Weeds of Barrm Birrm

Yes, it looks really good, but that robust, green, brilliantly coloured flowering thing will grow anywhere, and when it's not what's intended to be there, we call it a weed.  For Barrm Birrm, the bush on the hills behind Riddells Creek, a weed is anything that wasn’t here a couple of hundred years ago.

It's our responsibility, as people who care for this land, to knock these little critters on the head, so that they don't take over. Here' a short list of the weeds of Barrm Birrm.

Gorse. Ah, the hallowed heath, let us remember Britain, and Scotland, and the grouse amongst the gorse, and let us take our secateurs and snip and paint. We've very little gorse in BB, having spent $1400 of our money on a big patch last year, which is now looking very sick, but there's a bit of tidying up to do, and gorse manages to regrow from the seed bank for about 50 years, so it's a task for those with a long timeframe.

Blackberry. Of course, blackberry, but we're doing well with blackberry, and better than a lot of places around Riddells. We sprayed out a few areas at the same time as we had the gorse done. But for the patient, cut and paint is required at just about every point where the cross-slope tracks cross gullies, because that's where it stays damp.

Cootamundra Wattle appears on the middle slopes. It looks great in flower, covered with bright yellow, but boy does it get around – go to http://vro.depi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/vrosite.nsf/pages/pot_dist_cootamundra_wattle and have a look at potential for infestation across Victoria.

Sallow Wattle is another good looker that doesn't know when to say at home. A chainsaw will set it back, and workout each spring is bringing results on the lower slopes.

Sweet pittosporum is a native down in the Otways, where it loves the high rainfall, but here it just looks out of place. We've got it on the lower slopes just in from Gap Road. Handsaw and paint with RoundUp works well, chainsaw for the bigger specimens. This has now become a priority, as they're expanding their range, spread by birds eating seed.

You can buy Bluebell Creeper at the nursery, but when it jumps the fence, watch out! MRSC kindly gave RCL $1,800 last year to get the contractors in to knock off an outbreak at the North East corner of Barrm Birrm, on Gap Road. It coughed and spluttered and half of it died, but the other half threw off a pretty potent brew and kept rolling.

Our contractor, Indigwedo, did the right thing and came back and cut and painted, time consuming but effective. When they were done, having got familiar with the plant, I started finding other single plants a bit further back along Gap Road, and into a gully, so it's now on the hit list. 

Here it is looking lovely and green, but it's on its way out, because I've just cut and painted this specimen with Round Up.

I won't mention Panic Veldt Grass, because what do you do once it's in? However, it doesn't seem to creep forever, with the native grasses holding ground eventually, 10 or 20 metres in from Gap Road. "Edge effect" they call it, which is why keeping big continuous pieces of native bush is important.

There are few more culprits, but I'll finish with Agapanthas. I don't just get the "avenue of aggies" look, up the country driveways. If you must, plant the seedless variety, because the seeds are eaten and carried by birds far afield, and the plant is almost indestructible once it gets well-established.

You could walk past it and not worry, but seeing something like this nags at me. One day I'll bring my mattock on my walk and grub this one out.

Well, that's quite enough. Phone me up to go on our mailing list for weeding events, when you can come along and meet other people who know that doing the impossible just takes a bit of persistence.

Ross Colliver, 0411 226519, Riddells Creek Landcare