The weather is getting cooler now, which means it’s time to get started with the year’s next phase of garden maintenance.

Brisbane yards are looking a bit tired at the moment after suffering through below average rainfall and a hot summer, so if you think yours could do with a bit of rejuvenation in preparation for the cooler months, take a look at a few good tips that can help.

Improve your soil

Beauty is more than skin deep when it comes to your garden: your soil is the basis of your garden’s health, and nourishing it is the best way to enjoy a rich visual feast of greenery for the rest of the year.

Pay particular attention to fertilising and mulching both your lawns and your garden beds in this season’s gardening.

Brisbane properties need good drainage to prevent fungal diseases and mildew, but they also need good water retention to fight through the dry spells, so improving your soil structure should be a priority.

Composting is a great way to help your soil hold nutrients and water, and to introduce microorganisms that will fight disease and support healthy growth.

Choose good quality lawn fertilisers and mulch for your garden beds, and you’ll be rewarded with strong and healthy foliage and a lush lawn to enjoy even in the cool months.

Control your pests

Pests are usually the main offenders in a lacklustre garden. Even when you’ve taken good care to nourish your soil and maintain the health of your plants, slugs and snails could be leeching the colour and health right back out of them.

And if your grass is looking patchy or diseased, it could be time for some heavy-duty lawn care to get rid of grubs and parasites that feed on its nutrients.

Protecting your plants and your grass depends mostly on elbow grease. Mow regularly to cut the heads and stalks off weeds and hand-pull the ones that are below mowing height, and make sure to cover your citrus trees with netting to stop the night-time creatures stealing your fruit.

There are also quite a few environmentally safe weed and pest control solutions on the market, including selective and non-selective herbicides and pesticides, but always make sure to get good advice to make sure they’re right for your yard before you use them.

Incorporate new plants

Bringing new plants into your garden is a great way to transform your garden. It offers immediate aesthetic benefits, giving your yard a brighter, fresher look, but it also encourages and the development of new ecosystems with new species to support them.

If you’re looking to add a bit more colour into your landscape, you could try adding late season flowers like dahlias and cornflowers that will give rich, contrasting visual effects throughout the winter.

Choosing flowering plants will also help your garden to proliferate—they’ll attract the bees, who are both champions of pollination, and natural predators of pest insects.

But if you want to transform your yard space in a big way, you might consider growing some fruit: berries and citrus fruit will do well throughout the cold temperatures, and give your garden a bright colour palette and glorious home-grown nutrition that your whole family can enjoy.

Clean up your yard

The simplest way to transform your garden is also usually the most work. Garden clean ups are never anyone’s favourite job, but you’ll always see an instant improvement in your yard when you’ve done it, and you’ll also be paving the way for healthier, more resilient growth that will support it in the long term.

Rubbish removal is always the first port of call, and besides creating more space and a more pleasant outlook, it prevents danger by removing hidden nasties like red back spiders.

It’s also a good time to prune back perennials, diseased or dead wood, and vigorous vines, which will help to create shapely plants and tidy your yard as well as stimulate new growth.

And don’t forget the lawn mowing: Brisbane lawns will do better over autumn with a bit of length left in them, and more regular cutting.

If you’re dreaming of transforming your garden into a vibrant, soporific feast of foliage, but you can’t manage it on your own, Circle Maintenance can help.

Contact our expert gardeners anytime for more information, and we’ll be there for all your seasonal lawn and yard maintenance and landscaping needs.