Like gardens but really, really hate gardening!

lisa26_2

Our garden is very low maintenance, but not maintenance free. if you can cope with a bit of grass cutting then something like ours is a good option. We have a large patio made up of concreted areas segregated by single rows of bricks so little/no chance of getting weeds to remove, unlike with slabs of blockpaved patios where inevitably you end up with weeds growing inbetween all the time eventually. The rest is laid to lawn with a border across the back which has that weed stop fabric down and then pebbles over the top. Within the border we have 3 dwarf conifers which break it up a bit. the boundary in a low wall which obviously takes no real maintenance but a fence would be almost as good but would just need painting occasionally.

[Deleted User]

Half of my garden is paved over as I have difficulty with gardening as my joints are nowhere as near 'bendy' as they used to be.(old age catchs up with us all.) When we moved here 16 years ago we used to grow potatos onions lettucces ,carrots and tomatos and peppers in the greenhous Now the only thing that seems to grow in abundance is weeds.One of my DGS comes and cuts the small bit of lawn for me but I would rather sit in my conservatory and look out than sit in the garden now .I am seriously contemplating having the rest of the garden paved and just having a few pots scattered around but even pots are a problem (I really don't do bending at all) I used to have a chap come and tidy my garden up for me 'Gary the grass' but sadly he contracted MS and can no longer do it.I'm a bit uncertain about getting anyone I don't know as I live alone (Gary was one of my DDs colleagues OHs) So I can understand how you feel I too love a nice garden but now it seems to be more of a worry than anything else.

lostinrates

lisa26 wrote: »

Our garden is very low maintenance, but not maintenance free. if you can cope with a bit of grass cutting then something like ours is a good option. We have a large patio made up of concreted areas segregated by single rows of bricks so little/no chance of getting weeds to remove, unlike with slabs of blockpaved patios where inevitably you end up with weeds growing inbetween all the time eventually. The rest is laid to lawn with a border across the back which has that weed stop fabric down and then pebbles over the top. Within the border we have 3 dwarf conifers which break it up a bit. the boundary in a low wall which obviously takes no real maintenance but a fence would be almost as good but would just need painting occasionally.

It is worth pointing out the down side of hard landscaping: i have read that the increase in flash floods in recent years is down to the increase in hard lanscaping ....taking away surface area that drains rain water.

Ben84

A local garden company cut our lawn and if needed trim the bushes for us. We don't have flower beds to worry about, just trees, bushes and lawn. Try not to plant trees and bushes whose final size would be bigger than the space they're in, it just makes for endless trimming. Ours are about their full size now and hardly need any trimming, they just fit in the space. I might add some bulbs in the grass in clusters, but flowerbeds are I wouldn't want as maintaining lots of empty weed free soil is too much time and effort.

LameWolf

Snowleopard I feel your pain... I used to actually enjoy gardening, but now I'm disabled, I literally can't do it any more; and Mr LW doesn't know a nettle from a nasturtium!:rotfl:

Also, I'm now scared to go out of the house on my own, so even if we had raised beds, and Mr LW was to put tools and stuff out for me, I couldn't go and work on it without him here.

Real bummer.

anguk

We've got a small front garden, when we first moved in we had it part gravelled and the rest filled with shrubs and flowers. It's now become a chore, I never seem to have the time to keep on top of it and OH can't help now so I've decided this year it's all getting pulled out and the whole lot is getting gravelled. I do like some greenery so I think I'll just get a few low maintenance pots.

Austin_Allegro

1. Keep the garden 'low maintenance' - just have a lawn and some pots to start with.

2. Think of it not as housework but as outdoor exercise, some time in the fresh air you can enjoy making a nice place for family and friends

3. After a while, start thinking of the money saving possibilities of growing your own food. Start off small with herbs and easy vegetables and fruit trees.

4. Alternatively, just let it grow semi-wild. I did this for years in my London garden. I kept a small area of lawn which I mowed every other week. I allowed the prettier weeds to flourish, and trimmed the uglier/bushier ones every few weeks or so to make them look more like shrubs. I encouraged brambles and nettles for food use, and kept a few low maintenance flowers (geraniums are great, they are very hardy perennials) and edible herbs (chives, lemonbalm, mint etc) in nice pots near the patio. Oddly enough I got quite a few compliments about how nice the garden looked (unless they were just being polite...:rotfl:)

monnagran

Ah! That's what I've been doing - I've been ecologically minded and leaving nettles etc for the wild life. I knew there had to be a good reason for it. And obviously the lack of hard landscaping is because I am encouraging the water to drain away, or would be if we weren't on solid clay and the water sits on the top of it for days.
I'm not sure about regarding gardening as exercise, I think on balance I prefer housework. WHAT AM I SAYING? I think a little lie-down is in order.

Thank you for this thread, I was begining to think I was peculiar.

Absolutely no comment please.

snowleopard61

Thank you all for lots of good advice and food for thought, and especially those who gave me a laugh too :rotfl:

Thankfully it isn't actually a complete tip or a wilderness or anything, it's just not that decorative or 'cared for', but I will try to make this the year when I do something about it - even if that's to turf the bloomin' lot!

Ben84

On a slightly more fun note, a low maintenance garden doesn't have to be drab. As I mentioned before, trees and shrubs don't have to be hard work unless you have one in a space that's just too small for it and have to trim all the time - in which case I'd remove or replace it. Anyway, trees and shrubs can have interesting colour leaves and flowers. I prefer evergreen near paved areas as they shed relatively few leaves.

People do comment positively on our garden despite it being low maintenance. You don't have to go the pave/gravel everything and stick a couple of pots in the middle route to avoid lots of maintenance, just avoid flowerbeds that need weeding and anything that grows rapidly and is in a space too small for it. I actually don't know why pots are considered low maintenance anyway, they may be small but they need watering often and I find plants in them greatly less self sufficient and in need of significantly more care. I used to have a lot more time for gardening, despite my minimal interest in it these days and I have never thought pots were an easier option than planting something straight in the soil.