range of food plants. For example, lilly pilly and blueberry ash attract fruit-eating birds, and kangaroo grass and wattle attract seed-eating birds.
• Provide plenty of microhabitats and avoid pesticides. This is important so that native invertebrates thrive, which provides food for insectivorous birds.
• Add bird baths of varying sizes and depths. Place the baths at different heights in the garden to help attract a range of birds. Birds need fresh water to drink and enjoy bathing.

Butterflies, bees and other insects

• The best way to help pollinating insects is to plant more flowers. Banksias, dianellas, eucalypts, and native peas
  are all good options.
• It's important to have a water source. A shallow bird bath with pebbles and sticks will provide insects with safe places to land and drink.
• Provide shelter items. For example, hollow logs, pieces of thick bark, and rock walls.
• A metre square of bare ground will encourage pollinating insects that nest in the ground.

Frogs

• Frog ponds come in all shapes and sizes. The pond should capture the full morning sun, then shad in the middle of the day. Some native fish in the pond will deter mosquitoes.
• Rocks, logs, shrubs, and groundcovers protect frogs as they eat and move around.
• Plants like swamp lilies will hold water and give frogs a cool and damp place to enjoy.

Lizards

• Rocky clusters in full sun make an ideal basking place for lizards. Log hollows, leaf litter, and rocky crevices provide shelter and a place to hibernate in winter.
• Provide water for lizards to drink in a shallow receptacle, like a saucer.
• Planting native ground covers and shrubs will provide lizards with extra shelter.

Mammals

• Hollows are important habitat for many nocturnal mammals, including possums, gliders, and microbats. Make sure you keep all hollow-bearing trees.
• Hollows take time to develop - a large hollow can take 100 to 150 years or more.
• Ground-dwelling mammals shelter in burrows, under logs and rocks, or in hollows of fallen branches.

• Domestic and feral cats hunt and kill native wildlife. Contain your cat at home and don't let it roam. It's the safest and kindest thing you can do - for wildlife and your cat.
• There are many ways to keep cats safe at home in a way that provides for all their needs, while keeping wildlife safe.
• Cats can live a happy life indoors day-round. Outdoor options include a secure enclosure, or an outdoor area made from catproof fencing.
• Some cat owners like to train their cats to walk on a harness. This is a great way for the cat to enjoy the outdoors with almost no risk to wildlife.
• Council has free CatBibs that are comfortable for cats to wear but make it difficult for them to hunt.

Prepare

• Mulch prevents soil from drying out. It also:
  • adds important nutrients
  • suppresses weeds
  • helps protect your native plants from heat or frost.
• Remove weeds and add mulch before you plant. Lay down newspaper or cardboard before you mulch - you'll help prevent weeds regrowing.
• Mulch to a depth of five to seven centimetres – too much mulch stops water getting to plants.
• Keep mulch away from the stems of your native plants to avoid fungal infection.
• You can improve your soil by adding well-rotted organic matter or compost.
• You can improve heavy clay soils by adding gypsum.
• Identify common weeds and take action early, as some weeds are invasive. If you need help to identify a weed, you can:
  • visit the WeedWise website
  • download the NSW WeedWise app
  • email weedID@esc.nsw.gov.au.

Plant

Follow these four simple planting steps:

1. Thoroughly wet your plant while still in the pot.
2. Dig a hole twice as wide and slightly deeper than the pot. Add water-storing crystals into the hole. This will help to lengthen the time between watering.
3. Remove the plant from the pot and put in the hole so the top of the root ball is level with the soil around it.
4. Backfill the hole with topsoil and press the soil down around the base of the plant before you water it.

Water

• Long, deep soaking of newly planted natives will encourage roots to move deep into the soil.
• Your plants will need less water once they're established.

Prune

• Pruning the tips of your plants will stimulate new growth.
• Snip the tops of shoots with secateurs or your fingers after flowering.
• The more you prune, the more compact and dense the plant will become.