Gardening on my Verge
Notes for the Verge Visit on 21st June 2025
It didn’t start off as a vision of a verge garden. Oh, no!
The house was brand spanking new and the vision for the inner garden was one of native plants. But there were these freesia bulbs I had brought with me. Where to put them? Maybe I could tuck them on the footpath by the fence and the driveway so passers-by could enjoy them.
Then I was given packets of cottage garden seeds, not quite in keeping with the vision of an all-native garden, so the plot was extended along the fence line. Then the plot was extended for symmetry and so it went on. Self-sown nasturtiums made a colourful display and minimised the weeds.
The next initiative was obtaining council street trees. Well, they needed to be protected from enthusiastic whipper-snipping. Hence mulched areas around them. As the mulched areas expanded, I started planting some small ground covers. There was not much success at first but now there is promise and plans for more plantings.
Although the vines on the fence grew unexpectedly well, the original fence-line plants have now all died off, as annuals do. At the lower edge self-sown pumpkins took over for a couple of years, fruiting well but spreading out onto the footpath.
During prolonged wet spells the weeds moved in amongst those plants which had survived and eventually took over. Fits and starts of weeding and re-establishing parts of the garden have followed. A period of intense weeding lately has prepared for a renewed planting effort of more appropriate species.
A huge new delivery of arborist’s chippings is the inspiration for “getting things under control” again. Square metre by square metre the garden area will be weeded thoroughly, (again!), wet newspapers laid down with a thick layer of the chippings on top. Hopefully that will allow for slightly more permanence and the excitement of new beginnings.
Notes for my Verge Visit on 21st June 2025
Northside Brisbane, close to a tidal creek, with a south-western aspect for the footpath gardens, mostly shaded late autumn and winter.
The fence-line is 47 metres long and the garden is quite narrow, averaging 600mm, broken by a driveway and a span which has not been developed yet. Any wider and it would be difficult to reach across to weed.
The footpath is wide and covered in lush, fast-growing grasses with no central concrete footpath to prevent the grasses encroaching into the gardens.
The area is a floodplain and becomes sodden in heavy or prolonged rain. At the end of the first year, (i.e. in Feb 2022), the whole garden was flooded briefly.
There are 5 street trees, all under 4 years in the ground.
The inner garden needs a lot of work, too, despite having been heavily papered and mulched initially. 2024 was a year of travel and a period without mulch to keep down the weeds.
Read More
and earlier post about the lapwings
Lapwings on the Verge
ACF Community Brisbane Northside member, Jenny Peat asked council to plant some street trees on her grass verge. She’s planted a garden around the base of each tree with native ground covers including Chrysocephalum apiculatum, Wahlenbergia (maybe gracilis) very small flowers on long stems, Viola hederacea, Orthosiphon aristatus (white form), Dianella sp., a small fern, (struggling), …
It’s so important to protect the street trees so they are healthy and grow quickly to provide shade. Our city gets so hot in summer. We need more shade and less black roads.
Looking forward to seeing your verge tomorrow Jenny. Every verge is different and comes with different challenges. Doing it in small steps, adjusting as you go, is a good approach.