Preparing your garden for bushfire - the first steps
For many people the thought of getting their property bushfire-ready can be overwhelming. Others fear the expense or that they might have to radically alter their cherished garden.
In many cases simple steps can improve the chances of a house surviving a bushfire. Our handy checklist will help you take the first steps by preparing your garden for bushfire.
Garden checklist
To minimise bushfire fuel around your house:
Remove dead plant material like leaves, sticks and bark.
Keep grass under 10cm high.
Move flammable material such as wood piles away from the house and other buildings.
Keep gutters clear and the roof free of leaf litter.
Remove vegetation close to the house so that it is not near windows, wooden walls or fascias.
Make sure to put garden cuttings in your green bin or take them to the tip.
Garden design
Once you’ve taken the first steps to reduce bushfire fuel from around your house, you might like to start thinking about the design of your garden.
There may be simple changes you could make to your garden to increase its bushfire resilience without losing the features you love about it.
For example, you might consider swapping any flammable mulch, like pine bark and woodchips, to a non-combustible mulch like pebbles, shells or gravel. This can help to prevent fires from starting near your house when bushfire embers are falling into your garden.
For more tips like this and for further information about preparing your garden for bushfire, check out CSIRO’s Bushfire best practice guide on landscaping.