Low maintenance garden design
A low maintenance garden doesn’t have to be dull, unattractive or simple. In fact, it’s easy to create a low maintenance garden that’s both beautiful and enjoyable. At Emma Pulman Garden Design we understand it’s not always easy to find the time to nurture your garden, which is why we can design and build a low maintenance garden for you. Making it easy for you to enjoy your valuable outdoor space without the added maintenance.
How to create a low maintenance garden
To help you get a better understanding of how a low maintenance garden can be created, here are our top tips and tricks.
- Don’t overdo the features: The more you add to your garden the more complex the care regime becomes. Before you start it’s important to work out what’s most important to you. Is it entertaining guests? A veg patch? A place to do morning yoga? Once you’ve worked this out, you can make it the focus of your garden. Try to not get distracted. It can be easy to want everything at once, but the key to low maintenance is doing one or two things well. Another tip is to have your most important feature nearest the house. This way it’s easily accessible and visible from your home. Making it easier and more convenient for you to enjoy it.
- Make the design straight, simple and wide: The more utilitarian the design the easier it will be to maintain. For example, by making paths wide, it will be easier to move wheelbarrows, mowers etc. By keeping the lawn straight and wide it will make it easier to cut. Try to avoid having a small fiddly area of lawn that makes it more difficult to cut. There are more tips on caring for your lawn below.
- Add mulch to your borders: Add mulch, bark or gravel to your borders to stop weeds from growing. The less time spent weeding the better.
Choose plants carefully
- Use trees, shrubs and bulbs: Hardy, evergreen trees and shrubs will help to keep your garden low maintenance. Low maintenance shrubs and trees include Euonymus, Lavender, Hebe and Magnolia. Bulbs can also be used to bring colour each year. They’re quick and easy to add to borders and will look after themselves. Grasses such as Carex or Miscanthus only need to be cut back once a year, making them a good low maintenance choice. Choose hardy plants which can withstand winter temperatures. Otherwise, they’ll need to be wrapped or brought indoors during Winter.
- Pick plants for your conditions: We’ve all been there… Scrolling through Pinterest admiring all the beautiful plants we’d love to have. But, it’s important to remember not all the plants you see will suit the conditions of your garden. It can end up becoming very hard work if you pick a plant suited for dry sandy soil and put it in a garden with natural clay wet conditions.
- Avoid Containers: Containers are great for smaller city gardens where space is limited. Or, they can be used to liven up a patio or a doorway. However, they are very high maintenance because they need to be watered daily in the Summer months. Container plants also need to be fed often and repotted every few years to make sure the soil has enough nutrients. If you do need to use containers try and use large ones which will allow the soil to stay moist for longer.
- Invest in an automated irrigation system: You can set the timer to water your plants daily which means holidays are easy. It also takes the pressure off watering daily and can make owning container plants a lot easier.
Lawns and Lawn alternatives
- Don’t collect your clippings: By letting the clippings land on the lawn you are putting nitrogen back in the soil which means the grass can be fed less often. It may be worth investing in a ‘recycling’ or ‘mulching’ mower which will break the grass down into smaller pieces.
- Use Everedge to border your lawn so you don’t have to edge it by hand.
- Lawn grasses prefer open conditions avoid having them in areas under trees or where they’ll receive a lot of shade.
- Consider professional maintenance: This may not be an option for everyone but if you want to guarantee having a well-kept lawn it may be time to bring in the professionals.
- Robot mowers: Although they can be very pricey, robot mowers do a great job of keeping your lawn in check.
- Artificial Lawns: Could be the best option for you. Artificial lawns cause a big debate in the world of landscaping and garden design! Advances in technology mean they look a lot more realistic however they don’t have the same positive environmental and habitat advantages as real grass.
If you’d like to have a low maintenance garden designed for your home or if you’d like to find out more about our garden maintenance services please fill out the contact form below or contact emma@emmapulmangardendesign.com / 07889356003