Retaining wall jungle

[Nards]

Hi all,

We are having a maintenance issue in one of Cairns properties. Across the rear of the property there is a retaining wall and a large sloped garden bed. The area is planted, however huge amounts of grass weeds are growing through and taking over.

About 6 months ago, the tenant was having continual problems controlling the grasses/weeds, and spending a lot of time using Roundup (or similar) to get rid of it. After talking with an experienced nurseryman, he suggested planting the bed out with a ground cover - we used Peanut groundcover, which is used by council throughout Cairns - we weeded the entire bed, planted 80 seedling plants and asked the tenant to water the groundcover (was the dry season). The idea being that the groundcover would cover over and preclude weeds...

This week I received an email from my PM informing me that the tenant went on holiday for 3 weeks, and came back to a jungle (see pic) . I'm not sure if the groundcover is under there, and we no longer live in Cairns... PM is suggesting having a gardener weed the entire bed, then heavily mulch.

What are your thoughts about solving this problem? I remember when we weeded it, there was ALOT of grass seed on the ground..

I will never buy a property with such a retaining wall again!! Lesson learned!!

Cheers, Nadia

 

[f4j]

Depends really.
In your lease are the tenants responsible or are you?

 

[knightm]

As for who's responsibility it is, I dont know.

As for why it is growing back so quickly, I had a place do this on me (as a tenant) we didn't bother asking the landlord as we knew he wouldn't bother (based on his responses to previous requests) but we took some pride in our own living space so we fixed it ourselves. The reason it comes straight back is probably because there are bulbs living in the soil that generate the weed shoot. Ours looked like beetroot bulbs. You need to turn the soil, pull them all out, dispose of them and only then cover the soil with newspaper/weed mat and plant it out with whatever your chosen plant is plus heavy mulch. We did this and it worked a treat, 6 months later when we left there were still no weeds.

 

[f4j]

As for who's responsibility it is, I dont know.

Depends on the lease. Most of the places I've rented stated that the garden was my problem and had to be kept in good order.

 

[Nards]

Depends really.
In your lease are the tenants responsible or are you?

On the lease the tenants are responsible for garden maintenance, and I know the family that lives there has put a lot of time and effort into trying to get rid of the weeds/grasses (as she says she feels like a mountain goat, climbing up there all the time - it really is steep!), however it has become overwhelming for them. I don't really think they are responsible for constant garden maintenance to this extent, and am happy to pay for whatever it takes to solve the prob, however, would like a long term solution...which is why we tried the groundcover...I'm concerned that if we mulch the grasses will just grow straight through - is there a way to kill/get rid of the seeds?? Newspaper/plastic wouldn't work as the mulch would just slide straight down.

Nadia

 

[Nards]

Just a quick update - just got two quotes to have the "jungle" sorted out - weeds removed, and then mulched..in both cases my PM prefaced the quotes with "I hope you are sitting down!" - $960 and $1250.... so my husband is going to fly there and do it himself - even with the airfare it will work out cheaper, and be done quicker and he will be able to assess the best way to deal with it...apparently garden guys are in hot demand at the moment and the wait is quite long, due to the heavy rain recently...obviously they are being well remunerated for it too!!

Nadia

 

[f4j]

I don't understand why you are going out of your way to do this.
Your contract says the tenant is responsible and this is due to lack of care.

 

[PropertyFi]

Perhaps you should turn it into a selling point and advertise that this property is available to tenants with pets, on the condition that the pet is a mountain goat.

 

[sailor]

Hi Nards, yep we've had masses of rain up here lately and everything is growing gangbusters. Tis a sight to see...especially the cane fields which have become giagantic.

I use a local gardener, and he's done our IP's for several years now. I can email you his ph number...he is a gem and doesn't charge the earth. He has a degree in horticulture...ie speaks plant latin! PM me if you would like his no.

I also include the cost of gardening in the rent. Despite tenants having promised over the years to take care of it....something always seems to happen!

 

[George]

I would definitely include some kind of weed-mat, plus mulch on top.

Mulch alone is not going to do the trick, even mat is not 100% guarantee that weeds are not going to come back.

But you have fighting chance and roots are not as strong, so even once a month maintenance can be enough to keep weeds in check.

 

[Nards]

I don't understand why you are going out of your way to do this.
Your contract says the tenant is responsible and this is due to lack of care.

Hmmm..this is a good question - my answer is that it is our property and I want it to perform for me long into the future and enable me to continue the IP journey. I want it to remain in good condition and not get run-down, therefore holding its value etc.... We bought this property less than a year ago, so haven't had to deal with the garden before.

Whilst I agree that garden maintenance is "their problem", I believe they have gone above and beyond what I would expect them to do to try to maintain this garden - it really has to be seen to be believed - of course I could make them fork out $1200 to have weed mat and mulch put down, but I think this is my responsibility - we already mulch the gardens yearly and attend to pruning of large trees etc. Once the mulch etc is in place, we will expect them to maintain it.

Having said that, in the future we will build the cost of a gardener into the rent, and have them attend regularly, especially over the Wet, so the problem doesn't get to this level again. We can use this opportunity to deal with the garden and inspect our Cairns properties at the same time - not such a bad thing..

As always, hindsight is awesome, and we wouldn't buy a property with such a difficult, high maintenance garden in a tropical area again

Thanks for all your replies,
Nadia

 

[Rockstar]

Hi Nards,

I am a Horticulturist and Landscaper. I would be taking Sailor's advice if I were you. Local knowledge is priceless. The question of weed control is always an issue with any garden. The best long term solution is to firstly mulch heavily over either weedmat or newspaper/cardboard. On top of this it is imperative to plant hardy species that will smother or shade out the ground suppressing weeds. The soil needs to be fertile so the plants that you put in will grow quickly and healthily. Of course some back up maintenance is more essential in the early stages of a new garden until it becomes established.
Weedmat can be a pain if seed germinates in the mulch layer and the roots grow down through the fine holes so I tend to go for cardboard which gives decent smother but eventually rots down.
Get a quote from Sailors contact before you embark on your journey. I do agree that it is fair for you to sort out the garden initially and then either get the tenant to do the maintenance or increase the rent to compensate for a gardener.

I would not recommend a goat!

Hope it works out for you, Ian

 

[Nards]

Hi Ian,

Thanks for the advice - we have found it difficult to come by!
Our biggest concern is the gradient of the slope - it is quite steep, and I believe if we put the mulch on either weed mat or paper/cardboard, it will just slide down with any sort of rainfall...any tips!?
I will get in touch with Sailor and her gardener to give me a quote also.

Cheers,
Nadia

 

[Rockstar]

Hi Nadia,

Hmm...... well Sailor's mate probably is the best to seek specific advice from. The photo may not show the true gradient but it doesn't look that bad to me. If you lay your cardboard/paper from the bottom to the top so your overlaps catch the water rather than shedding it this can help. Also if you use a mulch that clings on better such as hay or sugar cane it won't be as likely to wash away. Again I am not aware what materials are available up there so talk to the local tradies.

Cheers, Ian

 

[George]

I once saw nailed timber ribs through carpet across the slope.
This had sort of lousy look, as timber pieces were scavenged logs, thick branches and sleepers.

But I assume that you can do that with neat pieces of 2 by 2, even with not great looking pieces of timber with thick layer of much that will hide it completely.

And for more permanent (non-rotting) slippage stoppers, bricks with holes can be used nailed to stock through holes.

 

[Muffinman]

Just a quick update - just got two quotes to have the "jungle" sorted out - weeds removed, and then mulched..in both cases my PM prefaced the quotes with "I hope you are sitting down!" - $960 and $1250.... so my husband is going to fly there and do it himself - even with the airfare it will work out cheaper, and be done quicker and he will be able to assess the best way to deal with it...apparently garden guys are in hot demand at the moment and the wait is quite long, due to the heavy rain recently...obviously they are being well remunerated for it too!!

Nadia

I'm unsure how you feel it would be a saving , people seem to forget their own time is money as well.
I've lost count on how many clients said to me they will do it themselves to save $200.
But after they spend 2 days working unpaid , fuel and other costs it just cost them $400 to save $200 DIY.

$960 for your quote might require 2 x men at standard charge of approx $35-$40 per hour x 9 hour day = $630, plus fuel costs depending $30 , mulcher running costs running close to $700 +GST
Clients forget the hour they visited the site and travel costs plus preparing the quote easily adds to $70 if they were to charge for this service.
I need to be on solicitor rates..lol

In your case you have flights to pay , travel costs at airport or relying on others. Accom costs, then your own time. If you don't have a vehicle more costs to hire or borrow. If you are going to mulch you will need to hire a machine to do it correctly more costs.
You will have lost an entire day travelling and non paid time.

Saving I cannot see it but that's your call!

 

[sailor]

Hey Nards...did you get onto Greg-the-gardener? How was his quote compared to the PM's gardeners?

 

[mam544]

An easy, cheap solution...

I am amazed that such an easy problem to solve has become so complicated.
Get someone, perhaps the tenant, to go to Bunnings and buy a $20 pump spray. While there buy the concentrated Yates Zero weed killer, about $16 but will make about 50 litres.
Get the 5L pump sprayer and about 30ml of weed killer and just spray them.
It will take no more than 15 minutes. Within 10 days they will all be dead.
Then either weed matt and mulch or just spray again when they look like coming back. Easy...

 

[George]

Get someone, perhaps the tenant, to go to Bunnings and buy a $20 pump spray. While there buy the concentrated Yates Zero weed killer, about $16 but will make about 50 litres.
Get the 5L pump sprayer and about 30ml of weed killer and just spray them.
It will take no more than 15 minutes. Within 10 days they will all be dead.
Then either weed matt and mulch or just spray again when they look like coming back. Easy...

Very true, word of precaution, do it on calm day as wind can take spray long distance away and you might get surprise plants collapse.

Also do not apply if rain is imminent and not too early in the morning if there is heavy dew.

I sometimes use piece of cardboard, or larger box with bottom cut out, to lower the possibility of over-spray in crowded situation.

 

[Rockstar]

I am amazed that such an easy problem to solve has become so complicated.
Get someone, perhaps the tenant, to go to Bunnings and buy a $20 pump spray. While there buy the concentrated Yates Zero weed killer, about $16 but will make about 50 litres.
Get the 5L pump sprayer and about 30ml of weed killer and just spray them.
It will take no more than 15 minutes. Within 10 days they will all be dead.
Then either weed matt and mulch or just spray again when they look like coming back. Easy...

Spraying is a really short term solution. You still gotta pull the things out anyway as they look like crap when they die - and they will come back again and again. Also you need to be really careful with existing plants being hit by spray.