Low maintenance garden

amc1

Hi, I'm looking for some ideas for the above eg. pictures of gardens with paving/patio area, bark, little grass, etc. Anyone come across any forums or image galleries. Thanks,

aliasojo

Have you considered manufacturer's websites like :

http://www.marshalls.co.uk/transform/

They might give you ideas?

rchddap1

how about using tarmac...across the whole garden. Its very low maintenance! :rolleyes:

Sorry couldn't resist.

I do like my garden, but I don't spend hours working on it. I have some rose bushes, which only need pruning every now and then. Some herbs, as that is nice to use for the cooking and the garden smells lovely too. We've also got a hosta that takes care of itself completely. Bulbs (tulip, daffs, etc...) do that also.

I've just put in a Japanese maple tree (very small at the moment), but I dont' expect that to me too much trouble either. Another is a jasmine climber. All I've done to that so far is tie it up so it goes in the direction I want it to go (same for the climbing roses).

We do have an area of grass and once every 2 weeks during the spring and autumn times we quickly go over it with the mower. We could gravel, or pave the lot, but we don't think that this would look as nice.

It all depends on what you want out of your garden really.

margaretclare

rchddap1 wrote:

We could gravel, or pave the lot, but we don't think that this would look as nice.

It all depends on what you want out of your garden really.

Yes, I agree.

We used to have some silly little flower-beds surrounding apple-trees which never did much, and a few years ago now, thinking low-maintenance as we got older, we had much of the centre of the back garden laid down to lawn, leaving only borders round 3 sides. Since then our ideas have changed a bit - we're now much more into wildlife gardening. We had a wildlife pond put in last October (cost us the same as another week's holiday, but much better value all year round). This is giving us immense pleasure. The borders have since been filled up with shrubs and small trees to provide cover, something to look at, berries etc for birds, spring blossom for butterflies and bees, and we don't have to do much because now the birds are nesting we just look, but don't go down there to disturb any nesting birds!

All the bulbs that I 'rescued' when the lawn was put in, I now have in pots just outside the kitchen window. They don't need much attention and there's always something to look at.

I would suggest putting in some kind of water facility for the birds and other wildlife. We used an old stoneware baking-bowl set into the ground and filled with pebbles off the beach. The birds still use it even though there's the pond, they use it all. These things provide something interesting and pleasurable to look out at, and there's always something different. The grass needs cutting, and usually we give the borders a mega-sort out in autumn, but apart from that we don't really do a lot.

HTH

Aunty Margaret

Nile

amc1 wrote:

Hi, I'm looking for some ideas for the above eg. pictures of gardens with paving/patio area, bark, little grass, etc. Anyone come across any forums or image galleries. Thanks,

I agree with the bark idea.

We have bark surrounding the conifer bushes and Buddliea (excellent for attracting butterflies) bushes.........and in 10 years, we've never had to weed.

Bark is also very attractive to birds, particularly the ground feeding type. We see Dunnocks and Chaffinches regularly on the bark........but the Blackbirds LOVE IT, they're always digging around looking for insects.

rchddap1

Nile wrote:

........but the Blackbirds LOVE IT, they're always digging around looking for insects.

Tell me about it. The amount of times we've woken in the morning to see our nicely placed bark all over the shop. Not that this is problem because I like to see birds in the garden. Besides they eat all the nasty bugs that want to eat all my nice plants.

:dance:

economiser

Don't think that hard surfaces such as paving, tarmac etc. are low maintenance. They need sweeping and washing and are probably no easier to deal with than a lawn. I reckon evergreen shrubs and gravel, with anti weed mat under, takes some beating.

scheming_gypsy

sometimes low maintenance isn't just about not wanting to spend hours gardening. I'm looking at the same thing as the original poster because i don't want my dog digging around in mud and then tramping it throughout the house

alanobrien

amc1 wrote:

Hi, I'm looking for some ideas for the above eg. pictures of gardens with paving/patio area, bark, little grass, etc. Anyone come across any forums or image galleries. Thanks,

We just moved into a new place with a low maintenance garden. The main rear lawn was covered with anti weed blanket and that was covered with 4 inches of gravel.

This was surrounded by a 5ft wide border with specimin plants, floor covered with bark. They also put in an automatic watering system for the lot.

Simple idea but it works well, all we have to do is trim the odd branch now and again.