If you’re new to planting and growing trees and feel intimidated by the process – don’t be. While trees may look as though they require hours of care and maintenance, they’re actually much easier to look after than they seem. All you need to know to get started is a few of the basics.
Choosing the Right Trees
Keeping your garden as low-maintenance as possible means selecting trees that are suited to your growing conditions. For example, if your garden is shaded, then you’ll need trees that prefer shade to sun. Or, if your soil isn’t very deep, then you should be picking shallow-rooted trees.
The best place to start is by taking a look at some native trees that appeal to you, such as the Queensland Bottle Tree or the Grass Tree. These species will have adapted to local conditions over the course of thousands of years. This means that, once you plant them, they’ll pretty much look after themselves.
Of course, once you’ve picked which species you want to start with, you also need to find a quality specimen. A tree that hasn’t been well looked after will struggle to establish in your garden compared to a healthy tree that’s been purchased from a reputable nursery, such as ours!
Give Your Trees a Good Start
Planting a tree isn’t difficult. Simply put, all you need to do is dig a hole in the ground, just slightly larger than the tree’s root ball, before planting your tree and covering the roots back over.
Yes, you can make things a little more complicated by adding a fertiliser, trimming roots, and setting up stakes, but, if you followed the first tip in this guide and picked the right trees, these extra steps won’t usually be necessary.
Mulch Your Trees
Many people underestimate the benefits that a mulch can bring. If you’re hoping for a low-maintenance garden, then a mulch is definitely what you need.
For starters, a mulch will help to prevent weeds from growing around your trees. Not only will this encourage your trees to really thrive, but it’ll also cut back on the amount of weeding that you need to do – win-win!
Even better, a mulch will also increase water retention in the soil, giving your trees moisture even on dry days. If you pick an organic mulch, then this will slowly break down over time, feeding your trees as it does so.
Tree Maintenance
Some trees do require regular maintenance, especially in the form of pruning. However, again, if you’ve picked the right trees, then you’ve hopefully gone for species that will do just fine when left unpruned, such as the Tree Aloe.
When it comes to watering, this does require some diligence to begin with. While many trees are drought-tolerant, such as the Dragon Tree, this only happens once a tree is established. Newly-planted trees will need a regular supply of water in order to properly set and spread their roots.
Summary
Compared to shrubs and other smaller plants, trees do seem like a much bigger investment, and this can often put some people off. However, so long as you pick the right tree, they really don’t require much work – they’re often easier to look after than smaller plants, and will also live for many more years. So, even if you don’t have much time to spend working in your garden, adding in a few extra trees is still well worth considering!