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Create a Low Maintenance Garden
Step-by-step guide to creating a Garden that
requires low maintenance
 Almost
everyone that lives in a home with a yard area wants to have some
color and beauty added to the lawn around the home. However, few
people in today's busy world have a lot of extra time to invest in
caring for and maintaining a garden. Even those that may have the
time and energy to put into a garden, would prefer to spend that
time with hobbies other than weeding, hoeing and planting involved
with maintaining a picture perfect garden. However, this does not
mean going without a beautiful garden! There are easy ways to keep
your garden low maintenance while adding colorful shrubs,
ornamental grasses and flowering plants to your outdoor
environment.
Plan Your Garden for Low-Maintenance
Careful planning before beginning any garden or adding a new
area to an existing garden is the key to keeping the maintenance
low while still keeping the essential elements of a beautiful
garden. Simply sitting down and creating a design on paper or with
computer software can save you plenty of time and energy. Before
beginning to plant, it is best to sit the plants on top of the soil
in the design you created and determine whether you like what you
designed. If not, go back to the drawing board. You wouldn’t build
a house without a design or testing that design, so use the same
frame of mind for your garden as well. The goal is to create a
lush, attractive landscape
 that
requires only minimal time to care for the plants and garden space.
High maintenance gardens tend to involve fighting against Mother
Nature. Instead, consider Mother Nature as a friend and incorporate
this into your planning. You'll want to utilize plants that fit
your climate and soil well and require little, if any, pruning,
leaf removal and other arduous tasks. This may take a few more
hours of pre-planning but will save you hours of work throughout
the entire garden season.
Preparing the Soil and Weeding
Another key to maintaining your garden with little work is to
prepare the soil and then place a weed screen over the soil. The
weed screen is simply an environmentally safe woven product that is
laid on top of the soil to discourage weeds from breaking through.
Yes, a few weeds will manage to appear from time to time, but their
numbers will be greatly reduced, saving you hours of time.
Preparing the soil can involve properly tilling the soil before
planting as well as making sure the soil is of a proper pH balance,
around 6.5 to 7. You don’t need a professional landscaper to help
with this, as soil testing kits are available at almost all home
and garden stores.
Adding Low Maintenance Plants and Trees
If you are looking for larger plants and trees to add to your
garden landscape, consider
 plants
that double as blooming flowers. The type of plant you choose will
depend on your location, but can include birds of paradise,
hibiscus, or even clematis vines. All of these plants will bloom
throughout the warm season, but will remain as beautiful plants
when blooms are not available. Combining plants and flowers keeps
gardeners from working overtime!
As far as large trees and shrubs go, evergreens are easy to care
for and don't shed leaves that you have to rake. In almost every
climate, these plants thrive with almost no attention once planted
and established. You can find evergreens that range from trees that
will grow to be huge specimens to small shrubs that are great for
adding privacy to a back deck or porch.
Crotons, brightly colors and available in several varieties, are
perfect shrubs for adding a touch of color to your low maintenance
garden without using an abundance of flowers. These plants do not
lose their leaves although an occasional leaf may fall as the shrub
grows. In full sunlight, these beautiful plants will obtain their
optimal color but even in a less than fully sun-drenched yard they
remain colorful. Crotons are inexpensive to purchase initially and
make a great addition to any low maintenance garden.
For height and a touch of elegance, consider ornamental grasses
as well. Pampas grass with its long thin green blades and elegant
head looks beautiful when mature and is
 popular
for its low maintenance. Bamboo grass is becoming very popular in
many southern regions as an excellent way to add privacy to any
backyard.
Mulching Your Newly Planted Garden
After you have determined which low maintenance plants are right
for your climate and have planted, it helps to keep the weeds at
bay by mulching the newly planted garden well. You can create your
own mulch by using compost from items around the home, such as
kitchen scrapes and grass clippings that have dried, or you can
purchase mulch from a home and garden store. The combination of a
weed screen and heavy mulch means much less weed maintenance
throughout the garden season!
Tips to Reduce Maintenance in an Existing Garden
To reduce maintenance in an existing garden, you can add weed
screen by piercing the screen, cutting an opening to allow for the
plant and then adding additional mulch on top of the screen. It may
take more work than adding a weed screen initially, but can reduce
weeds for a long time.
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